Go Check out the ice

 I think that frozen lakes are some of the most interesting works of art. They have this really cool 3D effect where there are patterns on the top of the ice the bottom of the ice and all the way through the ice. The things frozen in the ice range from fish to baseballs to hockey pucks. The cracks going through them are awesome and on a sunny day you can see right down to the bottom of the lake sometimes.

Here are a few pictures of some ice that I found to be interesting. Enjoy:

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!

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.

Drive on the Ice

Nothing says Minnesota like a nice drive across the lake.  Here in Plymouth this is no exception! Medicine Lake has ice roads plowed all over the place which means any old beater car can challenge the tundra and if you've got the capabilities to forge through the deep snow you've got no limits! Many take their cars on the lake for ice fishing purposes. Ice fishing isn't my cup of tea per se but throwing donuts and power slides always has been, and the frozen lake is like a blank canvas waiting for you to roll a few tight ones.

My rule for lake driving is wait till I've seen some other crazy guy drive across the lake first (preferably in a 1 ton diesel), because people die every year when their cars go thru the ice, so know your underwater car safety precautions. (and dont be the last one on the ice in march, thats dicey too, but you knew that).

Gettin' ready to ghost ride the whip on Schmidt Lake on the way to twins fest

Some locals ice road trucking the windstar on Medicine Lake

Whipping donuts in the suburban.

Some times you roll the dice and they come up snake eyes!

The good old boys figuring out how to get this beast out before she goes down any further.

Just know this if you play with fire you can get burned... Safety Pays in Many ways.