Month: January 2010

Lisa Meyers McClintick

Bundle up for Minnesota’s biggest ice fishing festival

Last January, the windchills were 20 below at the  Brainerd Jaycees’ $150,000 ice-fishing extravaganza. That didn’t seem to bother anyone except posers like me with hand- and toe-warmers and pajama bottoms augmenting long underwear and too-thin snowpants. Truly hearty Minnesotans brought portable heaters to thaw their beer. Bud slushie, anyone? The sheer spectacle of this ice-fishing contest–10,000 people and 21,000 …

Lisa Meyers McClintick

Skating at The Depot in downtown Minneapolis

Give history a whirlYou know a place has full-blown charm when it lures an 88-year-old great-grandmother onto ice skates for the first time in decades. That would be my Grandma Cretia. She couldn’t stand just watching while her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren had all the fun at The Depot’s Minneapolis ice rink over the holidays. It’s easily one …