![[Lake scene drawing]](http://images.midwestweekend.com/graphics/lake_scene.gif)
So you don’t want to jump off a 40-story platform with boards on your feet. Or ski nonstop for 32 miles. Or spend four days racing through the woods with a dozen dogs.
That’s for crazy folk — crazy folk who are really fun to watch.
Some of the coolest spectator events happen in winter, as anyone who’s watched the Winter Olympics knows. And some of the best in the world are held right around here.
On the North Shore, mushers and their canine athletes will be rushing from Duluth to the Gunflint Trail and back on the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon. In northern Wisconsin, 6,500 skiers will race from Cable to Hayward during North America’s largest and most prestigious cross-country ski marathon, the American Birkebeiner. In a little coulee near La Crosse, world-class ski-jumpers from around the world will hurtle 55 miles per hour down an Olympic-size hill during the Snowflake Super Tour Ski-Jumping Competition.
For 500 years, Germans have done their holiday shopping at open-air Christmas markets in town squares. Named for the Christ Child, the markets start on the first Sunday of Advent, with shoppers warming up with hot spiced Glühwein while browsing at garland-draped timber kiosks.
It's a tradition worth importing, and that's what Chicago did in 1996 with its Christkindlmarket. It's become more popular
every year, and now people in many towns have markets of their own. Here are five.
Christkindlsmarkt in Excelsior, Minn. In this Minneapolis suburb on Lake Minnetonka, a 9:30 a.m. parade with bands, choirs, reindeer and the North Pole Trolley kicks off a traditional German open-air Christmas market in Lyman Park. There's also a children's candlelight parade Friday at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 28-30.
Christkindlmarkt in Monroe, Wis. The sale in Turner Hall is small, but this cheese-country capital still has one foot in the Old World. Father Christmas will appear, and homemade Swiss baked goods as well as folk arts will be offered. Nov. 28-29.
In winter, ice comes with the territory. You can curse it — or you can play with it.
Once, I considered ice the mere byproduct of conditions too poor to produce snow. That was before I really looked at it.
Ice is alive. A whisper of wind or droplet of mist is all it needs to shift shapes — and, like snowflakes, it never takes on the same shape twice.
Now, I consider a good icescape to be a main destination. My favorite playground is the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore ice caves near Bayfield, Wis., which have been accessible since mid-February this year. Gooseberry Falls on Minnesota's North Shore always is worth a stop for its filmy curtains of icicles, which create niches and tunnels children love to explore.
Got snow? Then it's time to seize the moment and plan a cross-country ski vacation. Below are five of the resorts with the best
and most reliable grooming:
Maplelag Resort, Callaway, Minn.: This resort, in a pocket of hardwood forest north of Detroit Lakes, is one of the first spots to catch snow off the Rockies. And once it's there, the Richards family keeps it in impeccable condition. There are 60 kilometers of trails outside the comfortable lodgings, which vary from rustic pioneer cabins to Great Northern cabooses.
The weekend rate, for two nights and six excellent meals, is $225-$332 adults; $199 youths 15-17, $139 children 8-14 and $109 children 4-7, with a 10 percent discount for families. The rate for three-night weekends, with nine meals, is $299-$378 adults; $205, $155 and $125 for children. The rate for two midweek nights and meals is $224 adults and $125, $95 and $75 children. They're 20 percent off Feb. 21-29, and 25 percent off March 1-20.
Ski equipment in all sizes can be rented, as well as snowshoes and kick sleds for hauling small children. Call 1-800-654-7711, www.maplelag.com.
When it comes to curing the midwinter blahs, no one does it better than a group of girlfriends.
When women get together, they talk, they laugh, they eat a lot of chocolate. They also like to try new things. Below are five
getaways that appeal especially to women.
For more ideas, see 12
months of girlfriend getaways. For tips on planning a getaway, see Where the girls are.
Playhouse in Duluth: Just a few blocks from downtown, the whimsical Hillside Cottage is a painted playhouse for big girls. It has a view of the Lake Superior harbor and three bedrooms, five beds, three baths and a kitchen, $225 weekdays and $250 weekends, with a two-night minimum, 651-770-4151, www.hillsidecottageduluth.com. And speaking of playhouses, the Duluth Playhouse's 2008-2009 schedule includes two great plays for girlfriend-getaways, "Steel Magnolias,'' Feb. 12-22, and "The Full Monty,'' March 19-April 5, www.duluthplayhouse.org. There's plenty more going on around town; check the calendar at www.visitduluth.com.
Everyone likes to snowshoe. It's cheap, easy and you can do it anywhere. Or can you?
Often, I've wound up ditching my snowshoes when I'm in a state park, because the trail to wherever I'm going is so packed I don't need them. Yet trails are laid to take in the best scenery, so it's hard to ignore them.
"So many people want to snowshoe,'' said Jen Westlund, a ranger at Bear Head Lake State Park near Ely. "But they don't want to be told the whole park is open for snowshoeing. They want a trail.''
We hiked first along a lakeside ski trail when we were at Bear Head Lake earlier this month. But then Westlund mentioned she'd seen moose tracks in fresh snow near the park entrance, and we decided to go moose-tracking. Strapping on our snowshoes, we plunged from the road into deep woods.
Valentine's Day will be here soon, and it's time for sweethearts to step up to the plate.
It has to be somewhere romantic. But what's romantic?
To some, it's a cabin in a state park, rustic but with loads of privacy and atmosphere. To others, it's an inn where owners will take care of guests' every need.
In the end, decor has little to do with romance, because romance is what you have to bring with you. Still, here are a few places likely to aid and abet l'amour: