One more ski on March 28th!

When I woke up this morning, it was below freezing, so I decided to venture out one more time for a little crust skiing, knowing full well the ski trail would be further underwater due to the rising river. I couldn't resist, though! I got out my worst pair of skate skis and walked to the first patch of snow I could find. I got to ski maybe 100 meters before the trail went underwater. I walked around that, skied for another 100 meters, walked again, and after the water treatment plant, I found plenty of crust skiing all the way through Ponte Park. Then I had to jog aways to be able to ski on a short section of skate trail above water. At the end of the skate trail, I walked up the hill and over to the baseball diamonds in Lindenwood Park. The fence had served as a wind and snowbreak all winter, and there was snow piled up next to it. This made for the best skiing of the day. I skied around the outfield and back a few times, enjoying the feeling of gliding. As I made my way back, it was getting close to 10am and the temperature was going above freezing. The magical crust skiing was almost over--I could feel the snow giving way beneath my skis, but at least I got some exercise outside in the sunshine. When I got home, I had to wash the mud from my skis and boots before putting them away for the season.

Transitioning from Skiing to Biking

Enrico and I had stood on this dock last night with the dog. Today, there is water over it.

On March 25th, I thought the ski trail here in Fargo looked pretty bad, so I decided to go fat tire biking for my workout instead. I had been doing a bit of running, but my shins needed a break. The river was rising, covering part of the ski trail, and the bridge from Lindenwood to Gooseberry had been raised. It was just below freezing, so the ski trail was firm enough to bike on without leaving a rut. I enjoyed experiencing the trail I have enjoyed so much this winter from a different perspective.

Good-bye, ski trail. 

Getting ready for the spring flood.

Skiing in the time of social distancing for Covid-19

Look at this beautiful corduroy I got to skate on!

During our first week of self-isolating, it was a big change to go from an empty nest of two middle-aged people to five people, three of whom are college-aged. It was also NDSU's spring break. Instead of having  abreak, I needed to figure out how to change my instruction from face-to-face in the classroom to online. I also needed to figure out how we could all live together without reverting to childhood routines. Pretty soon, I needed some stress relieving!

My younger son, Massimo, and I have a few things in common

Spring fever!

My solution was to drive out to Maplelag resort to catch some of the best spring cross-country skiing before the snow melted. On my first outing, it was just me and Enrico. We did not see anyone on the trails at all. Maplelag was closed for the season, but the conditions were holding steady.

The second time, I took Denali and Alessandro. The third time, Enrico, Massimo, Denali, and I went. There were a few more people who were there that time. Each time was superlative! Here are a few photos from those wonderful outings. Many thanks to Jay Richards for keeping the grooming going and making the most out of the dusting of snow we had that week. This was a great relief during the first week of social distancing due to the pandemic of Covid-19.

Denali, Enrico, and Massimo tried classic skiing, but it was a bit icy, so they switched to skate skiing.