Weekend at home

There haven't been many at home weekends this winter. 2 weekends ago our friends Dale and Judy spent about 4 hrs. in the hot tub with us on a Saturday night as we all tried to solve the worlds problems with beer and margaritas (no pics allowed!).

This weekend we stayed home to take care of our grandson.
Decided to do something this weekend I always wanted to do, walk and ski from my front door out the local trail, ski a loop, then come home.
27 miles (Birkie is around 31)
I had to walk the first mile to the Tomorrow River snowmobile trail, ski 7 miles to Tower Rd. Walk another mile to the xc-ski trail, ski the loop, reverse.
Route of walking and Tomorrow River Trail.
Standing Rocks Park
The walking sucked. I wore a pair of hiking shoes and switched to ski boots. Carried a backpack with windbreaker pullover, extra glove, socks and shirt. Water and some energy food rounded out the articles.
Never skate skied with a backpack on but it went fine. Snowed a couple inches while out on the trail. Took about 5 hrs...the walking really slowed me down and having to switch boots 6 times back and forth.
Goal is to get some ideas and prepare for some longer stuff next winter.

In no particular order some shots from the past couple weeks.

Broken ski from skijoring. Not sure when it happened, I just happened to feel the rough sides when I went to wax it and found it broke. When skijoring, I felt that this ski was dragging some but figured it was a embedded stone in the base, but it had lost it's flex and was "digging" at times if I put too much pressure on it.
With the winter over, I justified buying a new pair because I skipped the Birkie this year.
Cost of Birkie weekend: entry fee: $80-100, $120 for gas, $150 for motel (2 nights)....food, etc??
Cost of new skis and bindings: $240 (1/2 price spring sale)

Upper MI. Lake Michigan. Snow dunes. Work road trip.

Had grandson Jason this weekend (another good reason not to leave town). He turns 2 in one day, so we had a little part for him.

Wolfman.
He doesn't like to smile sometimes for the camera. Can't wait till spring to try out the trike, or until his feet can reach the pedals.

Standing Rocks xc-Ski

Nothing like riding a motorcycle in WI in Dec.

No, that's not me!
Same lineup as last week. Tom, Al and Dano. This time at Standing Rocks Portage County Park, WI.
4-5" of fresh snow the night before. Part of the trail that wasn't groomed yet.
Dano powering up.
Ran into some friends that got me sking the American Birkie 7 years ago or so. Was a fun reunion out in the woods on the snow.
Al post ski.

Post ski at the house.

xc Skiing with Friends

Tom, Al and Dano. 9-mile Forest.




Little asthma issue for Tom, had to warm the air some. Temps were around 10-15 F.

North Central WI xc-Ski

2 solid hrs. skiing. My lungs are only 3/4. Wish I could shake this cold. Still had a great time.



Get your downhill mojo going.

Ski thru John, don't have to take your skis off. Gals pass through one way, Guys the other. Guess ya gotta take turns, though.

A week in Northern Finland

It's been 12-13 years since I've been in Kajaani, Finland which is in the northern part of Finland.


The weather, as it's been for most everyone around the world, has been colder than normal this year. All of the moisture has been sucked out of the air and it's been frozen solidly on all the trees in the area.


No salt on the roads here. Plow, toss down some cut rock that have sharp angles that cut into the packed snow and ice then stick about the surface and allows tire contact with the sharp pebbles, toss in studded tires and away ya go.


Night sking. 10 degrees F. Half a full moon.

The next day skied instead of lunch.
Local ski jump ramps.
Noon on the day of departure....the sun never makes up above the horizon line.
Kajaani airport. Yours truly.


Leaving town. Had a great evening the night before I left. Met some old work mates from a company I worked for 11 years ago. Was great to see the guys.



Connecting in Helsinki, route through Paris then on to Minneapolis.