Winter Activity Goals - Part 2 Snowshoeing

Snowshoeing is one of favorite things to do in winter, probably because hiking is one of favor things to do all the time.


For the last 2 years I've been going snowshoeing primarily during my lunch break on days immediately after a nice snow storm and mainly around my backyard and neighborhood.  The most common trail is one I make up from my backyard through the nearby shool's fields (Fairview South School).   I also do a lot at Beverly Hills Park and a little bit at Wirth Park South.  I've gone only a couple of times at Retzer Nature Center (which is a good choice since they rent snowshoes so I could have a buddy go with me) and Laphem Peak State Park.


This year the plan is to try some new locations and get a bit more variety of trails.  The goals will be 12 snowshoe sessions, that's basically 3 times within every two week period between begining of January and end of February - the prime snow time. 

My snowshoeing sessions tend to be at least 30 minutes but usually not longer than 1 hour.  This year we'll set the goals as: 12 total
1 Major outing of at least 2 hours
3 Long outings of at least 1 hour
8 Short outings of at least 40 minutes

Trail ideas

• Local - ability to get in a trek with no more than a long lunch - mainly the Short Outings
• Mitchell Park - especially try the Dog Hill for a leg workout, the back trails by the river and new boardwalk, and the baseball diamonds and little hills beyond them
• McCoy Field
• Beverly Hills Park
• Fairview South School
• Wirth Park
• Nearby but too far for a lunch break
• Laphem Peak State Park
• Nashotah Park, Waukesha County Park - Sun, Jan 24
• Menomonee Park, Waukesha County Park - Sun, Jan 3
• Retzer Nature Center - Sat, Jan 13 (before 1pm Planeterium show)
• More distant, need to schedule at least a half day (or more)
• Glacer Park (follwed by mass at Holy Hill) - target: Saturday, Jan 2
• Kettle Moraine State Forest—Southern Unit (Sun, Feb 7 pre superbowl?)
• John Muir trail—11.4 miles, intermediate to difficult
• Stute Springs/Homestead Trail—1 mile, easy to difficult
• Bald Bluff Trail—0.8 miles, difficult
• Ice Age Trail—30.6 miles, intermediate
• Kohler-Andrae State Park - Black River Trail—2.5 miles, easy (Sun, Feb 7 pre superbowl?)
• Peninsula State Park, Door County
  Wisconsin State Park snowshoe Trails webpage (not a complete listing) http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/LAND/parks/trails/snowshoe.html  

Winter Activity Goals - Part I Downhill Skiing

Something new for me...I've never put together a winter activity goal list. But if I want to get serious about toning up and losing some weight I need to stay active and one of the best ways to stay active is to make goals and set a schedule.


Key areas of activities
• Downhill Skiing
• Snowshoeing
• Cross Country Skiing
• Ice skating
• Winter Hiking

Now, figure there are 3 key months for winter activies - Jan, Feb, and March. And this year we only have half of March because of a trip to Italy. Any winter actitivity in December is just a jump start or bonus. You can't always count on enough snow in Wisconsin in December; only about half of Christmases are white. Speaking of Christmas, the holiday season eats up so much time, its hard to get in some of the winter activites (especially the ones that tend to take up a full day).


Given our time limits (under 3 months) and cost (downhill skiing especially gets expensive) I'll be defining these goals by activities.  Starting with Downhill skiiing.

Downhill Skiing - one of my favorite activities in my 20s and early 30s.  Now its become a once a year activity.... but I'm changing that this year.  The goals is 5 days of skiing.  Normally that could get expensive but I have 2 free lift tickets (with some restrictions) from attending the Warren Miller movie, and I've found two small ski hills in the extended area that have $12 skiing on certain days.   Plus I've felt the need to try a (very) small ski area that is very close to my house.  Drum roll......here are the 5 downhill ski locations and planned dates:

• Chestnut Mountain, Galina, IL http://www.chestnutmtn.com/
• free ticket from Warren Miller, either before Dec 24 or after March 5
• target date: Sunday, Dec 20
• Granite Peak, Wausau, WI http://www.skigranitepeak.com/ 
• free ticket from Warren Miller, either before Dec 24 or a WEEKDAY between Jan 5 and Feb 5
• target date: Friday, Jan 8 (vacation day)
  
• Tyrol Basin, Mt Horeb, WI http://www.tyrolbasin.com/
• $12 every Tuesday, 10 am - 9pm or $12 Friday nights, 7:30 - 11pm
• target date : Friday, Jan 12
• Nordic Mountain, Mt Morris, WI http://www.nordicmountain.com/
• $11 Ladies day on Fridays
• target date: Friday, Feb 12 (vacation day -approx 3 hr drive)
• Highlands of Olympia Ski Hill, Oconomowoc, WI 
• very close to my home, less than 30 min drive
• they don't have a web page which is concerning to me 
• target date: Tuesday night in Jan (5,12,19.26) - pick actual date based on expected weather conditions

Wii Running Paths

Found this on the internet today ----

Wii Fit


Nintendo Wii
Running Paths Technique FAQ/guide
by DangerDad (davidjaybrown) (engineer) (com)



There are 12 different running paths.

The key to changing paths is via the dogs.
When a dog passes you from behind, you can either continue running (behind your trainer), or you can overtake your trainer and begin following the dog. You may encounter as many as three different dogs during your run, meaning as many as eight (8) different paths per distance selected.



For the table below, a dog code of SSF means
Skip (S) the 1st dog,
Skip (S) the 2nd dog,
Follow (F) the 3rd dog.



PATH DOGCODE FINISH LINE
======= ======= ==========================
SHORT S Normal SHORT finish line
SHORT F ?

LONG SSS Normal LONG Start/Finish Line
LONG SSF On Beach before Camel Rock
LONG SF High Cliff looking @Lthouse
LONG F Under Windmills

IsLAP SS Normal LAP Finish/Fountain
IsLAP SFF At Top of Summit Falls
IsLAP FS In City at 3-Ramps Park
IsLAP FFS Sandy Area thru Summit Cave
IsLAP FFF At Lighthouse
IsLAP SFS At Beach thru Camel Rock

http://faqs.ign.com/articles/941/941543p1.html

I know, I know. It's September first but here I go planning out December. My friend Barb T. started it. She attends the Bethlehem Marketplace each time Elmbrook Church presents it - which is only every 3 years. And this morning she found out the dates for this year - so its important to get it on your calendar unless you want to wait another 3 years to see it.

So this entry is an attempt to list all the holiday stuff I'd like to do, with easy access links, and trying to keep a running list for what I plan to do.

pre December - would like to schedule a 'holiday decoration exchange' amongst my friends. -- More details to come.

Fri, Dec 4, 8 pm - MSO Pops Holiday Concert - regular MSP Pops subscription
Sat, Dec 5 - St Nick's Eve
   1 pm - Season of Light @ Retzer Planetarium
   7 pm - YACC Christmas Party
  10:30 pm Badger Football @ Hawaii

Sun, Dec 6 - Holding for Madison's Olbrich Botanical Gardens - Holiday Show, Concert @ 2pm
       Kopps flavor - Pepperment Stick

Mon, Dec 7 - Packers on Monday Night Football (not holiday related but don't plan over it)

Tue, Dec 8 - BJD Vacation Day scheduled for Chicago Day -
   Chicago Botanical Gardens (afternoon and evening for the xmas lights) ,
   Ikea in the morning for a little Xmas shopping
   Downtown ? State Street Windows/Michigan Avenue, Millenium Park

Thr, Dec 10 - 7pm St Dom's Christmas Show

Sat, Dec 12 - Annual Holiday Cookie Bake with friends

Sun, Dec 13 - Bring Advent Tree gifts to St Dom's masses this weekend
   Noon  - Packers @ Chicago Bears
  
Mon, Dec 14 - 7p Advent Reconcillation at St Dom's
Tue, Dec 15 - BJD Hosting Book Club Christmas Party
Sat, Dec 19 - Hold for Bethlehem Marketplace


Sun, Dec 20 - Ski at Chestnut Mountain (Galenia, IL - free with Warren Miller tix)

Tues, Dec 22 7pm - St Dom's A&E Christmas preparation

Wed, Dec 23, Festivus - for the rest of us!!!!
     1 pm - St Dom's Christmas continued, if needed

Thr, Dec 24, 9am - St Dom's Finish change from Advent to Christmas, if needed

Tues, Dec 29 - Danny's 12th Bday

Fri, Jan 1, 8pm - MSO Pops - Cirque de la Symphonie - regular MSP Pops subscription

Sat, Jan 2 - plan to snowshoe at Glacer Park and mass at Holy Hill




Some options

Carroll University Christmas at Carroll Concert @ Shattuck Music Center, $10
Sat 6/ Sun 7 (7:30pm) - Christmas in the Basilica - $10/ $25 tickets - all non reserved

Sat 12 7:30pm / Sun 13 3pm - First Stage Presents:The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

November 27 - December 24-
Scrooge in Rouge Dec 4 - Jan 3, $20 - Wed /Thr & matinees, $25 - Fri/SatIn a British Music Hall at the turn-of-the-century, a troupe of 23 actors are about to embark on a musical version of the beloved classic, A Christmas Carol – until 20 of them come down with food poisoning! Just three are left to pull off this bawdy and hilariously funny show as costumes fly and mayhem ensues!


The Nutcracker, Dec 11 - 27
http://www.milwaukeeballet.org/performances/nutcracker

Sunset Playhouse - Inspecting Carol  Dec 4 - 19, $18 http://sunsetplayhouse.com/onstage/show.php?id=7

Milwaukee Theaters

I like community theater - especially around Christmas time. Not sure why, but I enjoy the holiday programs much more than the other shows.

Here's a list of Milwaukee area theaters to check through out the year

Acacia Theatre Company
http://www.acaciatheatre.com/

Alverno College
alvernopresents.alverno.edu

The Bay Players
http://www.thebayplayers.com/

Bel Canto Chourus (sing along Messiah)
www.belcanto.org

Carroll University
www.carrollu.edu/campus/services/artscalendar.pdf

Cedarburg Cultural Center
cedarburgculturalcenter.org

First State Children's Theater
http://www.firststage.org/

In Tandem Theatre
intandemtheatre.org

Marcus Center
marcuscenter.org

Marquette University
diederich.marquette.edu/COC/Mainstage-Season.aspx

Memories Ballroom (dinner theater)
memoriesballroom.com/theatre.htm

Milwaukee Ballet
www.milwaukeeballet.org/performances

Milwaukee Chamber Theatre
http://www.chamber-theatre.com/

Milwaukee Choristers
http://www.milwaukeechoristers.org/

Milwaukee Repertory Theater
http://www.milwaukeerep.com/

Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
http://www.mso.org/

Milwaukee Theatre
http://www.milwaukeetheatre.org/

Next Act Theatre
http://www.nextact.org/

Pabst Theater
http://www.pabsttheater.org/

Wilson Center for Performing Arts
wilson-center.com

Skylight
http://www.skylightopera.com/

Soulstice
soulsticetheatre.org

South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center
http://www.southmilwaukeepac.org/

Sunset Playhouse
sunsetplayhouse.com

Waukesha Coral Union
choralunion.org

Waukesha Civic Theatre
waukeshacivictheatre.org

Starting Point

Its not a great starting point but most starting points are not great otherwise there would be no point in leaving that point.

Its a Monday and I'm going to committ to exercise at least 30 mins every day this week.