Feb 25
Skiing…finally.
Posted: under Fun Stuff, General, Praise.
Tags: DEER!, Lutsen, minnesota, skiing
After 2 years of not being able to go skiing, like I had been used to doing a lot when living in New England, I finally got to scratch the itch again this weekend by visiting the biggest ski resort in Minnesota, Lutsen Mountain. It was a great feeling to get back on the planks and do a little shusshing down a mountain again.
Lutsen Mountain is a resort about 4 hours north of the Twin Cities, located right on the banks of Lake Superior in Northern Minnesota. Driving up was a little weird, scenery-wise, comparing to what I was used to. When driving to a ski resort in New England, you are accustomed to maneuvering windy hills on your way to a mountain-fun-filled weekend. In Minnesota, you pass many, many fields of last year’s corn and wheat, then find yourself in a vast wilderness of trees and hills on your left, with an ocean-like Lake Superior on your right. Then, all of a sudden, there is an entrance to a Midwest skiing mecca that pops up. No mountain views leading up to that point, just trees and deer and a lot of supporting cast in the form of lodges and restaurants. At this point, I had very little hope of what this long trek had promised in the brochures.
We settled in to our ski-in, ski-out condo on Friday night, under the darkness, me with little hope of finding a great ski hill, and with Lori totally excited about the full hour of foot massage goodness she was scheduled to get the next day. One thing about foot massages is that it doesn’t take mother nature to form a backdrop to make it blissful. At least one of us was not feeling cautiously optimistic.
Fast forward to Saturday. I bought my lift ticket and hit the slopes, iPod in hand. My first ride up the lift was truly awesome. Looking over my shoulder, I saw something that I never thought possible, having skied in New England (and once in CO) my whole life. My view was filled with trees and snowy slopes, followed by a backdrop of a huge, expansive, ocean-like blue of Lake Superior. As far as I could see, I saw water and ice. It was amazing to see that kind of scenery. I was in awe almost all day long. I took pictures and videos until the batteries ran out in the camera. It was just way too cool.
My reviews of the mountain itself are somewhat mixed. The terrain was pretty good, but the length of the runs were disappointing, considering the amount of time it took to get up. The lifts were very antiquated and slow, but the feeling of being “home” outweighed any real complaints that I had of them. Plus, I have been out of the game for 2 years, so the recovery time between runs was welcome. I actually found some great tree runs on the vastly unused side of the mountain, which were a godsend to someone like me, who likes to run in the trees, but doesn’t possess the ability to do trees + steeps. The snow was soft in the interior, mostly unused, and very peaceful. I saw only one other person in there, and that was a ski patrol guy who skied with me and shared a dearth of knowledge of wildlife that I found fascinating.
Lastly, speaking of wildlife, I have to mention the deer. From Duluth forward, we were both amazed at both the population of and the tameness of the deer. They were literally everywhere, in people’s driveways, yards, the road, and side of the road. When you stopped to take pictures of them, they hardly even noticed. We even ate at a general store/diner for breakfast, and they were just hanging out, looking for food. For two people who are used to only seeing deer as they flee your headlights, that was really cool. Lori was counting, and she saw at least 48 deer within 48 hours.
All in all, it was a great long weekend getaway, and for a 4 hour car ride, both Lori and I found it well worth the trip. It was just what was needed to stave off the toils of the day-to-day life for a little while. Libby and Eddie even had what seemed to be a great time, given the snoring away that both of them are doing right next to me right now.
Anyway, check out my Facebook page and my Flickr page to see some shots of the weekend.
Maybe I’ll get my Dad out here yet…
