Eric Dregni hated Lake Minnetonka when he was a teenager. “That’s what you think of the place you’re from when you’re a teenager, right?” he says.

“When I was a kid, I loved it. We lived by one of the tributaries of Purgatory Creek, sort of a beautiful swamp—a wetland. The kids had the run of the whole area; we’d be out in the woods finding salamanders, frogs, and turtles. We had chickens,” Dregni goes on. “Everybody today has urban chickens, but when we had chickens everyone thought we were freaks. I remember one got out and ended up in the dog pound. Must be those crazy Dregnis . . . ”

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