Real Winter: Visit to Minnesota Ya!

I just got back from a trip to Minneapolis. Thar's real winter in Minnesooota, Ya!

My brother lives in the Minneapolis bedroom community of Prior Lake. Situated some thirty minutes southwest of the city, Prior Lake sits on a few knolls with a substantial lake wending its way in between.

Lining every square inch of shoreline are homes complete with dock, ski boat, wave runner and oh, every so often is a kayak. But this is winter. And coming from Portland, Oregon, where winter isn't really much to talk about, well Minnesota is the real deal. I mean, we get dark. We get rain. Sometimes we get snow. But it's been in the low 50's now for a couple of weeks. Compare that with a high of three degrees in Prior Lake just before my arrival. I timed my visit for a "warm up" with daytime highs of 34 and sun.

Well I did stuff the locals might do. Like watch kids fly off a 70-meter ski jump!

We also headed to a local ski hill and watched hundreds of tykes on the freestyle slope. The ski area had built lots of jumps and rails for kids. The lift was a rope tow and every foot was taken by a kid headed up hill. Just like ants.

I went to the Mystic Lake Casino - "a Vegas style casino with a midwest address" to check it out. The parking lot was 90% full, and the place was hopping. It seemed bigger than the South Lake Tahoe casinos I'd been to before. But here, mostly slot machines and poker. Some games aren't allowed - no roulette, and no craps. I'm not sure why. On the other hand, while cigarette smoking is banned in Minnesota public eateries/bars, it's allowed. But the strangest rule - no alcohol! But that had no effect on drawing crowds. Outside, teepee was the architectural theme. Some buildings looked like teepees, and a giant teepee was created in the sky with searchlights. It's part of a Sioux Indian tribal agreement. They seem to have everything, complete with a fire department and wind turbine.

I also saw a local phenomenan - a Vikings football game, viewed lakeside in a sports bar. Purple-and-gold fans zoomed across the lake on their snow machines. Meanwhile bobcats cleared the ice for an upcoming pond hockey tournament. It was a fun game, especially as the opponents were my nemesis Dallas Cowboys.

Later that afternoon we drove ourselves onto that frozen lake, along with everybody else out there. Yar, there was one lonely guy X-C skiing, but everyone else was driving a car/truck or snow machine. Or, the other quirky activity - ice fishing. Not sure what this is all about - squatting over a hole, beer in hand waiting for a tug on the line! I think it's some kind of "men-only escape from home for a while" thing.

Then there is Mall of America with its indoor amusement park. That's something else! Well, when it was all over, I got the impression people figure it out with the cold, but I don't know if I'd want to put up with it!