2015 Wisconsin Christmas
31st December 2015
I had intended to post some pics and videos from our Christmas up in Wisconsin before the end of the year so that I could have at least one post in 2015 on toonesalive — but I forgot! So I’m retroactively posting and re-dating this for 2015. Enjoy!
Summary
We hit the tailend of a snowstorm on our way up. There wasn’t much snow, but we did end up an unplowed portion of Hwy 53 between Eau Claire and Shell Lake with an inch or so of new snow. We were driving along at 50mph (getting passed by people going even faster) and hit a deeper patch of snow on the righthand side of the car. This turned the car sideways, which I immediately countersteered (in the direction of the slide) to correct. Unfortunately, the tires grabbed and we slid the other way towards the median. I counter-steered again and this time it straightened out. Fortunately, this second part happened at a highway crossover so there was extra room in the middle otherwise we would have ended up off the road in the middle. This was an exciting end to an 18 hour overnight drive.
It snowed again very lightly a few times while we were up there, but it was mostly dry and about average temps. I got some long mountain bike rides and a few fat bike rides in to take me up over 30,000 miles for the year and complete the Rapha Festive 500. One of the fat bike rides was quite the adventure ending well after dark in light snow, which is fun to watch in a helmet mounted light (looks like a blizzard).
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- A very wet and WARM Christmas morning ride.
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- The vesclub mountain goats celebrating Christmas.
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- Analise trying out her new lacrosse stick.
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- 18 hours of driving later, we arrived in the winter wonderland of Northwestern Wisconsin.
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- Temps were exactly 50 degF cooler than when we left Birmingham.
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- I was so excited to see all the snow, I got my mountain bike out and went riding around town. Salem Lutheran church in the background.
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- The Shell Lake walleye sign with a frozen Shell Lake in the background.
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- We went sledding later in the afternoon. This was the first snow that Shell Lake had had in December so there were lots of people out sledding.
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- Walking to church on Sunday.
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- Family picture at Salem Lutheran.
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- The Timberland Hills firetower.
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- First icebeard of the trip.
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- River otter or beaver tracks.
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- Everything was icy so I rode on platform pedals for the first couple days.
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- Icebeard from my second ride.
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- Icebeard from my third ride – midride before switching over to fat bike.
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- Fat bike portion of my ride – crossing the Namekagon River.
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- This sign is hilarious to us because I lost my camera near hear when trying to take a picture of a turtle on a log while kayaking. We’ve always joked that there is a turtle taking and selling digital pictures using my camera.
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- Ice beard at heartwood after riding from Hayward on a fat bike.
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- Heartwood conference center, heading out to complete 30,000 miles for the year.
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- Fat bike in a bit deeper snow.
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- Ice beard before tubing with the kids towards the end of my ride.
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- Josiah tubing / rolling down the hill.
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- Analise enjoyed eating the snow more than playing in it.
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- Josiah and I after tubing.
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- Riding aross the frozen Hoinville Lake to get to our rental cabin in Heartwood.
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- Josiah heading out for a ski.
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- Analise heading out for a ski with Josiah, Kristine, and I.
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- Kristine and I went back out to ski the long trail which is the only place to see the Namekagon River.
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- Kristine and I during our ski.
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- Ice beard after making it back to Shell Lake.
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- Star Wars at the Spooner Palace.
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- The Spooner Palace complete with a stage and curtains.
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- The final day of riding, I started out on the fat bike trails and crashed on a very icy road on the way to the trail.
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- The fat bike trails intertwine with the Birkiebeiner ski trails.
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- Seely Pass fat bike trail – awesome!
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- Ice beard after making it back to Shell Lake after super long adventure in the snow!
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- Driving home to Alabama, we first swung by the high point of Wisconsin – Timms Hill – with ice fishermen in the foreground.
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