As a child, I used my allowance to buy my first architecture book: Thomas Fisher’s profile of Duluth-based architect, David Salmela. I had forgotten about it until a few years ago when I went to a panel of women in real estate at The Coven in Minneapolis. There, one of the women talked about a new development she was working on near Bayfield, Wisconsin. A retreat called Wild Rice Retreat Center, perched on the shore of Lake Superior near the Apostle Island National Lakeshore. She was partnering with Salmela as the architect, who had designed the original restaurant on the site years ago. Since then, I’ve been biding my time, waiting to see what it is actually like inside one of his spaces.
So, a few months ago, a couple of my favorite women in Northfield and I started dreaming and scheming about an early 2022 retreat. We’ve been reading The Artist’s Way together and meeting occasionally, but as we’re all interested in Deep Friendship, we wanted to spend some more intentional time together, away from our day-to-day obligations, habits, and patterns.
We booked one of the “treehouses” at Wild Rice. We arrived in Bayfield (with a stop at Crazy Mary’s diner in Finlayson, hometown of one of our posse) after a fresh snow and everything was glittering, clean, and quiet. The space itself was bright, simple, and cozy. We each had our own room with a private bathroom. The common space was on the top floor, where we were cantilevered, almost floating, in a the pine and birch groves around us.
We spent our days waking up to early morning sunrises as we collectively wrote our morning pages before 9 am yoga class in the “sanctuary,” eating the most colorful and nourishing meals, hiking along Lake Superior into Bayfield, and sweating together in the sauna, taking breaks to run outside and cool down in the fresh snow. We got to know each other in a new, more full way. We did our Artist’s Way exercises, making collages for our future lives and going on solo walks. For a culinary high point, we shared raclette together, which was my first time roasting cheeses on little plates with veggies and shrimp and ham. It’s rare to dream about what an experience will be and to have the reality leap so far ahead of what you’d been envisioning.
We were surrounded by other groups of women groups, all retreating together. On the ride home, we were already planning our return, whether for another group retreat, a solo get-away, or couples retreats. Wild Rice has accommodations for all of the above. I can’t recommend it enough, especially in the quiet, refueling winter months.
Salmela excels at classic, Scandinavian design. This was the common house where meals and group yoga sessions were held.
A string of “ricepods,” which are perfect for two.
Wonderstate Coffee in Bayfield, which was closed due to the pandemic the last time I was here.
The best part about retreating in winter: rolling around in fresh snow after a good sauna session.
