Monday, March 18, 2013

More Skiing! Iola and Minocqua Winter Park

Over the March 16-17 weekend, we were able to do some late winter skiing. As usual, it was lots of fun. We started the weekend in Iola, WI, at Iola Winter Sports. The temperatures were warm, and we skied on a alternately icy and slushy track, but it was a beatiful day to be outside, so we just enjoyed ourselves and the relative quiet. At Iola, we never know quite how far we ski, but we were out for an hour and 25 minutes.
Iola Winter Sports Man, Iola, WI
After skiing, we headed north through the countryside on Wisconsin Highway 49. In Wausau, WI, we took advantage of happy hour and an early dinner at Red Eye Brewery. We visited last year, so it was nice to stop in again. After dinner, it was not dark until nearly 7:30pm, so we got really lovely sunset views heading into Minocqua.

Susan & Frank at the top of the VO2 Max Trail at Minocqua Winter Park, WI
The temperatures dropped a lot from Saturday to Sunday, and it was below 0 when we got up on Sunday morning. We waited a few hours before heading out to the Winter Park. By the time we got out on the trails, it was a whopping 15 degrees! After one of our longer ski jaunts of 2 hours 25 minutes and ~13 km, we made our way south for lunch at El Mezcal in Wausau, WI (a second visit of the season), and onward back to Chicago.