Things to do in Minnesota in the Winter

It's winter, and I pretty much just want to do this all the time:

Whiskey, 11 weeks or so....

With all the cold and early darkness, I pretty much go into hibernation mode. But last winter, B and I decided we needed a hobby (other than sleeping and drinking beer), so we took up skate skiing. If you ever get into cross country skiing, Minnesota is the place to go. In the winter, every local park, golf course, state park, etc is groomed for cross country skiing. I've never lived in a place with so many ski options. There are downhill places, too, but growing up in Utah, it would seem like sacrilege. We've been going to Theodore Worth State Park, which is a bit of a drive (40 minutes) but is beautiful - great groomed track, rolling oak savannah and prairie, and not that many people. We have several friends who are game, and we've been going out every weekend when the weather is good:

We also instituted time trials around the fire ring - five times around, and whoever does it the fastest, wins. Did I say there aren't very many people here? This is a good thing, in light of our time trials.

It's a lot of fun, even though we are learning and our form isn't great. In fact, imagine the photo below with skis, and that's what we look like. But it makes you excited when it snows, and you can be outside without freezing.