Saturday, January 30, 2010

TOO COLD TO DO ANYTHING?

On Friday night, I caught a little of Jeff Foxworthy on the Comedy Channel (you know, the “You might be a redneck if you’ve ever lost a tooth opening a beer bottle” guy). He had just been on tour and one of his engagements had been in northern Minnesota.

Ye gads, you would have thought he had a gig on an ice floe in the Arctic Circle. It was the same old stuff we always hear: You might be from Minnesota if . . . you see people wearing hunting clothes to church (your point being . . . ?), the Dairy Queen closes from September through June (don’t all Dairy Queens close from September through June??), you’re proud that International Falls is the coldest spot in the nation 196 out of 365 days (dern tootin’).

However, I think it’s important to point out that Minnesota is not just a state of camouflage-wearing, Dairy-Queen-closing, teeth-chattering nice guys who huddle inside their igloos for six months of the year. There is a mountain of things for people to do, even when it’s January 30 and the temperature is only ten degrees above zero. Hundreds of people were out and about today . . .

Skiing at Andes Tower Hills . . .
Skating with the rink rats at Noonan Pond . . .


Tubing . . .
Snowboarding . . .



Snowmobiling . . .

Sledding . . .
Listening to Jeff James sing James Taylor songs at the Carlos Creek Winery on a Saturday afternoon . . . Watching the Blizzard junior hockey team on a Saturday night . . .

And granted, Mr. Jeff Foxworthy, it's true. There are some people in Minnesota who “consider it a sport to get food by drilling through 18 inches of ice and sitting there for days hoping that the food will swim by.” Just drive by Lake LeHomme Dieu to see the ice roads heading out to the fish houses . . .


So, go ahead, Mr. Foxworthy. Make fun of Minnesotans because yes, as you say, we think ketchup is a little too spicy—and yes, every guy has a set of jumper cables in his car and his girlfriend knows how to use them. And yes, there are 17 empty cars in the Fleet Farm parking lot with their engines running—and yes, “down South” to us means Iowa. I will give you all that.

But nothing to do? No place to go? Not hardly. You betcha, eh?

9 comments:

Cindy said...

Fantastic! Yes! There IS a lot to do in the winter! Unless you're a whiny baby! Good post!

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