Game on!

This morning I woke up at the lake and it's one of those beautiful fall mornings.  The sun is out, but the air is crisp.  It was a balmy 39 degrees this morning.  You can feel the change in the air and see it in the beautiful colors of the leaves.  I absolutely love this time of year!  It always makes me think back over the past year's experiences and changes I've made.  Some of them good and some of them not so good. 

Last year at this time I had just made lifetime at Weight Watchers and had accomplished losing the weight I wanted to lose.  I felt great!  I was exercising again and feeling like I was putting myself first for the first time in a very long time.  I had spent the summer at the lake and taken some time for myself without feeling responsible for employees, a company and the stress of being in the city.   I loved the feeling and it only made me anxious for retirement life someday. 

But as most of us have to do in life, I had to get back to the "real world" and make a living again.  So it was back to the city and back to the stress that goes along with it.  I hated to leave the lake and all of the peacefulness that went along with it.  Unfortunately, though, there's not many sources for making a living there, so I headed back to the cities in September and began my job search.  I wanted so badly to find that job that allowed me to make a moderate living and also feel like I was helping people.  I found it with mortgage origination.  I got to utilize my background in real estate with this position.  My husband and I had personally experienced what the devastating economy does to your home equity.  We had to dip into our savings to be able to sell our home in Iowa and move to where our hearts wanted to be.  It wasn't something we had to do, but at the end of the day we chose to move to the state we wanted to be in.  Very painful to the pocketbook!  So I know as I sit with couples and hear their story that all most people want is to feel like they can dig their way out of the falling economy.  In the nine months I've been originating, I've been able to help so many people improve their monthly cash flow and hopefully give them some relief within their budgets.  That feels good! 

So now it's time for me to find a balance again.  I've dove into my new job and love it, but it's been at the expense of my waistline.  I haven't been to a Weight Watchers meeting since last fall and I've slowly watched myself grow close to where I was before starting Weight Watchers in March, 2011.  I know why.  It's not a secret to me at this point in my life.  I know me all too well!  I have never been able to balance my career with my personal health and well being.  I have always put my career ahead of my health.  I don't take the time to put myself first and go for those walks.  I don't take the time to shop and prepare food the way I should.  Just those two things would have allowed me to stay on track with my weight loss and make me a healthier and happier person.  I know I'm not alone with this at least.  All you have to do is go to a WW meeting and you hear that same story from others in the meeting. 

As I sit here this morning and reflect, I know that the next year needs to be about me finding that balance in my life.  And......it can't just be for a year.  It needs to be for a lifetime.  I'm going to have to figure out a game plan and stick to it.  I need to learn to say "no" more to requests for my time.  I need to learn to schedule time for my walks and preparing healthy food options.

The positives of the last year so out weight the negatives from the past year.  I had two glorious months to take off and reflect, I got to find a new career that I love, and had many amazing moments with my family and friends at the lake.  Here are a few fun pictures from the past year that show off my amazing times with everyone!  Enjoy!  

I so love my family and friends!  I feel so blessed for the life that I have and the people that are in my life! 

Now let's go make another great year of memories together!  Snowmobiling season is coming up fast, so I know there will be many opportunities to do that!  Game on!

God’s Up North Playground

 

I awoke last Saturday morning to a beautiful scene at the lake!  A heavy fog overnight had coated all of the trees, shrubs, and brush with a heavy frost.  It was an absolutely amazing sight!  Since there’s been a lack of snow this year to enjoy snowmobiling on trails and exploring new places, it’s been a struggle to keep my glass “half full”.  The picture of the lake, though, definitely helped with filling the glass.

My family was planning a long ride for the day with a few of our friends.  I just couldn’t seem to get excited about it, though, because I knew the trails weren’t going to be very good and the lakes and rivers are full of hazards this year due to being so low with exposed rocks and open areas of water.  So I let the rest of the gang go on their way exploring up north without me.   I decided to stay back and explore our little slice of heaven on Lake Vermilion on my own with my trusty camera.   To many people this would sound boring as heck, but it honestly turned out to be such a relaxing day for me.  It also felt very liberating! 

I got myself all geared up to head out on the lake for a day of exploring.  This would be the first time I’ve ever done this in the winter time (all by myself).  It felt a little scary and downright eerie at first.  We’re always very careful in our family to always have a buddy to ride with just in case of a breakdown with the sled.  But honestly I’ve spent many days in the cabin hanging out on the days I don’t want to do a long ride and always regret not being adventurous enough to get out there and explore on my own.  After a lot of self-talking and thinking things like “my goodness, Kimberly, you’re independent.  You know where to go on the lake.  You can put your own gas in, etc.”  I took off from our cabin and hit the lake.  I must have stopped four times in the first fifteen minutes to take pictures of the beauty surrounding me.  I like to ride with my ITunes playing in my helmet.  It’s a magical feeling to look around and see the beautiful trees all while exploring on your own and listening to your favorite music.

Life is about compromise many times and I’m used to doing this when I ride with others.  It’s just normal to all decide as a group where everyone wants to ride for a destination.  Today, though, was all about me.  It was all about where I wanted to ride and stop along the way.  That, in itself, was refreshing to me. 

My first stop after about half an hour was to get gas at a local marina.  This was quite comical for me and definitely made me feel independent.  Upon pulling off of the lake into the marina lot, there were four other snowmobilers lined up at the gas pump.  I pulled in behind the fourth sled and turned off my sled.  Of course the next thing you do is open your helmet so you don’t fog over and take my gloves off to pump the gas.  This is when I noticed that the group in front of me were whispering and peaking in my direction.  It was four men in their mid 40’s to late 50’s and I could tell they were pretty impressed with a “chick” hitting the lake on her own.  No words were exchanged, just a few smiles and nods.  After they left I pulled up to the pump and filled up my blue and black baby to hit the lake again.  I must admit I did have a smile on my face as I took off for the next leg of my adventure.

 

The next few miles brought a few new surprises for me.   There’s an area on the lake, known as Moccasin Point.  There used to be a great little bar/restaurant there in the past that offered a gas stop and good burgers and beer.  They were known for their Moccasin Point Fries!  YUM!  It was a sad day to all on the lake when the owners sold to the state’s DNR in order to make a public launch area.  The lake is always staked for the snowmobilers to find their way to and from different places around the lake.  Normally you stay on the staked trail and ride right by Moccasin Point.  Two weeks ago this was the case.  So you can imagine my surprise when I came around the corner at the Point and discovered there was open water where we normally ride by the old bar.  The snowmobile club had moved the stakes over, however, and made a small portage over land in order to avoid the open water. 

I crossed over the portage and then headed on to get a signature bloody mary at TheVermilion Club.  Margaret makes the world’s greatest bloody mary and I had been thinking of having one for weeks.  Well…I guess I’ll just have to wait another week to have hers.  I started toward the VC, but came up on an ice ridge that had open water and slushy water on both sides of the ridge.  I carefully edged up to the ridge where I could tell other sleds had crossed over, but I heard this little voice say to me “don’t get too brave there Kimberly”, so I turned myself around and headed back to the main stakes on the lake.  Part of me is mad at myself for being a chicken and not going for it, but the other side of me knows that I did the smart thing since I was riding alone.    Those are the risks to take when you have someone else along to help in case of a problem.  Below are a few pictures of what you might see when a ridge is coming up.  The clubs always post caution signs to alert snowmobilers.  And honestly, you would have to be blind or drunk to not see most of these ridges this year.  You can see the ridge off in the distance in the first picture.   I’ve included a few different pictures to show those of you who don’t snowmobile just what an ice ridge looks like and how we cross over when paths are made for us.  Never fear though…..fun was still to be had for me.  

                           

I ended up at BayView Lodge for my bloody mary.  I have to say, Laura at BayView knows how to make a great bloody mary also!  Thanks Laura for satisfying my craving last Saturday.  BayView was another reminder to me that I was a loan chick on the lake.  There was an older couple at the bar when I got there having a drink, but the rest of the place was empty.  It only took a few minutes, though, for two different groups of men to ride in for a warm up and “breath sweetner.”  (My dad used to call alcoholic beverages breath sweetners when I was a little girl.)  Once again I could tell there was intrigue among the group about whether I had ridden there by myself.  It only took a few minutes for one of the men to ask me where I had ridden from.  When I told them I came from the other end of the lake by the river I could tell they were somewhat impressed.  One of them asked where I was headed next and when I said “The Landing”, they inquired about me guiding them there.  Well at twenty-five I may have fallen for that request but at forty-five I’m quick to recognize a bad idea when it’s staring at me in the face.  I wasn’t about to have nine grown men that were drinking and riding following me around the lake.  So I quickly rejected a second drink offer from the group and geared up to hit the lake.  I must admit it felt pretty good to walk out to my sled and hop on and ride off into the distance (by myself).

Off to TheLanding I went.  Last year the owner of The Landing surprised everyone with a new tradition.  He figured out a way to design an ice bar down by the lake.  He takes five gallon buckets and fills them with water.  After they are frozen he designs a bar out of the ice.  It’s a really cool idea and a treat to see.  Some of the ice blocks have food coloring and there are lights, etc.  If you order a shot of liquor or a drink, both are served out of solid ice glasses and shot glasses.  He also has many interesting fur hats and dress up items if you need extra apparel while visiting the bar.  Here are a few pictures of the bar and the bartender having fun.  

              

My adventure was coming to an end.  I was feeling like a cozy fire at the cabin and a cup of hot chocolate.  So I headed home and ended my sixty mile adventure for the day without any mishaps or issues.  It wasn’t more than an hour or so of being at the cabin that my family found their way home from their adventure.  A great day for all was had!

Heavenly bliss in the northwoods of Minnesota!

I woke this morning thinking about the start of a new year.  2012....hmmmm?    What are my goals for the year?  What are my wants and desires for myself personally and professionally in 2012?  Then it dawned on me....it was supposed to snow overnight!  I jumped out of bed and quickly went into the living room to open up all the blinds that give a beautiful of the lake.  Then I saw it.  It was snowing!  Not only that, but I could barely see across our small bay due to the blowing snow.  Suddenly it didn't matter to me what my longer term goals were for 2012.  All that mattered at that moment was how quickly I could get my family up and around to join me on the lake for a long day of riding.  Here's a shot of the bay just after I opened the blinds.  I know it looks cold and blustery to many of my friends and family who think I'm crazy.  But to our family, this is what we love.

Now this year is not unlike all years when we really aren't real sure what the snow and ice conditions will bring for our season of snowmobiling.  We never really know until after the new year if the snow conditions are going to be good for trail riding, lake riding, both or none of them.  Every year is different.  When we bought our lake home in 2003, a local neighbor told us that every year would be different, but we really didn't know what he meant until the last few years.  Now that we've had our place for several years, we know he was right.

It's so true that each year brings a different frozen lake and different trail conditions to become familiar with.   The difference between last year and this year is complete and opposite ends of the spectrum.  Last year at Thanksgiving we had so much snow our neighbor was having trouble finding places to push the snow away from our cabin so that we had room to park our vehicles when we made it up north for a weekend.  This year I don't think he's had to plow yet.  Furthermore, last year brought with it getting stuck in our own yard, getting pulled off the groomed trails into deep trenches, large patches of slush on the rivers and lakes that were all due to having too much snow.  You see, when there's too much snow on top of the ice you experience areas of heavy slush that can sometimes be one to two feet deep.  This can cause a snowmobile to become stuck/sunk in the slush.  It sounds like a bad thing (and it can be) but we would definitely rather have the problem of too much snow than not enough snow.

This year we've all been stressed about not having enough snow.  The good thing about not having early snow is that the ice on the lakes and swampy areas freeze really well.  The snow acts as an insulator, so this year the lake froze early.  Now....here's the bad part about the year.  In addition to not having snow for lubricant that the sleds need for coolant and for the groomers to make the trails smooth, the large amount of ice on the lake has cause multiple and large ice ridges all over our lake.  Anyone riding the lakes right now needs to be extremely careful and respectful of these ridges.  Ridges bring with can do damage to sleds.  Fortunately for us, the snowmobile clubs on the lake do an excellent job of staking our lake with reflector stakes that help snowmobiles and ice fisherman not get lost in the dark.  The stakes also guide you around the ice ridges so that you don't get in a bad situation.

Because there's not enough snow for the trails to be groomed yet, today we rode about 60 miles around our lake.  There were times when there were white out conditions due to the high winds and snow falling.  The stakes definitely helped to guide us to our different destination places around the lake.  My adrenaline got going more than once today due to ice ridges we had to ride over, slush and even open water to riding through. 

My husband, Randy, almost always leads our group and then I go second behind him.  The first patch of open water was in Oak Narrows.  It was only a small area about 4 feet wide by a foot deep, but it's still open water and is a little unnerving to ride a heavy sled through.  I've always been told, "when in doubt, just hit the throttle."  That's what I do then.  As soon as I suspect open water or a potential hazard, I hit the throttle to get through it quickly.  I learned early on in this hobby that if you let off the gas, that's when you get buried in deep snow or have issues.  So today was a breeze for all of us.  Being experienced riders, we hit the open spots at about 50-60 mph and had no issues moving through the open spots.  No problem....in fact, as I move through hazards I find myself screaming "woohoo!" in my helmet.  It's a serious rush for me.  Love it!

Another open patch at Moccasin Point and and an ice ridge with slushy water thrown all over my visor and sled I was ready for my first beer of the day.  What's great for us is that we now have been on the lake long enough over the years to have made friends and acquaintances with others who have property up here.  When we stop places, we rarely don't see someone that we know.  Today was no different.  We stopped three four different places on the lake and saw people we knew at all four places.

The Landing was our final stop of the day.  It's one of our favorite spots to stop due to the great appetizers and drinks they have to offer!  It's also convenient to gas up the sleds before hitting the Arrowhead Trail (located just northwest of The Landing).  We stopped for a cold beer and restroom break before heading back to the cabin before dark.  What a fun day with the family.  I'm still praying for many more inches of snow so that we can enjoy the trails together in the coming weeks before spring.

Here's a shot of Shelby and I as we made it back to the cabin.  It's always good to know you've made it back at the end of the day without any mishaps or issues.

Come join us for some fun sometime soon!

Christmas Week is Here!

The time is here again.  It’s that wonderful time of year that the Allen family gets terribly excited about life.  Only a week to go before we get the biggest present of the year!  The tree is done, the presents are under the tree and the stockings are filled. 

Now I know what you are all thinking.  The Allen’s must LOVE Christmas!  We do.  We love Christmas very much.  What we love more, though, is what Christmas means about what time of year it is.  We all know that it’s only a few days until we can get onto our prized snowmobiles and head out on the frozen lakes and trail system around our cabin.

I’ve now made it a daily ritual to look at my Weather.com application on my IPhone to see if snow if forecast for northern Minnesota.  You see, last year we had more snow than we could imagine.  By Thanksgiving time, snow was a high as our deck railing.  It was crazy, but beautiful!  You know if you’re worried about getting your snowmobile stuck while going through the yard to get to the lake you have enough snow.  Here’s a shot of our deck from last season at this time which shows our chimnea almost covered with snow.

 Now compare that picture with this picture and take one guess what we’re all stressed about in the family?

That’s right…..we need more snow!  And now!  The lake has tremendous ice already, so no worries there, but we need the snow in order for the trail system to be groomed and ready for riding.  We also need more snow on the lake in order to eliminate sleds overheating.  

The snowmobile season is a short one for us anyway.  It usually starts Christmas week and goes through the middle of March.  Some years you might get to ride until the first week of April on the lake, but we typically hope for 8-10 weeks of good riding.  That means we spend the other 42-44 weeks dreaming of snowmobiling.  Pathetic I know.  I think about all the things I could sit around and stress about, and snow is foremost on my mind.  

I can’t speak for anyone else in my family or the many friends I have that also love to snowmobile, but for me the experience is one that I’ve never been able to duplicate with any other activity.  I literally get a euphoric feeling of complete peacefulness when I snowmobile on a trail with snow covered trees.  There are those times when conditions aren’t optimum that it becomes more work to snowmobile, but I’m speaking of those moments when my IPod music is playing one of my favorite songs and I’m riding through a beautiful trail with towering pine trees all around me.   It’s the closest that I’ve ever come to feeling that God is right there with me.  I’ve literally had tears come to my eyes as I ride through these conditions.  Not from pain. It’s from a feeling of thankfulness that I’ve been given the opportunity in my life to have experienced this hobby firsthand.    

My other favorite time to ride is at night.  It’s completely dark except the taillight of my husband’s sled in front of me and the reflectors of the stakes put on the lake to help people from becoming lost at night.  If I’m really lucky, a full moon with provide a beautiful landscape to outline the islands on the lake.  This is an awesome experience!  I love it when we stop for something on the lake like a portage or just to touch base with one another.  It’s completely quiet in the middle of the lake and totally peaceful. 

So….will you please perform your own special snow dance for northern Minnesota on behalf of the Allen family.  We, along with our Lake Vermilion friends, would greatly appreciate every inch of snow we could get between now and March.