Winter Wakeboarding

Well I suppose if the lakes aren't going to freeze this year, the watersports season never ends! Kind of wish we were playing ice hockey by now but hey, we'll take what we get.

Photo taken Dec 12, 2015 here in Plymouth.

Wet suit required! ha ha.

Summertime activities for kids and families in Plymouth 2014

This summer Plymouth will be putting on a lot of free shows in their parks. Here is a list of what is happening when:

The Water ski show at Parkers lake is awesome. (Photo Credit Plymouth Sun Sailor)

The Hilde Small Stage: 3450 Plymouth Blvd
6/16: Zoomobile 6:45pm
6/23: Comedy Sportz 7pm
6/25: Happy birthday America with Magician Annette Fragale 11am

Parkers Lake Stage: County Road 6 and Niagara LN
6/10: BZ Girls 7pm
6/17: Andrew Walesch Trio 7pm
6/24: Plymouth Concert Band 7pm
7/8: TaleSpin 7pm
7/9: Kid Concert: Kid Power with Rachael 11am
7/15: Geoff Elvee 7pm
7/16: Water Ski Show 7pm
7/17: Travelld 7pm
7/22: Summer Carnival: kids Koncert: Cale the Juggler 7pm
7/24: Everett Smithson Band 7pm
7/29: Todd Menton 7pm
7/31: Kevin Bowe Duo 7pm
8/6: Water Ski Show 7pm
8/12: Rowe Family Singers 7pm
8/13 Kids Koncert: Alpha Bits 11am

Hilde Amphitheater: 3450 Plymouth Blvd
6/12: Plymouth Concert Band 7pm
6/13 at 7pm and 6/14 at 2pm: Missoula Children's Theater Presents: Rapunzel
6/19: Not Guilty Band 7pm
6/26: Star of the North Concert Band 7pm
7/1: Music in Plymouth all day
7/10: Salsa del Sol
7/11 at 7pm 7/12 at 2pm: Prairie Fire Children's Theater Presents: Tom Sawyer

Plymouth Movies in the park
8/15: Little Big League
8/22: The Jungle Book

"Little Big League" Classic.

Go for a Swim!

Calvin Wilks is ready for a swim at one of plymouth's beaches. You know you are too!

Summer is great here in Plymouth. One of the best ways to get out and enjoy it is swimming! Lifetime fitness has a great pool with big waterslides and an indoor pool too! But you do have to pay to use it 7.25 for adults and 3.50 for kids, that’s a special rate for Plymouth residents.  New Hope pool is also great with high dives and the classic outdoor pool vibe. However that pool closes on August 18.

The indoor pool at life time is sweet.

In my opinion swimming in one of Plymouths 8 lakes is way better anyways. It’s completely free of course and there are many well maintained beach areas.  The lakes are safe and clean, even though they’re real murky. 

The pavilion and beach at West Medicine Lake Park! A great place to swim, barbeque or pop wheelies on Radio Flyers

The best beach in Plymouth is West Medicine Lake Park. Its scenic and comfortable, the water stays shallow for quite a ways, there is a great playground, and a basketball court with a tall hoop and a short hoop so you can show off your best slam dunks. Another nice thing about this beach is it has an area where you can pull boats up and park them on the beach. You’ll always see plenty of fishermen at this park fishing both in the lake and on the little pond behind the park.

The Beach at West Medicine Lake Park, Nicest on the Lake.

Other good swimming areas:

French Park, good beach, but you have to park way up at the playground and ride a little shuttle train thing down to the beach, which is actually kind of fun.

East Medicine Lake Park: Nice but in a weird place by all these mechanical buildings, also windiest side of the lake.

Parkers Lake Park: This place is nice but last I saw it was completely underwater due to high water levels.  The Trick Water Ski Show by “Shockwaves” takes place at this park and its totally sweet.

Or Your Backyard:

Well there’s just a small sampling enjoy ‘em while you still can!

Storm Damage

This post isn't so much of a suggestion of something to do. Its more of an acknolegement that Plymouth weather is wild, and if you plan on spending any ammount of time in Plymouth: BE READY. If what I heard on the radio yesterday is accurate, the President delclared us a FEMA Disaster Zone due to our June storm. The following is a small documentation of what hit us last month.

...And this is why we had no power for days.

 This year we've seen it all, blizzards in late April, Tornados, Severe Thunderstorms, good times!

Part of the Plymouth lifestyle is dealing with severe weather. The people here are hearty and resilient though. Many were out of power for up to a week. But the really nice thing was the minute the storms were over I saw an outpouring of people out in the neighborhoods immediately helping out and pitching in to repair damage on their homes and their neighbor’s homes. It made me proud to be a Plymouth-ite.

French Park

French Park is Plymouth’s best Park. And it has Plymouth’s best playground. All you really need to know is they have the nets, aka the spider webs, aka the ropes, it’s fun for everyone. I included a few pictures to get you excited. But seriously not much has to be said, your right by a beach for swimming, there’s an indoor facility with taxidermied animals and ice cream treats and it’s the funnest playground equipment you’ve ever played on.  It’s the old kind of playground that’s not completely safe and made out of wood, therefore its more fun. So come play on it or bring your kids because they don’t make them like this anymore.

Part of it was under construction at this time, but as of last time I was there (5/8/15) all construction was complete.

Its free! and its located at: 12605 Rockford Rd  Plymouth, MN 55441
(763) 694-7750

Go There

Plymouth's Best Burger: Five Guys

When they finally shut down the old Blockbuster Video, I felt pretty sad, like a piece of my childhood had died, all the friday nights poring over all the VHS tapes and settling on raiders of the lost ark again. But then they put a Five Guys Burger Joint in where the Blockbuster store used to be and suddenly I wasn't too worried about all the videos I would not be renting anymore.

Five Guys is an excellent Burger and Fries fast food restaurant which originated in the Washington DC area. Since all my inlaws are from DC I'd known about Five Guys for several years, and I love it. There are tons of options for your burger, every kind of topping under the sun, but the menu is simple.

One thing thats funny at Five Guys is there are free peanuts all over the place, its pretty awesome, also they tell you exactly where their potatoes are coming from that day. (almost always Idaho). Every thing is super delicious and fresh. The standard burger comes with 2 beef patties, so you gotta specify if you only want one.

So go try one you wont regret it, perfect for a saturday lunch.

 4105 Vinewood Ln N - Where Blockbuster once was, right next to Target.

It's the best burger in town!! (till we get our In-n-Out burger, but that just wouldn't fly, would it Eric Fernelious of Simi Valley, California?)

Ride the Merry Go Round!

A true rarity! a legitimate Merry-Go-Round! (Known in some circles as the big spinner or the roundabout) When I first came to Timber Shores Park I couldn't believe my eyes.  I thought for sure that "The Man" had washed playgrounds free from all the fun play equipment in the name of safety.  But no! This park actually has a full fledged merry go round with no restrictions, no safety precautions. So come on down with your friends spin it as fast as you can and try to the last one to stay on, and the first one to toss his cookies!!

Location is Timber Shores Park: Just west of Zachary Ln N & 53rd Ave N
Plymouth, MN
55442

My favorite story of Merry-Go-Rounds is about my Dad who is one of 8 kids. When he was a youngster, they went down to their local park to play king of the mountain on the Merry-Go-Round. Well, him and his siblings got their Merry-Go-Round really cranking to the point where the centrifugal forces made it so my dad was just hanging on with his hands for dear life and the rest of his body was completely horizontal, spinning round and round and round. So his brother started peeling his fingers off one by one until he flew off the Merry-Go-Round, but only far enough that his face was still in contact with the metal bars as they spun past him, each time smacking him in the face rapid fire.  Needless to say his nose was broken, but it’s that kind of thing that you can tell you’re kids one day and they’ll think you’re the man. Because you are!

Elm Creek Park



After tying the knot, getting to elm creek park has got to be first priority! (Photo Credit John Sharpe)

 Elm Creek Park is a lot of fun for all seasons. It’s just about 5 miles north of us in Plymouth, and it’s on James Deane parkway (I’m assuming not named after the rebel without a cause).

 In summertime there is a lot of great space for playing with kids and running around.  They have a stellar Frisbee Golf (Disc Golf) Course. They have camping areas, swimming areas, mountain biking trails, the whole nine yards! I actually helped make one of the trails myself.  Last summer a good friend of mine had his wedding reception at the park, it was a beautiful Minnesota night and they got some great pics.

One of the most absurd things about Elm creek park is that they have a man-made, chlorinated, filtered swimming hole with a nice sandy beach. This strikes me as hilarious but hey if you hate lake weeds, fish, and other lake monsters this is your place. We’ve got 10,000 lakes, we might as well chlorinate a few of ‘em.

But I think my favorite activities at elm creek park are the winter activities. They have a great snowboarding hill. Its small, only a rope tow to take you from top to bottom, but its PACKED with ramps and rails. Check out the video to see what it’s all about.

They also have top notch cross-country skiing, with several miles of trails.  And you can’t leave out the classic snow tubing hill! If you like to sled but don’t like to walk back up the hill this is the place for you. Ride down on their groomed trails and ride back up on the conveyer belt. Pretty awesome.

Take a Road Trip

When on the road remember your car will run smoothest on sinclair gas.

Usually I promote activities that you can do in Plymouth, but with this kind of weather sometimes all I can think about is hitting the open road! So I have compiled a list of great destinations within a days drive of Plymouth, because there's nothing like loading up the fam in the station wagon and pumping up the jams for a long and exciting road trip! I started with the nearest and ended with the farthest.

Taylors Falls - 1 Hours Drive

Taylors Falls is real close by, a great place to camp, swim, jump off rocks, canoe, in the winter you can ski! Its set right on the St. Croix river and is extremely picturesque. I highly recommend the Interstate State Park, and the Pothole Trail for hiking.

North Shore Lake superior - 3 to 4 Hours Drive

The north shore is one of my favorite areas in Minnesota. It has a mountainous feel to it, and the Lake looks like an ocean. As you can see my favorite activity is cliff jumping, but there is lots more to do: hiking (superior hiking trail), skiing, swimming, golfing, eating, lots of scenic drives, the light house, waterfalls, camping, cabins, museums, parks, restraunts (betty's pies, yum). Its the best. I highly recommend the beach front camp sites at Lamb's resort. Also SURFING! (WHAT?) yes I've seen it with my own 2 eyes and I went so wild I was scouring craigslist for surfboards after that until I realized becoming a full time lake surfer just wasn't going to be in the cards for me but I can dream right?

This is a must watch, then go there and see it yourself:

Milwaukee, Wisconsin - 5 Hour Drive

tailgating paradise

Milwaukee is fun. Best tailgating scene in the major leagues, hands down. Watching a game at miller park is well worth it. With their retractable roof, sometimes your watching an outdoor game sometimes your in a dome! Pretty cool! The nice part is if your driving from Plymouth to Milwaukee your guaranteed not to have a rain out. I havn't actually done anything in Milwaukee other than watch the Brewers play but I hear there's a sweet Harley Davidson Museum.

Chicago - 7 Hours

Beware of toll booths! Everytime I drive to Chicago I run out of loose change and have to scour my car for some way to satisfy the toll roads. Other than that Chicago has tons to do. Great food, 2 baseball stadiums (Wrigley is a must see, "Comisky" is a bit dicey). Everyone has a friend in Chicago so there's always a free place to stay. I would like to see the river on St. Patricks day before I die.

South Bend, Indiana - 8 Hour Drive

With Notre Dame Making a return to relevance this year Seeing a football game at Notre Dame is well worth it, whether your rooting for the Home or Away team.

Black Hills, South Dakota - 9 Hour Drive

Contrary to popular opinion the Dakotas are sweet. The badlands, the black hills, Mt. Rushmore, they are all must see's in my opinion.  You may have seen Rushmore on TV but in real life, Man, is it cool. Go check it out, lots of camping options nearby.

Cliff Jumping in the South Dakota Black Hills

Nashville, Tennesee - 13 Hour Drive

The home of Country Music and the Birth state of Davey Crockett. It seems far, but if you start driving at 7 you'll be there by about 9pm with a few breaks in there. Its really historical and really fun. They've also got a good zoo.

Wyoming - 10 Hours to the State Line

But 15 hours to yellowstone, 17 hours to Jackson Hole

Wyoming is where the wild wild west is alive and well. The snake river is ready to be ridden, Old Faithful explodes every hour, Cowboys ride the ranges, yodelers singing, chuckwagon dinners, antlers decorate everything. Its just good old fashioned fun. There are plenty of mountains and all the recreation that they bring as well.

Utah - 18 Hours

This is really the farthest I know of anyone driving in one day, when my sister and my friend took off bright and early and didn't stop till they made it home, and then again when my uncle brought a van full of friends from Utah to see me and my wife get married in St. Paul. Both completed the trip in under 18 hours, I have a feeling some caffeinated beverages were involved.  But anyhow, as far as I'm concerned Utah is the outdoorsmans paradise with very accessable skiing, hiking, mountain biking, rock climbing, etc. The people are extremely friendly and the atmosphere is fun. Salt Lake's historic temple square is amazing and well worth a visit.

Sledding at Lion's Hill

Lion's hill, its technically in Crystal, but it was such a big part of my days of youth that I'm putting it in here. Its a sledding Paradise! Its got lights! Its got jumps! Its free! 

Location:

6822 32^nd Avenue North

 Crystal, MN

It's technical name is "Valley Place Park." But since it was sponsored by The Lions Club, I have always known it simply as Lion's Hill.

Its one of the best sledding hills I've ever seen. A giant mound in the middle of a big playfield. Perfect for sledding. Each side of the hill has something different to offer. the north side is the steepest and wildest, the south face is small and mellow. I've heard talk that there used to be a rope tow here, now a days you have to hike back up on your own strength.

Lion's has fun for everyone. As you can see here theres also 2 hockey rinks and a flooded field for skating on in winter time. They also have a warming house which is usually open, and a playground for summer time!

Night time dosn't mean its time to stop sledding! This well lit hill allows you to keep on trucking into the wee hours of the morning!

The North Face! aka the bumpy side

A common sight at Lion's: kids catching tons of air and having a good old time!!

Also my runner up sledding hill is Plymouth's french park: a great hill in it's own right!

Play some Hockey

Here in Plymouth winter is long as I'm sure you know.  Well as long as everything is frozen make the most of it! Hockey is everywhere here in the state of hockey.  Even if you never played its not too late. The best way to play in Plymouth, in my opinion, is on frozen lakes.  Its free and hockey in it's purest form.  Sure the ice is cracking and shifting the whole time but that's just part of the magic!

The Chiefs, city champions 2007-2008

While outdoor hockey may be the best, indoor hockey allows the puck to be played all year long! Many parks and rec leagues, drop in games and open skate times are available in town at both the Plymouth Ice center and New Hope Ice arena.  

Boot hockey on Lost Lake in Plymouth.

Another great option if you don't feel like going out on the lake is down at the park! zachary Playfield and plymouth creek both have awesome free outdoor rinks. As do many parks in town.

And if you don't feel like going to the park or the lake, just flood your yard and let it freeze!

Also I'll put in a plug for my favorite hockey shop near by: Way to Go Sports, which is in Golden Valley. (8028 Olson Memorial Hwy) Its all used stuff so its cheap but still works just fine. Either that or I knock on my neighbors door who has a garage full of gear and they are kindly enough to let me use it.

 But no matter where you play or who you play with, be sure to end your game with a victory slide for the fans!

Bomb "The Wall"

There is a special spot in plymouth known as "The Wall". At the intersection of 48th and Zachary the road drops off so steep that when your facing it up it literally looks like a wall.

When you’re standing at the top of the hill it’s the only spot in Plymouth (That I know of) where you can see the skyscrapers down town.  This is famous hill to bomb for the skateboard enthusiasts of Plymouth. Its an extremely sketchy ride, and depending on the repair of the road there are often pot holes which will grab you and throw you to the turf. Helmets are highly encouraged.

bombing the other, mellower side of zachary hill

I have also bombed this hill on a radio flyer red wagon. It was epic, and my crash at about 30mph left me with some serious road rash on my left thigh.

Geared up for longboarding, 2004

My craziest memory of bombing the wall is one night a good buddy of mine who was fairly new to skating decided that “tonight was the night” so we drove out there. And we watched him shove off and he just started flying down.  He rocked it, nailed the steep incline perfectly, but then at the bottom, one of those treacherous potholes caught his eye, he swerved toward the right curb hoping to bail into the grass, but it was too late! He jumped off took a few giant steps and then BOOM down he went luckily he only broke his arm and narrowly escaped death!

Well needless to say I encourage extreme caution on this hill


*Editors note: it appears the Wall has been resurfaced and is buttery smooth right now! (6/9/14)

Make a snow cave... and sleep in it!

Well everyone knows a good igloo rules.  They are usually very fun to make, then when they are done its kind of like you sit in it for a couple minutes and then say "Ok on to the next item on the docket." However, not everyone has actually spent the night in a snow fort, and if you can handle sleeping the whole night through in your cave you get instant bragging rights and tons of street credit.

There are a lot of ways to make a snow cave. In the picture above every little ice block was a milk carton that had been saved up for many months, then one night we filled em all up with water and left them on the porch, Next morning: BOOM! thousands of ice bricks, and when we stacked them up and sprayed water on them they were cemented in place.

Heres the old pile up chunks of snow.

 

This is the classic dig into the snowbank.

This next snowcave is a true backwoodsman's cave! The methodology was to make a huge heap of snow, let it all harden up over a couple days, then come back and hollow out the inside! Technically speaking this particular cave was made by my cousins and buddies when I lived out in Utah, however we have all the necessary equipment (snow/coldness) right here in Plymouth, MN to recreate their methods right in your own backyard.

Anders, Grant and Nic chilling out around the campfire preparing to brave the cold in their cave.

Nic Hogan, a true man of adventure, enters the cave. Unfourtunately for his compadres, I heard that on this night Nic was a true man of flatulence, unleashing alarming amounts of noxious methane gas into the extremely tight sleeping quarters!

Grant enters the cave.

As you can see they enter the cave as mere wandering drifters but in the morning they emerge as victorious true men with unlimited bragging rights and a truly inspiring tale to tell.

Yes sleeping out in a snowcave is possible! Make sure to take all the necessary precautions, caves can collapse or run out of air! Do not put yourself in a dangerous situation.