mnadventure.com

The Kettle River Paddle Fest is approaching!

I feel like here is where I'm supposed to explain about the event and how cool it's going to be, but if you need a sales pitch in order to decide if it's worth the trip, well then, your loss!  Paddle Fest is awesome.  There, that's a pitch for ya.  That's all you need.

So load up your gear and get to Sandstone April 30-May 2nd and hang with the cool kids!

XC skiing is one of the best family outside activities you can enjoy.  You're not hurling along at dangerous speeds and it's a great workout, but Brock is too little to ski yet and I need to get outside or I go stir crazy.  I thought about a backpack, but if I fell, Brock falls too.  I thought about an expensive Burly with ski option, but the skis ride outside the tracks and I'm cheap.  Sleds aren't allowed because they mess up the groomed trails.  So I did what any cheap dad does, rigged Brock a sled out of his bike trailer with adjustable skis to fit in the tracks.  This allowed less resistance riding in a groomed trail and a sort of side stability to help with the turns.  If you want to read more about our adventures with it, check out the rest of the story!

Ice Fest is almost upon us! Mark your calendars and clear your schedule to make sure you can attend this event.

In it's fifth year, the Fest continues to grow. More sponsors, more clinics, more fun! If you're an ice climber, you'll love the Ice Fest. If you aren't an Ice Climber, you'll love the presentations and other clinics available from skijoring to ski pulk demos to winter camping clinics.

Make sure you get to Sandstone for the Ice Fest Dec 11-13 2009. It's a really a great time and worth the drive to The Stone. See you at the Gas Light!

The weather station at Carlsona blew out her anemometer recently and a new one costs about $150 to replace it.  With a rating of 24 months, it's something that will need to be replaced after blowing constantly and keeping us all up to date on what's happening on the lake.  It was suggested I add a Paypal donate button here to make it easy for us to get this done.  We started discussing in the forum and started kickin in $10 each, but feel free to donate whatever you like.

UPDATE:

We've got the goods.  I found one for $130 and we had just that.  So it's just been ordered and hopefully on its way soon.  Here are the people to thank for helping to get everyone weather information from Carlsona:

Seth Downs
Jeff Engel
Denis Foo Kune
Mark Henderson
Donald McMillan
Scott Fritzsch

Thank those guys at the beach and anytime you get a chance.  They made it possible to keep the station going.  If you have guilt you were too slow and want to contribute for future maintenance, either email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or put that feeling away until the next time we need to rally for the station.  I'm hoping to get up there tueday to get it done if it comes in time.  Thanks guys, you rock!