Pictures and a video

Ski trip!

We're home! We had a great time in our yurt in the woods. Our trip started with dropping Winnie off at my parents' house, which was a little sad since it was the longest that we've both been away from her at once since we got her. She was a trooper, though, and only barked twice after we left the house. The drive up was pretty uneventful until we got to Grand Marais. We stopped for a few last-minute supplies at the Trading Post, including (another) new headlamp and a most amazing new pair of gloves for me (Lynnie mittens- so warm!). We started up the trail just before dusk, and right around the time that everything along the side of the road looks like a deer or a moose, we saw our first moose of the trip! We saw three more along our drive, plus a fox, which is the most wildlife I've ever seen along the road up there.

We arrived at the B&B around 5:30, and were pleasantly surprised that because it was New Year's Eve, Ted and Barbara were serving dinner for their guests as a special treat. We had a great little party in the woods with the other guests and the B&B owners, with lefse and smoked fish, chicken wings, hummus, and champaign. Somehow it all went together perfectly!

After a nice sleep at the B&B and an incredible breakfast of stuffed french toast and poached pears, we put on our skis and made a 3k trek out to our yurt. Our supplies were snowmobiled out there for us, and after we got the fire going, we skied back out to the road to meet up with Chris' aunt Joan. She met us with a wonderful birthday present for me, that can only really be appreciated when it's 15 degrees and you're about to go out into the woods - a giant bag of gorp. Yum! Joan took us to Poplar Creek trail a few miles from our yurt, and I went on my first for real ski trail. I started out a little rough, but I got the hang of it after a while, and after we'd gone 5 miles I really felt like a pro :)

We got back to the yurt and got to work heating the place up and cooking up our beef and barley soup for dinner. We also started heating up the sauna (pronounced sow-na if you're Ted) to complete our ski day in true Finnish style. Our first night of sleep was a little choppy, since Chris had to get up four or five times to add wood to the fire. It would have been worse if we hadn't gone to bed before 9 and gotten up sometime after 8 the next morning.

On Wednesday, we drove out to Bearskin Lodge and got passes to ski on their trails. We skied all the way to the cabin to check in and see what it looks like in the winter. It's pretty different! Definitely looks like it's hibernating. We stopped for lunch and within the first few minutes of sitting down, we spotted a little pine marten cruising under the bird feeder. When it saw us, it ran around the cabin, took off up a tree, gave us a dirty look, and made an amazing leap onto the roof of the little cabin to safety. We didn't stop long (stopping means getting cold), and took the road back to the lodge. Chris swapped out his classic skis for his skate skis and took off to do the Bear Cup World Cup ("challenging uphills and screaming downhills" said the description of the trail) while I warmed up and relaxed in the lodge with a book. I'll let him talk about that experience...

We got back to the yurt around dusk and caught the sunset over the nearby lake, then started the whole fire/soup/sauna routine again. We figured out how to keep the fire warm (feed it way more than you think you should!) and got the yurt really comfortable for our final night. The winds picked up to around 30 miles per hour sometime around midnight and the temperature dropped, but thankfully with our perfected fire technique we stayed really cozy.

The winds were still bad the next morning, and we were really happy we didn't have another day of skiing ahead of us. We skied out to some hot cocoa at the B&B, and our supplies followed on the snowmobile. On the drive out, Grand Marais had the same winds as we did up on the trail, making for some amazing waves on Lake Superior! We got some good pictures out on Artist's Point, then stopped by Joan's house for sandwiches and headed back to the cities.

Winnie forgave us immediately for leaving her behind, but we had to promise to bring her with to the cabin next time :)

More pictures to come! 

Forecast

Here's the Grand Marais forecast, according to NOAA...

EDIT by Chris: Here is the forcast for mid-trail according to NOAA:

Brrr! Our main days will be New Years and Wedensday, so you can see those are going to be cold. I fatefully said yesterday looking at our huge pile of warm stuff that it was too bad that we wouldn't really get to test these because 4-5 layers when it is in the 20s is silly. 4-5 layers when it is -15 is a different story! 

More Skiiiiiiss??!!

So remember when Megan got skis for her birthday just a few days ago? Well look at this! Megan and I went to the REI scratch and dent sale to see if we could pick up a  good warm jacket for her. We did, a nice Columbia sport. Full of layers, zippers, and a weather-proof shell. But then I walked over to the corner and on the floor were these nice looking skis. I picked them up and they said $99! Bindings and all. The regular price for both would be $270. And they just happened to be exactly long enough for my height/weight. Wow. 

So, boots. I still needed boots. I walked over to the boot section and left Megan guarding our goods. She was asked several times if she really was going to get those (clutching the skis, yes!!). I had looked before and found an ugly pair that worked but was really too big. I brought them back and dug around some more and found a slick silver pair just my size for $50. They are skate style boots, but if I don't latch the ankle braces and loosen the rear straps they work great. 

So thats $360 worth of ski for $150. I couldn't pass that up! They are also my first real pair of classic skis. I have always used borrowed pairs in the past, and from people who have been heavier than me so I would always have real problems getting stick while kicking forward. Perhaps that is why I have never really liked classic style skiing when I was racing. I was also never any good at it. So now we are really geared up to go up north! Lets go! 

Skiiiiiis

Here is a photo of Megan and her new birthday cross country skis! I had several great photos of her on their (and her) inaugural run this afternoon but the camera mysteriously lost the formatting on the card so they were erased! Doh. Well we will get more tomorrow.

We went to the legendary Finn Sisu on University Ave by the most convoluted route I could cook up on google maps and gave her a card to open with the directions. Thoroughly turned around we drove up to the store and got the skis! We were also lucky enough to be helped by Ahvo himself. He is a hilarious guy, and was very happy that Megan was getting classic skis. He said that classic was more artistic and beautiful, while skating was all over like a conductor (he acted all this out).

He also showed us what is new in waxing, and a lot has changed in the last 6 years! We bought a tape that provides kick in lieu of traditional ski wax yet lasts all season, and this paste that you rub on and it acts as glide wax in lieu of traditional hot waxing. And wow, both work great! Lots of kick and the glide felt like normal but with much much less work and mess.

After we waxed up the skis, we went out to Como to try them out. The last time I was there was in high school and it was -10˚ with 30 mph wind, but today it was 28 and sunny. Perfect! After a few halting steps on the new skinny skis Megan was going along well and by the end of our time she was doing a good kick-glide-kick-glide and even did a hill.

We are going to head out again tomorrow and try some more. I don't work again until after Christmas, and Megan doesn't have school again until the second week in January, so this really is vacation!

Winter Adventure!

I have not had much to post about but here is something, Megan and I are going up north! Just a few miles past the cabin even. We made reservations for three nights, the first in a B&B on the 31st and then in a Yurt (pictured right) for the 1st and 2nd. So, a REALLY quiet new years for us but thats what was available!

It should be an adventure. We hope to get back to the cabin for a winter visit and check out some trails around the area. It should be cold and snowy, but they have a sauna next to the Yurt and we wont have to worry about wolves eating us like winter camping...

Skiing day 5

Well I have been skiing every day since monday and things have gotten a lot better! My stamina is up and I can go 3-4x as far. I think most of it is just having your lungs adjust to taking in O2 from the cold air.

Today the cold was not a problem though. My weather widget says that it is 37, but I am sure its 40 out in the sun. Part of me hates it because there is such precious little snow on the ground now anyway. They also "groomed" the trails with out getting new snow on it, exposing rocks all over the place. So the loop I liked to do is now ruined until we get new snow. I can go back and forth on a short loop, but thats not as fun. Forecast calls for snow tomorrow though.

But the benefit of warm weather skiing is that its not cold! First off went the hat. Then the jacket. Then heck, I look silly enough in my hamburglar long-underwear so it was topless skiing for me! It felt great, the sun was warm and who knows I might even get a january tan!

Skiing!

Thanks to the 4-5'' inches of snow on the ground I got brave enough to take out my poor neglected X-country skis and check out the Carleton Arb to see if it was skiable. And it was! But was I? This photo of a photo is one of me about 5 years ago at my last race for South West - regionals Sr. Year. Notice the stylish form fitting 2-piece purple spandex suit.

My skis are still in good shape but I hardly recognized them. It has been 2 or 3 years since I saw them last so it was like finding and old friend. Once I got out on the trail it was like riding a bike, a little wobbly at first then back to the old rhythm. But thats about where the easiness ended. I am so fantastically out of shape that I could hardly get going, and had to stop every few minutes. I am not sure how far I really went, but it can't have been more that 3k. But after words I had the physical ill effects of a 5k sprint race!

Heart burn √
Urge to vomit √
Taste of blood √
Coughing √



Wee!! It hasn't felt this good to feel this bad for a long time. I ran to the store and got some liquid antacid and that put an end to the burn right away. I will take it before next time like I used to do. The others will go away too as my lungs acclimate to the cold air and you know, working for a change. Who knows, I might even get up to going 5k again!

The skis stay in the car, so I can hit the trails when ever I have time.