Russia Attacking Ukraine tonight deeply saddens me. I have a wonderfully talented technology team of 100 people in Kyiv and we are trying to keep everyone safe.

Dogsledding with Wintergreen

It was 2009 when I first went dogsledding at Wintergreen! That trip was just me, and it was Layne Kennedy’s photography workshop. It was an amazing 3-days of dogsledding and I got three awesome friends out of it as well!

So it was great to come back 13 years later, this time with the whole family, and have a fun half-day dogsledding trip with Wintergreen Dogsled Lodge outside of Ely.

The dogs were just as I remembered them — so excited to pull and really loud when they had to be stopped. The dogs seemed friendlier than I remembered from the first time. We got a plenty cold day with temperatures around -4 F°. Everyone had a good time on the snow!

Frozen head shots at the end of todays dogsledding adventure!

Two minutes on the dogsled trails out with Wintergreen Dogsled Lodge today. We had to stop and start the sled so you hear the “woah” and “hike” commands. Willow and Acorn are the two lead dogs. Tammy and Mazie are in the sled in front of me, and Tyler was on their sled.

A quite minute on the dogsled trails out with Wintergreen Dogsled Lodge today.

Snowmobiling Around Tower

We had a fabulous day on the trails with snowmobiles! We got to Lake Vermillion Houseboats right at 9a to get our snowmobiles and helmets. We were on the trail in no time. We hadn’t had breakfast so we stopped in Tower after a short ride across Pike Bay at Good Ol’ Days Cafe for a “greasy spoon” breakfast. It also served as a quick gear test and we realized the folks were going to need some help with warm hands. We picked up a bunch of hand warmers at the gas station and then we hit the trail for pretty good loop.

I’m not sure on the total distance but we were out on the trail for a bit over 3 hours after breakfast. The hand warmers were a big help and we had a great time. I thought the distance was just right but mostly everyone else thought we could have ended an hour earlier. 🙂 I also wasn’t that cold when we got done and everyone else felt pretty cold. 🥶

Downtown Ely. Nice to see the theatre open again!

Snow sculptures in Whiteside Park in Ely, MN.

Highway MN 169 heading into Ely.

Given the state of US politics, wouldn’t now be an ideal time for the creation and launch of a new political party? The two “products” on offer seem to leave a wide space for a new entrant into the market. 🤔