Goodbye Warm November!

The roller coaster weather ride happening on the North Shore continues.  December has gotten off to chilly start and we are even starting to see some snow flying too!  It finally feels like winter up here after November set a record for warmest average high temps.  Area residents were able to get their last minute fix of hiking, fishing, hunting and even a few rounds of golf in during that mild month.  Because of that it’s looking like the ski season will be delayed for a few weeks this year.  To the snow lover’s delight, December rolled in and with cold temps and snow in the air.  The snow machines over at Lutsen Mountains have been working day and night to make up for lost time.  These are perfect snowmaking conditions with daytime temps in the low 20’s and nighttime temps in the low teens.  Lutsen Mountains will open for the season this weekend.  Cross country skiers are hoping for the real thing and lots of it sometime before Christmas so we can get some trails opened up and hear the swooshing of skinny skis real soon!

In staff news we welcome two new front desk people to our service team.  They are Jim and Nancy.  Jim is from Lutsen and Nancy is from Grand Marais.  They are two very nice, friendly individuals who bring their different skill sets to Cascade Lodge.  After a little more training they will surely do a fine job.  Our maintenance guy Dale had an interesting encounter a few weeks ago when he had an adult Ruffed Grouse come crashing through his kitchen window and almost landed on the dining room table which is where this crazy game bird eventually ended up.  He mentioned that it sounded like somebody blew out the window with a shotgun and added that it’s a good thing the lady of the house wasn’t at home cooking at the time or she might have had a heart attack!  Matt was down in the cities to visit family and friends over Thanksgiving weekend and attended a Timberwolves game at the Target Center and a Vikings game at the Dome too!  Typically the T-wolves were beaten up pretty badly by the Suns and the Vikings had no problem dismantling the Bears.  Go Vikes!  Michael, Maureen and Sarah O’Phelan are currently in Las Vegas getting to know UNLV where Sarah plans on going to school.  I’m sure they are missing this cold weather quite a bit out in the desert!