Romps

Just in case you can't make it to the rodeos featured in the current issue of Lake Country Journal Magazine ("Bull Bash," July/August 2010), we've found some more Wild West fun right here in Lake Country.

Lake Country's natural summer beauty and warm weather are tailor-made for camping. So gather the family and spend a few days in the great outdoors.

Did you know Minnesota has a national scenic trail? If not, you're not alone. The North Country Trail is one of Minnesota's best-kept secrets—but now is your chance to familiarize yourself with this 4,600-mile hiking trail, which stretches from North Dakota to upstate New York.

In collaboration with their "CLC Green Team," students in Gary Carson's Introduction to Environmental Studies class and the student Green Club are coordinating a free public event, the "Earth Day Celebration and Green Expo," Thursday, April 22.

If you want to find out more about about St. Urho, travel to the Finnish community of Menahga, Minnesota, in the heart of Lake Country. You'll be greeted at the city limits by a large statue of the saint with a giant grasshopper impaled on his legendary pitchfork.

Lake Country continues its Winter X excellence with two athletes bringing home gold medals in the recent XIV Games in Aspen, Colorado.

Here's your invitation to celebrate Lake Country winter at the Brainerd Jaycees $150,000 Ice Fishing Extravaganza. For two decades, the Jaycees have conducted this event. All proceeds go to local charities.

When: 12 - 3 p.m. Saturday, January 23, 2010

Where: Hole in the Day Bay, Gull Lake, near Nisswa, Minnesota

The night sky this New Year's Eve will feature a "blue moon." You may need to move away from street lights and city lights to enjoy the full impact of this event, but it will be worth the effort. It's been twenty years since there's been a blue moon on New Year's Eve, and it will be another twenty years before it happens again. So what exactly is it?

"Black Friday" is the day after Thanksgiving. The term was reportedly coined in the 1970s in Philadelphia, supposedly to describe the heavy traffic—both vehicular and pedestrian—as shoppers flooded downtown stores.

The leaves are brilliant, the crowds have vacated, and those pesky flying bugs are gone—let's go camping! As Mary Savage highlighted in "Women on the Mississippi," Lake Country Journal Magazine, (Sept/Oct 2009, p. 46) this time of year can provide the best of camping and camraderie.