Winter is holding on

A certain significant someone in my life has her birthday on March 26. If we can go cross country skiing on her birthday, that is a good thing. Though snowfall has been below average this winter, the snow we've received on the North Shore has stayed on the ground. So the birthday girl might just get a ski outing for her birthday. The city of Duluth groomers seem to have turned their PIsten Bully in for spring, but with recent small snowfalls and highs around 30 degrees, it still feels like winter.

It's been really a classic long-term weather pattern here, with big high pressure systems sitting on top of us in northern Minnesota and sending snowstorm after snowstorm along tracks south and east of here. Madison, WI has been hammered with snow, for example. They got more snow on one day last week than we've gotten in months. That storm track could still move north when it's cold enough for snow, and then we might get yet another big dump.

Camping the North Shore is out!

Our second book (or fourth, depending on how and what you count) is back from the printers and headed out to bookshelves around the region. It is so...serious...to get this done. One book could be a fluke. But two books? With matching covers? It means that we mean business. There and Back Books...here to stay!

This is a great book and I really hope it finds a lot of readers. Not just because I want to sell books, but because I really want people to camp. Car camping in an organized campground may not be the most adventurous, wild thing you've ever done. But compared to another night at home around the TV or in a generic motel room, it's memorable, challenging, and fun.