![[Lake scene drawing]](http://images.midwestweekend.com/graphics/lake_scene.gif)
Now is the time to sign up for one of Chicago's Taste of the Neighborhoods tours, which sell out fast.
This year's schedule just came out: Jan. 31, Feb. 28, March 28, April 18, May 30, June 27 (during Taste of Chicago), July 18,
Aug. 22, Sept. 19, Oct. 24 and Nov. 21. Cost is $50, including food at three stops. The 4½-hour motorcoach tours leave from the
Cultural Center in the Loop (see Chow-down in
Chicago).
If you've ever wanted to try mushing your own dog-sled team but were stopped by the price, the Laurentian Center on Minnesota's Iron Range has the best price I've seen: $250 for the Feb. 13-15 Adult Winter Travel Weekend, which offers a choice of mushing, skiing, skijoring, snowshoeing or ice fishing and includes lodging and meals. Compare that to the $300 you'll pay just to mush for the day at the well-known Wintergreen Lodge in Ely.
These low-profile environmental-learning centers offer all kinds of great deals. Near Tomahawk, Wis., pay $195 total for a
Wolf Ecology Workshop at Treehaven Feb. 6-8 or Feb.
27-March 1, with experts leading tracking and howling expeditions and giving radio-telemetry demos. At Ely's International Wolf
Center, a similar weekend is $450.
Want to buddy up to a sled dog? Volunteer to work during the Apostle Islands Sled Dog Race (pictured) near Bayfield Jan. 31-Feb. 1, and not only will you be in the middle of the action, but you'll get a good deal on the weekend: For $250 per couple, you get lodgings for two nights, two breakfasts and two dinners where you'll meet the mushers. Call 800-447-4094.
This is the year everyone wants to be green, right? Here are some good ways to do it over the St. Patrick's Day weekend in 2008.
In Finn country, two saints and one festival: In the northern Wisconsin town of Brantwood, St. Urho shares the bill with St. Patrick on March 15, when there's a corned beef-and-cabbage dinner and program at the community center. A pitchfork-wielding St. Urho is said to have banished the grasshoppers from Finland, thereby saving the grape harvest in the vineyards. 715-564-2525, www.pricecountywi.net.
Finnish hospitality is the theme at the nearby Palmquist Farm, a ski resort/ranch that serves family-style Finnish meals and has a Finnish sauna. It's a wonderfully old-fashioned place to take young children, www.palmquistfarm.com.
Everything's coming up green in Chicago: Yes, it's true — they dye the river green in Chicago. Watch the actual dying at 10:45 p.m. March 14, 2009, from the Michigan Avenue or Columbus Drive bridges, then watch the noon parade through Grant Park, www.chicagostpatsparade.com.
In winter, the best time to be out in the forest is during a candlelight ski in state parks and forests, when volunteers set out hundreds of luminaries along snow-draped trails. It's always a magical occasion.
If you'd like to have the same effect all winter long, make some ice luminaries for your own walk. It'll impress visitors as well as put some sparkle into the long winter nights.
Here's a recipe from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. If you don't have enough coffee cans or buckets, pick up some at a dollar store. That's also a good place to buy pillar-type candles that will last for a while.
Find a large bucket and a smaller bowl or container. Put some rocks in the bottom of the big bucket to make a shelf for the smaller bucket to sit on. Place more rocks into the smaller bucket.
This is the last newsletter until Jan 1, 2009, when we'll return with news of the best places to ski, shop and watch sled-dog races.
Until then, watch for our new Deals box. A preview: Free babysitting on Dec. 11 and 18 for parents who want to shop in Stillwater, Minn., then have dinner at the Water Street Inn. And check for Beat the Clock deals at the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells, which is opening a huge indoor theme park, complete with six-story Ferris wheel, on Dec. 19.
Meanwhile, we hope that you have a relaxing holiday (and that you remember to make your reservations for New Year's and Valentine's Day).
Best wishes, Beth and Torsten
There's fresh snow up north, and fresh deals to go with it.
The Upper Peninsula of Michigan has the region's best snow; so far, 42 inches have fallen in Ironwood, and Indianhead Mountain near Wakefield claims 65 inches. But the area struggles because
skiers think it's remote.
It's only 4¼ hours from the Twin Cities, but skiers there tend to go to Lutsen or Giants Ridge. This year, though, the 18 clubs in Minnesota's Ski Council will head to Indianhead for their annual Winter Carnival, Dec. 12-14.
"We're not at the end of the world here,'' says marketing vice president Dave Nyquist. "I tell people you go to Duluth and turn right, and then the lightbulb goes on.''
Thinking about a B&B getaway this winter? If it's for Valentine's Day — a Saturday this year — plan
ahead.
Four of the region's most prominent B&B cities are holding open houses on Dec. 7, and that will be a good time to shop for
a room. All of the inns will be decorated for the holidays and serve goodies.
Holiday B&B Tour in Red Wing, Minn.: It's 3-6 p.m. at the
Golden Lantern Inn, Candlelight Inn, Moondance Inn, Pratt Taber Inn (pictured) and Round Barn Farm Bed & Breakfast &
Bread. Tickets are $15, $12 in advance, and proceeds go to Habitat for Humanity.
Holiday Open House in Duluth, Minn:. It's
1-6 p.m. at the Cotton Mansion, the A.G. Thomson House, the A. Charles Weiss Inn, the Ellery House, the Olcott House, the
Mathew S. Burrows Inn, Solglimt and the Firelight Inn. Cost is $25, $20 in advance.
During the holidays, Chicago always is in a great mood. But this year, after electing one of its own to the White House, it's positively giddy.
Christmas is a great time to visit Chicago. Its open-air Christkindlmarket (pictured), now in its 13th year, is lifted straight from the market squares of Germany, with German vendors plying crowds with cones of roasted almonds and mugs of warm Glühwein.
At the Museum of Science and Industry, the beloved "Christmas Around the World'' exhibit is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, with ethnic ensembles performing all day on weekends.
Love Handel's "Messiah''? Hear it sung for the 130th year by the Apollo Chorus of Chicago, whose big, impassioned voices will make you weep. The Goodman stages "A Christmas Carol,'' and the Joffrey Ballet does "The Nutcracker.''
Let's get some action going on our new forum for travelers, Tip Swap. Do you want to know a good trail where you can work off
Thanksgiving dinner? How to find the best shopping towns? A good idea for a winter girlfriend getaway?
Ask away at Tip Swap, our forums. And if you've got opinions. please post those, too.
On a dark winter night, there's nothing more magical than skiing a trail lined by candles.
One of the first times for me was in Minnesota's Mille Lacs Kathio State Park. A fat blue moon hung in the sky, sparkling hoarfrost made twigs as nubby as reindeer antlers and more than 400 glowing bags gave the forest a fairy-tale aura.
That was especially memorable, but so was every other time I skied: on the Red Cedar State Trail from Menomonie, past the cascading ice of the Blue Wall; across Chequamegon Bay, with fireworks exploding above the finish line; along the shore of Lake Bemidji, with city lights twinkling on the horizon.
I often plan winter trips around candlelight skis. Now is the time to do it if you also want to nab one of the five camper cabins right in Mille Lacs Kathio for the full-moon ski on Feb. 7 or for the Feb. 13 ski at Jay Cooke State Park, where the cabins are popular year-round.
For nearly a month in 2008, from mid-February to mid-March, callers to the Apostle Islands ice-cave hot line heard some welcome words: “Conditions DO allow access to the mainland sea caves near Meyers Beach.’’
For only the second time in four winters, the shoreline of Lake Superior froze hard enough to allow sightseers to walk the mile
from Meyers Beach to the crystalline formations spilling over the red-sandstone face of the cliffs along Mawikwe Bay, at the
northern tip of the Bayfield Peninsula. In 2005 and 2006, rangers advised against walking over the lake.
Often, the ice path can be traversed for only a few days each winter. Wind affects the safety of the ice as well as temperatures; call the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore hot line before traveling: 715-779-3397, Ext. 499, www.nps.gov/apis.
The road to the jumping-off point is four miles east of Cornucopia, off Wisconsin 13. For details on what to bring and where to stay and eat, see Ice caves of the Apostles.
Snow is still fresh on the landscape, but it's time to think about summer if you're a painter, quilter or anyone who wants to learn something new.
If you want to come away from your vacation with more than a sunburn, now is the time to sign up for a workshop to acquire a skill or learn something new about nature, the arts, literature or culture.
At the Clearing folk school in Door County, some classes fill in the first hour after registration opens on Feb. 21. The weeklong courses focus on science, history, theater, film and religion as well as the arts, but the hands-on classes — watercolors, quilting, wood-carving — fill fastest.
The Clearing, founded by Danish landscape architect Jens Jensen in 1935, is the oldest folk school in the region. Students stay in stone cottages on the wooded 130-acre campus on the shores of Green Bay.
Eagles may be off the endangered list, but it's still a thrill to see one.
In winter, they're easier to find because they're concentrated around open water.
On the Wisconsin River near Baraboo, Prairie du Sac is an eagle-watching hot spot because there's a hydroelectric plant whose
turbines stun fish and make them easy pickings for eagles. Wabasha is a hot spot because the Chippewa River surges into the
Mississippi just upstream and keeps it ice-free all winter.
For the best luck seeing eagles, go early in the day or later in the afternoon. Dress warmly and bring binoculars. Below are some of the best places to spot eagles with the experts.
Prairie du Sac, Wis.: On Saturdays at 10 a.m. through March 1, the Ferry Bluff Eagle Council, www.ferrybluffeaglecouncil.org, hosts eagle-watching bus tours, $5. To reserve, call 800-683-2453, www.saukprairie.com.