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.

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.

The Plymouth Dome

Its always summer in the Plymouth Fieldhouse! Yes that's right when its "negative one million degrees" outside just roll on over to the dome where the climate controlled temperatures will let you take off your caps and mittens and the fake grass is always growing tall and strong.

Location: 14800 34th Ave.,  Plymouth, MN 55447-1482

A big perk of the dome is that the running track around the outside of the playfield is completely free and open to the public most days from 8am-7pm for your running and walking needs.


A lot of the time in the dome is scheduled out for soccer teams and other activities but on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays from 2-4ish you can go in and do what ever you want (for the mere price of 3 dollars).  My personal recommendation is to throw around the old pigskin but I do know that several folks enjoy lacrosse, soccer and rugby in there as well.  I've noticed though that often if I just drop in the formal practices only take up half a field and I can snag a little bit of grass for a game of catch on the side!

Dome Ball, Fun for all ages! Plymouth Fieldhouse.

Nice TD pass in the Plymouth Dome!

Its a great place for young kids as they pump up inflatable bounce houses and other fun and games every monday wednesday and friday from 10:30am - 1:30pm!

And hey we're Minnesotans right? If you don't feel like paying the three bucks just take your football game out side. How bad could it be?