Since winter is still firmly entrenched around here, Kerry and I decided to make the best of it and get away for one last weekend of XC skiing. We purchased a groupon for a weekend stay at the Heartwood Conference Center and Resort near Minong. We had not been there before but the place looked pretty nice online, and also had a ski trail system on site so we decided to go for it. We got a room with a small kitchenette so we were able to fix up our own meals.
We drove up on Friday night and met the snowstorm head-on as we made our way to Hinckley. Traffic on the freeway was cruising along but the surface was starting to get slick. We saw 12 cars in the ditch between North Branch and Hinckley. Two of those were rollovers. We made our way over to Danbury where we stopped at the Fishbowl and had a fantastic fish fry. Me, blackened and Kerry had the lightly battered Tilapia. Both were excellent. We washed it down with a good beer and cider.
We pulled into the resort around 9:30 and were impressed at how nice the place was. Saturday we had a lazy morning of making steel cut oats with blueberries and cranberries and planning our summer road trip (Canadian Rockies!). It was in the single digits so we weren't in too much of a hurry to get out on the trails.
By noon, the sun was out in force and it was time to get the skis on. This was my first time skiing since my wrist surgery and I was quite happy to find that when I started poling, the wrist felt pretty good. The trails had been groomed the day before but now had a three inch coating of fresh stuff. The temp was now around 24 but the sun was beating down hard causing the snow to melt in some areas, and as we transitioned from a melting area to a cold area the bottoms of our skis were icing up and making for some very interesting conditions ("skiing" more akin to snowshoeing). We made our way to the warming shack out on the trail system where we had a tasty snack and continued around the loop back to our home base for some lounging, spaghetti cooking and wine drinking.
Sunday morning we made breakfast, went for a short walk around the resort and made our way back home. A great weekend away!
We drove up on Friday night and met the snowstorm head-on as we made our way to Hinckley. Traffic on the freeway was cruising along but the surface was starting to get slick. We saw 12 cars in the ditch between North Branch and Hinckley. Two of those were rollovers. We made our way over to Danbury where we stopped at the Fishbowl and had a fantastic fish fry. Me, blackened and Kerry had the lightly battered Tilapia. Both were excellent. We washed it down with a good beer and cider.
We pulled into the resort around 9:30 and were impressed at how nice the place was. Saturday we had a lazy morning of making steel cut oats with blueberries and cranberries and planning our summer road trip (Canadian Rockies!). It was in the single digits so we weren't in too much of a hurry to get out on the trails.
By noon, the sun was out in force and it was time to get the skis on. This was my first time skiing since my wrist surgery and I was quite happy to find that when I started poling, the wrist felt pretty good. The trails had been groomed the day before but now had a three inch coating of fresh stuff. The temp was now around 24 but the sun was beating down hard causing the snow to melt in some areas, and as we transitioned from a melting area to a cold area the bottoms of our skis were icing up and making for some very interesting conditions ("skiing" more akin to snowshoeing). We made our way to the warming shack out on the trail system where we had a tasty snack and continued around the loop back to our home base for some lounging, spaghetti cooking and wine drinking.
Sunday morning we made breakfast, went for a short walk around the resort and made our way back home. A great weekend away!
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| For a resort in WI, what's wrong with this picture? |
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