Local winter festival kicks off season of fun!!!

Since I created this blog a few months ago I have generally written about current events in politics, religion or both; however, my personal motto means that "everything is material" and I do mean everything! While I generally find inspiration to write from the world of politics and religion, I personally find so many other things enjoyable and inspiring that to not write about them as well is to cheat myself (and others) out of the larger world which exists beyond the "forbidden" topics. And so with that said, this blog post will have nothing to do with politics or religion. As it turns out there are far "crazier" things in the world -- like winter camping!

The last couple of weeks have been extremely hectic in my neck of the woods -- which are literally the Northwoods of Northern Wisconsin. Last minute efforts have been made to prepare for the coming Winter: putting up the last cord of firewood (for next year, as it's best to be a year ahead so one will always have dry seasoned wood to burn), putting away the last of the summer tools, and of course in the Northwoods searching for that 8 point buck. Of course, I'm not a hunter myself, but hunting is as much a part of living "Up North" as wearing multiple layers of clothes is -- which we do just to go to the grocery store!

But why do we all prepare for winter in such a way? Is it to hunker down for the next 4 months never to be seen again until spring? Well, there are some who live up North who do just that, but personally I like to think most of us who choose to live here are a little more adventurous than that. In fact, many of us do all of these last minute chores in preparation for winter just so we can have more time to get out and enjoy winter. Ice fishing, skiing, snowmobiling, snow tubing, snow sledding, and good old fashioned snowball fights are just some of the winter activities many of us enjoy.

Some are even crazy enough to try their hands at winter camping. Yes, winter camping! In fact this weekend the local hardware store (which is more than a hardware store) is having their second annual Welcome to Winter Festival. Yes those are real tents, and even though our low temperature this morning was 2 below zero (-2 degrees F), believe it or not they are warm and toasty inside. Of course that's because of the wood stoves keeping things at a comfortable 65 to 70 degrees but hey, it beats camping without one. Thanks to Snowtrekker Tents, people who would have never imagined doing anything as crazy as camping in the winter have been introduced to traditional winter camping and yes, they have come to enjoy it.

Yes -- winter camping may just sound crazy to some of my readers -- but then many of us think that a low temperature of 2 below zero is "not bad." In fact, some of us are so crazy for winter that all day today the Welcome to Winter Festival kicks off the winter season with a bonfire (15 feet high), music, food, and -- at 7pm -- a fantastic fireworks display courtesy of Lottig Pyrotechnics. The fireworks holds special interest for me because I am a pyro-assistant and the official videographer for Lottig Pyrotechnics. So if you're local (which up here is anything under 60 miles away) come on out to the Solon Springs Mercantile for food, fun, and fireworks. If you're not local, then some of the links I've posted will give you a taste of what us Northerners do to welcome in "old man winter," and if you think us Northerners are crazy -- well, you may just be right, and that's just how we like it!