Since we celebrated Christmas in Costa Rica this year, we had to get creative on the gifts. Truth be told, I'd planned to give Big E all his gifts when we got home, but then I panicked on Christmas Eve and really wanted him to have something to open on the big day. I rummaged through my stuff to find something to wrap, came up with a Lake Superior magazine, put a note promising a fat-biking trip on the cover and WA-LA, instant last minute gift. Of course once we were home, we actually had to find a weekend we could both get away. Lucky for me it was Valentine's Day weekend so I somehow also managed to turn his Christmas present into a Valentine's Day present too. (Too bad his birthday is in June....)
With a little planning, I managed to find us a little cabin in the woods outside Marquette to add to the romanticness of the weekend. (Big E is pretending to gag right now.) We arrived to our romantic hideaway after a blizzard blew through on Thursday. Perfect timing for some fresh snow!
I gave it the thumbs up after I discovered I could ride my bike right off the front porch.
Friday proved to be a perfect day for riding. The ducks apparently thought it was a great day for swimming too.
Of course we had some beautiful snowshoe groomed trails to ride, but that didn't stop us from exploring a bit off the beaten path.
We ended the day cheering on some sled dogs before the next blizzard rolled in.
We woke up to enough fresh snow and wind to delay our Saturday riding plans so we headed out for some snowshoeing. Or at least I thought we were going snowshoeing. Big E seemed to think we were going ice climbing.
Of course, it would also not be a proper Big E adventure without a log crossing.
All of this adventuring of course made me very hungry for a picnic.
We did venture into town to test out the trails later in the day, but it turns out 40 mph winds and fresh snow make for a lot of push-a-bike.
(I swear I did actually RIDE that bike at some point.)
In an effort to get at least some pedaling in, I convinced Big E to ride on the roads near our cabin, because biking out in the open in 40 mph winds is always fun, right?!
Good thing we had a nice, romantic cabin with a fireplace to warm up in!
Thankfully the trail-grooming fairies were out Sunday morning so we actually got to pedal a bit before heading home.
Of course, we had to make a couple of detours on the way back so Big E could share some of his past adventures....
Hope you all had a happy Valentine's Day!
(You can stop gagging now, Big E!)
