Skiing finally

Well the first ski trip is on the radar. We are headed to Lutsen next weekend. I can't wait. This winter has been odd so far. But it looks like the conditions are finally good and it is time to go. I have been waiting for Lutsen to be 100% open at least on their primary runs which they now are and it looks like they have great coverage so we are going to go it a go.

The holidays are pretty much over. We don't do anything exciting for New Years so that doesn't really count for us except for the not having to work part which rules. I think tonight we are going to get a pizza and watch the Wild game. Melissa has discovered a new found love for hockey, which is awesome. She likes to watch on TV and go to the games in person so Win - Win...

I am kind of bummed that Christmas is over though. I like Christmas a lot. And it always makes me sad when it is over. *sigh*

50 days till our ski trip to Big Sky!!! Sweet!

Not Much

well we finally have some snow on the ground. Not much but at least it is going to be a white Christmas. I haven't been out skiing yet which is hard to believe but like I said there isn't any snow! I keep waiting and hoping that we will get some real stuff here in the next few days, but there is nothing in the forecast so I wait.

Meanwhile the west is finally starting to get some snow and it is piling up out there nicely. Big Sky is now 63 days away and they are getting snow almost daily. So as long as they have lots for us when we get there I will be happy.

Christmas is almost here. I am excited. I love Christmas time. We have a nice tree up in our house and some lights around the house outside. It looks really nice and festive. My shopping is pretty much done. I just need to pick up a few small things and everything will be done. It is hard to believe that another Christmas is just a few days away. Even though I still love Christmas it is a bummer to be old and not have quite the same excitement as I did when I was little waiting for Santa Claus to come. Even though he does still swing by our house. Which is pretty cool of him. We don't really have much in the way of plans hooked up for Christmas. I think we are going to have a couple of nice days off, relax and enjoy each others company.

My classes are done and that is exciting. I think they both went pretty well and I was happy with how I did. I am waiting to get my grades, but I think I am in the 90% range for both classes. So that is good.

Melissa and I went to a Minnesota Wild hockey game the other night and just had a blast. Those games are so much fun. I love hockey, I wish I could go to more games but they are pretty expensive. So it was fun to go, hopefully we can get to another game before the season is over.

Think snow...

Snow Please

So this is the time of the year when I start to get antsy for some snow. it is also the time of year when I start to watch the snow at the western resorts pile up and question why I live here. But anyway, all the same it is almost Thanksgiving and the weather is unfortunately really nice and warm. Bummer! No snow in sight well at least for the next week or so. It is even far to warm for the area hills to be making snow so there are really no opening to report. Ugh!

In other news life is good. Melissa and I went to our first Vikings game last weekend. It was pretty fun. The tickets were a little to pricey for me but it was a fun time none the less. The crowd was interesting. A little to redneckie for me but hey who am I to judge. It was loud in the dome and there was a ton of energy and the Vikings won so all in all it was a good day.

Melissa and I are headed out of town next weekend and I think we are both really looking forward to it a lot. It will be nice to get away and spend some time just the two of us. So I am really looking forward to that.

My classes are almost done and they are going pretty well. I will say that I am glad they are almost over because neither one has been my favorite class by any means. I am enrolled in a history of the Vietnam War class for spring and am looking forward to that.

Life is good. Work is pretty good and I guess that is all... Just wish we could get some snow. I am starting to get the itch.

Busy

So things are going good. Mini Medical school is rocking and rolling again at the U of M. Last night was the 2nd week of 5 and it was good. I love Mini-Medical school it is such a fun learning experience. It is also fun to spend a night at the U and see what is going on there.

Wednesday is Melissa and my 4th anniversary. She has to work late on Wednesday so we are planning on doing something together on Thursday instead. Plans are still up in the air but it will be fun. Also this weekend the bluegrass band The High 48's are playing at Dulano's Pizza in Minneapolis so we are going to go and see them. They are a great little band and it turns out that I know the banjo player. Tony and I were friends in high school so it was cool to see him the last time we saw them play at Dulano's.

Work is busy, but seriously who cares about that. I sure don't

In other news I have been going to the gym a lot lately and really enjoying it. I have started swimming and I love the workout that I am getting from swimming laps. I am planning on swimming at least 2 days before work. At least I am going to try. I am not sure that I am going to be able to get up that early to make it for an hour of swimming and them get to work on time but we will see. At least right now at least I am thinking about it. I am mostly working out to make up for the fact that I didn't do any running and hardly any biking this year. I had a hard time getting into it, which I guess was a bummer. But I am enjoying the gym.

Melissa and I bought tickets to an upcoming Vikings game so that will be interesting. I have never been to a Vikings game and neither has she so we are both looking forward to that. We are going to the game on November 15th vs the Detroit Lions. We picked that one because the Vikings should be able to beat them and if I am going to pay all of that money to see them play I would like to see them win at least.

We have had a tease of winter here in Minnesota all ready, we have seen snow on the ground twice. The snow didn't stick around for very long but it was nice to see. I am hoping for lots of snow this winter. I really want to ski in some good conditions. Big Sky is only 122 days away...

Updated Life Adventure List

1. Heli-ski
2. Learn how to Surf ---- DONE
3. Drink a Guinness in Dublin
4. Ski Liberty Bowl,Big Sky Montana ---- DONE
5. Ski Wardance,Big Sky Montana ---- DONE
6. Backpack in Glacier National Park
7. Canoe trip in the BWCA ---- DONE
8. Hike the Inca trail to Macchu Picchu Peru
9. Camp on the beach in Maine
10. See the Sistine Chapel, Rome
11. Eurorail Trip
12. Ski Marx Bowl, Big Sky Montana
13. Bordeaux tasting trip in Bordeaux France
14. Ski Castro Bowl, Big Sky Montana
15. Go to The Burning Man Festival
16. Camp in Yosemite National Park
17. Climb the stairs at Half Dome at Yosemite National Park
18. Paint at Devils Tower
19. Road trip to Memphis to see Graceland
20. Road trip to Louisville to the Baseball bat factory
21. Take the Amtrak to Seattle
22. Camp in Alaska
23. Ski Big Couloir, Big Sky Montana
24. Hot Spring Bath in Iceland
25. Trek in Greenland
26. Antarctic Cruise
27. Ski in the Southern Hemisphere
28. Scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef
29. Have Tea in Nepal
30. Trek to the Everest Base Camp
31. Camp at Zion National Park
32. Go look for Area 51
33. Take a road trip with no plans
34. Climb Bear Butte in South Dakota
35. Camp beneath The Grand Teton
36. Ski Jackson Hole
37. Have Lobster in Maine
38. Go Bone Fishing in the Caribbean
39. Catch a Green Cutthroat Trout in Colorado ---- DONE
40. Mountain bike at Whistler Bike Park
41. Road bike tour of Napa Valley wine country
42. Ski the North snow field, Moonlight Basin Montana
43. Camp at the bottom of the Grand Canyon
44. Boogie Board in Hawaii ---- DONE
45. See an active Volcano
46. Go storm chasing for tornados
47. See the Last Supper painting
48. See the Leaning Tower of Piza
49. Ski Rendezvous Bowl, Jackson Hole
50. Backcountry Ski in Jackson Hole
51. Winter Camp
52. Take an Avalanche Safety course
53. Live out of my car for a week on a vacation.
54. Sleep under the stars with no tent.
55. Go bouldering in Joshua Tree
56. Eat at Cliff Bar above 11,000 feet ---- DONE
57. Stand at the gate of Auschwitz, Poland
58. Camp at Arches National Park Utah
59. Circle tour of Lake Superior
60. Go Bass fishing in Florida'
61. Ride a century
62. See the Giant Redwoods in Sequoia Park
63. Walk on the Great Wall of China
64. Play Golf at Pebble Beach
65. Visit in Banff
66. Watch Soccer live in England
67. See the Normandy Beaches, France
68. Ride Slickrock Trail, Moab Utah

BWCA re-cap...

So everything went really well for the first 12 hours or so of our BWCA trip. We got our canoe at about 9am and got loaded and were on the water at 930am. We headed due north up Sawbill Lake. The goal was to make it to Cherokee Lake about 10 miles away. We made it to our first portage and that was fine, in fact we made it to Cherokee found a nice campsite and got everything set up with no problems. Our tent site was awesome, up on a rock out cropping 3/4 surrounded by trees. We went back out in the canoe and got water for drinking and cooking and headed back in. We were tired and were hungry so we decided to have an early dinner. I fired up the stove and got some dinner cooked. Melissa and I sat down by the lake and enjoyed our dinner and enjoyed each others company. We then gathered wood for a campfire. We finally got a small fire going, we had a tough time finding dry wood but finally gathered enough to get something going. The fire turned out to be great. All of this time we noticed that the wind was picking up little by little. By the time we called it a night and hit the tent which was around 8pm the wind was blowing hard. I would guess 30mph for sure. We sat in the tent and played cards and talked and listened to the wind. The next day when we woke, it was blowing even harder, raining, there were white caps on the lake and it was cold... Ugh. We decided to just lay around and see what happened and hoped it would clear. Nope 5 hours later, same thing, 10 hours later same thing, 15 hours later same thing. At some point in the morning I ran over and got our food bag out of the tree because it looked like it was going to be a long day in the tent and we had to eat. And at that point I did not care about bears or anything, it couldn't get much worse. We ended up sitting in our Mountain Hardware tent for a total of 37 hours. It was horrid. I became an expert at cooking in the vestibule of the tent which was good. The weather was so bad and the wind was blowing so hard that I was actually a little nervous about the tent a couple times. I restaked it, early in the morning on day 2 to tighten everything up which helped a lot. After that she weathered the wind perfectly. That was a rock star tent. Melissa was a great sport through the whole day and in fact the whole trip. We sat around, played cards, read, talked and joked about being trapped. Finally Friday night I looked at her and said, "if the weather breaks at all tomorrow we are outta here." Well Saturday morning we got up, it was gray, drizzling and a little less windy. The bonus was the wind changed direction and was now blowing out of the north and we had to travel south, so the wind would be at our back if we left. I looked at her and said, "what do you want to do." She looked at the sky and said, "lets get outta here while we can." I laughed and like a well oiled machine we packed up camp perfectly and systematically. Got everything into our packs and loaded the canoe and shoved off. We had the wind to our backs and the paddles were flying. We paddled the first mile in about 20 minutes, knocked off 3 portages another 4 miles of paddling in 2 hours, did an 80 rod portage in 5 minutes and made it back to the landing were we left Thursday morning 4 hours and 15 minutes later. We checked our canoe back in, spoke with the girl about our weather trouble, and slammed two Isle of Pines Root Beers. We found out that most of the area was with out power due to the storm. Melissa and I were bummed. It was our first trip in the BWCA and the weather sucked. We couldn't do anything. The lake we were on had tons of islands that we wanted to check out, but couldn't because of the dangerous winds and the waves. So the trip just turned out to be a dud... We did decide to spend our final night in Duluth. So we stopped at our favorite place to eat on the way back to Duluth, we had a great lunch and more laughs. We got a nice hotel room in Canal Park, had nice hot showers, and went out and about down by the little shops that we like to look in. We had a great dinner, a good night sleep and got up Sunday and headed home. The weekend turned out to be great. The camping part was what it was and it was a bummer that the weather couldn't help us out but all in all it was fun. We are going to try again next year, same time, same place. We are going to go a different direction but it should be interesting to say the least...

Holy Shit is all I have to say... 36 hours tent bound in the BWCA. I am friggin' ready to wait out a storm on K2... I really didn't think I could sit in the same place for a day and a half. Nope I can. When I can sort out our weekend in the boundary waters, I will post more. Right now I am trying to put all of the pieces in place.

God, winter can't get here fast enough.