Gone Up North

The Wisconsin Life!! We are fully embracing it, loving the new adventures we can have in the winter. With the mild winter we've had in Neenah, though, we are now chasing the snow - I'm a frequent reader of the trail reports, and early last week, I decided it was a great opportunity for us to take a weekend up north with an overnight to get some winter fun in.

Originally, we had planned on heading to Lake Geneva to meet some friends who would drive up from Chicago for some cross country skiing, but there isn't a snow covered trail to be found in the bottom half of the state! We called an audible and made plans with our friends for a couple of months from now, and then booked a cabin in Oneida County as a landing pad in between our days of fun.

We started Saturday out with a three hour drive to Rhinelander, WI, a small town in NE Wisconsin that has an extensive network of local trails! Of all of the websites I've found, this one has the most descriptive and extensive information on skiing options, so after a little bit of research, I felt confident the Rhinelander Community Ski Trails were a great option for us beginning skiers.

We were blessed with a perfect day for winter sports; mid-30s, sunny, and almost no wind. We spent about an hour and a half progressing from just getting our skis under us to gliding along the trails in the woods that included some fun downhills and twists and turns that challenged us but weren't so hard as to be impossible.

It was also our first time to ski as a family; I was so happy that we were all taking a weekend away from the house. With an unusually stressful work week behind me, and Justin having worked nonstop to get the house projects done pretty much since we moved in, it was a great chance to unplug and unwind. And what fun we had!

 

As I had expected, I wasn't quite ready to be done when everyone else had had enough; I wanted to take a couple more loops around the trails while Justin and the kids waited in the car for me. But first, obligatory family photos!

 

Once I was off the trails, we made our way to Lac du Flambeau, a community about 45 minutes north of Rhinelander, where we'd rented a cabin for the night. It was set way back in the woods and had all the charm you would expect from an "up north cabin" - wood paneling, bunk beds, loft bedroom, and a wood stove! With the temperature falling and 6-8" of snow forecasted for overnight, we unloaded the van and grabbed quick showers before heading out for mass at the local Catholic Church.

A quick trip to the grocery store on the way home and we were in for the night. After a tough work week, three hours in the car and an active afternoon on skis, it was so nice to be able to just relax. Justin and I made dinner while the kids read, and after dinner I watched and tended the fire while Justin and the kids played board games. Well, I tended the fire until I started dozing on the couch, which couldn't have been much more than a few minutes after I settled in. We all eventually went to bed, with no need to get up early the next morning.

With the morning light, I woke up and looked out to see that we had indeed gotten the forecasted 6" of snow; the van was buried, the trees were covered, and it was a winter wonderland outside.

  

I had asked that we try to head out for the Minocqua Winter Park between 9-10am, but I knew that was probably a long shot as we all wanted to sleep in a bit and relax, too. I enjoyed a little bit of quiet before everyone was up, making coffee - without the filter and, alas, most of it spilled all over the counter. The dangers of being in an unfamiliar house!!

By the time the kids were up Justin and I were ready to start cooking breakfast, so they put their snow gear on and headed outside to play. And play they did! There were places where the drifts were waist high - they had a blast rolling around in and tromping through the snow!

  

We enjoyed a leisurely morning, eventually heading out to the Minocqua Winter Park around 11am, excited to spend our day tubing, skiing, ice skating, and maybe even snowshoeing.

I had learned about MWP in my many perusings on the internet to find ski trails; it came up frequently as it has over 90k (that's more than 50 miles!) of cross country trails! As a nonprofit run by the community, it also had appeal to me as a true community facility. We arrived right around 11:30 and it absolutely did not disappoint! We got our family pass and immediately headed for the tubing hill for some crazy downhill sliding fun!

headed up the hill on the tow rope!

Daddy getting in on the action, too!

The temperature was quite a bit colder than the day before, and the wind was whipping, but we all had extra layers on and were ready to go once we reached the top of the hill!

Man, was the tubing fun!! Justin and I went down a couple of times, but the kids stuck it out for quite a while, zipping down the hill every way they could.

 

Justin and I opted to grab our skis and hit the "cookie trail" while the kids were still on the tubing hill. This was the basic, beginners loop that we were confident we could manage without much trouble. It is geared toward kids, with stops along the way to punch your cookie ticket for a reward at the end to keep the motivated. What a cute idea!!

Justin and I split up part of the way so he could head back to the chalet and check on the kids; I kept going to get a bit more exercise in and to revel in the quiet of the morning. I have fallen in love with cross country skiing; the shushing, the gliding, the absolute quiet of the trails and the solitude of the moment. There weren't many other skiers out that morning, and I took as much advantage of it as time allowed.

After a couple of miles, I headed back to the chalet to find Justin with the kids enjoying some hot chocolate. They were planning on trying their hand at ice skating next, with a goal to leave within the hour. I begged for a little bit more time on the trails which Justin was fully supportive of. He took the kids to the pond, I headed to an intermediate loop trail and got that little bit more in, just enough to satisfy the time I had hoped for on the trails.

When I got back and put my skis on the rack, the kids were down at the pond skating, so I thought - why not? It's been years since I was on skates, but here was a chance to do something brand new - skate on a pond! One of the most wonderful things about moving to Wisconsin has been the opportunity to try brand new things. At any age, that's always a treat!

Unfortunately, this is the moment my phone decided to die; right as I was lining up with both kids to take a picture, the battery went kaput. That was our sign; it was time to head home. No snowshoeing this time, but we had so much fun, I definitely see return trips in our future.

We packed up the van and headed out - and, after a mishap where we got stuck in the snow on an unplowed road (yes, we followed the GPS - yes, we need snow tires - yes, we should've driven our AWD vehicle instead!), we finally got going thanks to the help of some very kind strangers who helped push us out of the snow drift we were stuck in and back to the road that was more clear!

Finally home for the evening and unpacked, I'm so grateful for the opportunity and ability to just pick up and go somewhere for the weekend, enjoying time together with my family doing a new sport that has quickly become one of my new favorites. Add in the fact that it's in a part of the country we're just beginning to explore, and I truly do live a wonderful life.

As I've seen on many of the trail reports: Carpe Skiem!