May 20
Posted: under General, Rants.
Tags: minnesota, weather
It’s nearly 95 here today, with winds gusting to at least 40 MPH. Wondering how hot it would be if it were calm… Yesterday, at one place in the state, it was over 100 degrees, while in another, it was 34. How did a huge crack not just form down the middle? It snowed last [...] [...more]
It’s nearly 95 here today, with winds gusting to at least 40 MPH. Wondering how hot it would be if it were calm…
Yesterday, at one place in the state, it was over 100 degrees, while in another, it was 34. How did a huge crack not just form down the middle?
It snowed last weekend, and now we are stiflingly hot, 3 days later. An ice cube would last about 30 seconds out here.
Oh, and it’s tornado season!
This state is messed up.
Feb 25
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 [...] [...more]
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…
Jan 15
Posted: under Fun Stuff, General, Praise, Rants, WTF is wrong with people?.
Tags: cold, minnesota, winter, WTH is wrong with people?
…your garage door freezes to the ground overnight, and when you go to open it the next morning, it rips the 2X4 supporting the track right off the wall….this happened to me this week…twice. Last night was officially the coldest that I have seen it here yet. It never went above -1 in the city [...] [...more]
…your garage door freezes to the ground overnight, and when you go to open it the next morning, it rips the 2X4 supporting the track right off the wall….this happened to me this week…twice.
Last night was officially the coldest that I have seen it here yet. It never went above -1 in the city yesterday, and by the time I had taken the dog out when I got home, it was -7 in the ‘burbs. Predictions were for the temp to drop and the wind to pick up, with an ambient temperature of -21 and a wind chill in the -40 to -45 range. Balmy!
Around 7:00, I stepped out to grab something at the grocery store for dinner. Glancing at the temp on my way out, I saw that it had dropped to -11 in a matter of an hour. I regretted even having to make the walk from the car to the grocery store door. Luckily, on this end of the trip, I had the relative protection of the garage to look forward to.
While waiting in line to pay for my goods, I couldn’t help but notice the woman in front of me. She was holding just a single box of popsicles. I wrestled back in forth in my head whether I should ask why popsicles in January in Minnesota, and when she finally glanced back in my directtion, I spoke up.
“Popsicles? Really?” I said.
She laughed. ”Yeah, my husband called me at work and said ‘pick up some popsicles!’. I told him he’s crazy. So now he’s at home, sitting outside by the fireplace, waiting for some popsicles”.
I laughed – a little – while I digested what I just heard. Good thing it was her turn to check out, ’cause I really had nothing else to say.
Welcome to Minnesota indeed.
At -21.8 the weather station took itself offline (OFL). Smart machines know when to call it quits, unlike some dumb humans.
Dec 14
Posted: under General, Rants.
Tags: cold, minnesota, winter
I know that one of the things that you are supposed to expect when you live in Minnesota is that winter is going to be harsh and painful. But it seems like that it really snuck up on us this year and then attacked like a sniper. I just looked at the temperature outside on [...] [...more]
I know that one of the things that you are supposed to expect when you live in Minnesota is that winter is going to be harsh and painful. But it seems like that it really snuck up on us this year and then attacked like a sniper. I just looked at the temperature outside on my remote weather station, and it’s a whopping -3.5. Combine the 30MPH+ wind and driving blizzard-like snow, and it is now -20 degrees to human skin. Combine that with the fact that it was 33 when I woke up today and we’re talking a crazy temperature shift of like 50 degrees in less than 12 hours. Wow.
It’s supposed to get to -31 tomorrow. And as luck would have it, our furnace is slowly dying, making some crazy sounds that remind me of the tornado sirens we hear on a much more frequent basis than we’d like. I’m hoping that the techs that come in tomorrow at 8AM can fix the problem on the cheap, but that dream is fleeting at best. I’m not sure if working from home tomorrow is a blessing or a curse. Brrrrr! Winter is here early!
Nov 09
Posted: under Fun Stuff, General, Rants, WTF is wrong with people?.
Tags: driving, minnesota, tailgaiting
I’ve been living here for about a year and a half and I have to say that unequivocally that Minnesota drivers have to be the worst drivers in the United States. Seriously, it’s a very good thing that I don’t personally own a car and that I don’t drive on a daily basis here, because [...] [...more]
I’ve been living here for about a year and a half and I have to say that unequivocally that Minnesota drivers have to be the worst drivers in the United States. Seriously, it’s a very good thing that I don’t personally own a car and that I don’t drive on a daily basis here, because I think that I would kill myself or more than one person around me in a fit of road rage. When I do drive around the Twin Cities on the weekends, my blood pressure comes close to a boil within about 10 minutes of leaving my driveway. Which is why Lori does most of the driving…
Driving in Massachusetts, I thought, would expose me to what I thought would be the absolute worst drivers ever to be assembled on a road, ever. That thought was destroyed over the past 18 months of living here in MN. I bet that drivers in the Dominican Republic (known as the worst drivers in the world) would have a few choice words if they had to navigate the highways of Minneapolis.
Couple of pointers for those of you with the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” on your license plates:
- Driving 2 feet off the bumper of the car in front of you is not safe, especially at speeds of 70+ MPH. This would seem to be a basic skill that one would be taught in driver’s ed, but apparently it is not one most Minnasota drivers wish to follow.
- Turn signals are something that are imperative to helping other drivers understand what your intentions are. Are you about to cut me off in a gridlock situation? Who cares? It’s all about you, right?
- True “defensive driving” rules say that you should leave a safe distance between the car in front of you so that if they have to stop quickly, I won’t suddenly become a passenger in their backseat. When I leave that 3 seconds between cars, it is not an invite for you to fill that “gap” and make me and everyone behind me susceptible to a 40 car pileup.
- The left hand lane is for PASSING! Minnesota drivers have the need to go all the way to the left at the very first opportunity, and then just travel at the same speed as the car to their right. The result? Three or four lanes of cars traveling the exact same speed, much like an entire linebacking corps holding back the backfield. Traffic flows much better when the faster traffic flows with speeders on the left, grandmas on the right.
A couple of other observations about the way that Minnesota goes about their transportation regulations:
- Why are we not required to do an annual inspection of our vehicles? I have seen some real pieces of shit driving down the road. Some of these cars and trucks don’t look safe enough to drive in a cornfield, much less a public road. Today, I swear I saw the brand of shoes of the guy beside me because of the rust holes in his door.
- To go with the above, if one is not required to maintain their cars, how does the average joe-blow know when it is time to say, replace their brakes, or get new tires, or fix their obviously unsafe chassis components?
- How is it that we have one of the hardest to pass licensing programs in the US, but yet have some of the worst drivers I have ever seen? Seriously, we have driven from here to the East Coast through both the US and Canada several times, and it is uncanny to watch the downgrade of driving etiquette as you pass across the Minnesota border.
- Considering 1 & 2 above, why would I EVER buy a used car in Minnesota, knowing that the previous owner wouldn’t ever have done one iota of maintenace to their car or truck that wasn’t forced on them?
Bah! Enough ranting for now. Last sentiment – Minnesota drivers suck! Wisconsin drivers, you have my props, at least you get it.
Learn from it!
Oct 26
Posted: under General, Rants.
Tags: minnesota, snow, weather, winter
I’m sitting here doing a last minute check of the football picks for the day, and I look outside to see sideways snow blowing by. Old man winter has finally arrived. I guess I was spoiled with all the warm sunny weather we’ve been having. I still have to pull up the garden, give the [...] [...more]
I’m sitting here doing a last minute check of the football picks for the day, and I look outside to see sideways snow blowing by. Old man winter has finally arrived. I guess I was spoiled with all the warm sunny weather we’ve been having. I still have to pull up the garden, give the lawn one last mow, and bring in all the patio furniture.
Bah – I’ll do it tomorrow.
Old Man Winter has arrived in Minnesota
