Bemidji Braaten Beach Bash

Enjoy spending time with the in-laws? Yes, The Driveby Tourist does! Great summer get together. Furthermore, I’ve attended every year since 2001. Overall, this post tells its story in pictures. So, just another year at the Bemidji Braaten Beach Bash. Basically, I just added Bemidji (link) to the title as it’s held near this city (on the lake) for about five years. So, it’s the BBBB. If you are visiting northern Minnesota (during the summer, hopefully), this is a great area to see. For example, the Mississippi River (Lake Itasca) originates about 30 miles from here. (See link to one of my earlier posts.)

Beach Bash Beer Tasting

While visiting Wisconsin and Upper Michigan earlier in the summer, I visited Leinenkugel’s headquarters and brewery in Chippewa Falls WI (link). All of a sudden, the idea to purchase 6 flavors of “Leinie’s” occurred to me. Or, to use a football term, a “Pick 6”! And, why not serve the Braaten extended family? The Beach Bash has the potential for about 45 extended family members. As a result, I went on a quest, a hunt so to speak, and found 11 flavors of Leinie’s! The brewery is now owned by MillerCoors but the Leinenkugel family is still involved in the operation. And they make a number of seasonal beers.

Therefore, while shopping for flavors, a liquor store employee told me 2 ounces of beer is appropriate for tasting. So, off to the beach bash with beer, cups, coolers and a list of flavors. The Driveby Tourist isn’t much of a beer drinker but this was fun.

Indeed, several of the family members rated all 11 flavors from their favorite to their least favorite. Overall, the fruit flavors like Grapefruit Shandy, Orange Shandy, Watermelon Shandy, and Cherry Blonde Lager did not fare well in the tasting. Favorites appeared to be Sunset Wheat, Northwoods Lager, Honey Weiss, and Creamy Dark. And now, a conversation about wine tasting at the annual Christmas event! And continuing the beer tasting in summer.

Sunset time

All of a sudden, gathering time after coming in from the lake and settling in for good views and good conversation at the beach bash.

All things considered, amazing colors created by the setting sun. In the interest of full disclosure, I did not take these pictures with unusual colors, but a family member sent them to me.

The Lake Daytime

After all, maybe I can work for the visitor’s bureau! At this point, we just enjoy the resort, the lake, the surrounding area. By the way, the resort is Ruttger’s Birchmont Lodge. Here is a link to the resort website. Great place for the beach bash.

The city of Bemidji is the center for tons of tourism year around. Other than tourism the major employers are Bemidji State University and Sanford Health. Currently, the population is about 15,000.

  Want to see a shop for my road trip photos? You can have them printed as wall art or puzzles. They also work on coffee mugs, t-shirts and more! So, take a look. Maybe you'll see something you will like!

The lake at night

Beach Bash after dark. Since it’s summer in Minnesota, it doesn’t get really dark until around 10 PM. Great time to gather and visit, catch up on each other’s lives, etc.

Again, hope you get a chance to visit here. Or maybe make your own beach bash!

Morning at the lake

So that brings us to the end of the event in pictures. Great area to visit when you find yourself in Minnesota in the summer. (By the way, it was nearly 90 degrees one day. And they say it’s cool in northern Minnesota.)

Summary – Beach Bash

This post is meant to be a quick one mostly with pictures. Think I got carried away with it. What’s the old saying? “A good time was had by all!” Back here again next year for the weekend after Independence Day weekend.

Rock and Roll reference

“Fun, Fun, Fun” by The Beach Boys

Well she got her daddy’s car
And she cruised through the hamburger stand now
Seems she forgot all about the library
Like she told her old man now
And with the radio blasting
Goes cruising just as fast as she can now
And she’ll have fun fun fun
‘Til her daddy takes the T-bird away

It’s the Beach Bash, so gotta have The Beach Boys, right?

The Driveby Tourist #the-driveby-tourist