While visiting my father in northern Minnesota we slipped out for a little while. Ben (12) and I headed over to Grand Rapids for some cross country skiing near the High School.

Nicely groomed trails.

Lots of snow on the branches. It is actually a week old but still looks fresh.

Ben (12) out skiing for the second time. He did a good job and was able to manage all of the hills.

Me (40) out skiing for the second time since I was in high school.

Did I mention that it was 0F when we went out? Getting out of the truck and getting dressed outside made me really question what I was thinking about. The reality is that once we were moving for 5 minutes we were totally overdressed. We kind of knew that was going to be the case but it was so cold we errored on the side of caution. Our excursion covered a little over a mile of trail and was very enjoyable.

I plan on taking the cross country skiis and snow shoes to Iowa later in the week since they have 12-18 inches of fresh snow down there.