City of Lakes Loppet: A Wintertime Aquatennial

Next weekend, Feb 2-3, is the annual City of Lakes Loppet. Thousands of local people cross-country ski in 9 events - anything from a couple blocks in the luminary event to the big race event 33KM. The organizers are making 50,000 cubic feet of snow (bonus points for anyone who can calculate the weight of this) to dump on the streets of Uptown for the finishing section. It is as exciting and entertaining as marathon-spectating; find a spot nearby and watch the enthusiasts fly by. You can yell things like "WAY TO SKI!"

I can't think of a better example of Minnesotans celebrating what nature brings us in our land and our winter.