What a fantastic weekend!  This was the first weekend of the 2013 St. Paul Winter Carnival.  There were quite a few things that happened.

The treasure hunt is always the center of my Winter Carnival experience each year.  Clues 6-8 came out over the weekend and we did quite a bit of digging.  I just got back from a 3 hour stint in the middle of the snowstorm.  It is the most beautiful evening here in Minnesota.  The snowflakes are fat and huge and the weather is warm (well, 30 degrees is warm in January here.)  After a few hours, we had a great sign.  It’s customary to chat with fellow diggers when you are out and about and after 15 minutes chatting with the guy next to us, we find out that he has found the medallion in the past.  To be specific, he found it in Highland Park in 1994 inside of a little wooden box and he showed us the wooden box.  It was pretty cool to actually chat with him and knowing that we were thinking the same things he was about the location of the treasure gave me good feelings.

Saturday morning, I had a brief moment of insanity and signed myself up for the Securian Winter Run – 5k.  I haven’t really run all winter, so I was in no way, shape or form prepared to run 3 miles.  The weather report all week showed that it would be about 17 degrees… until Saturday morning.  It was 3 degrees when Annika and I arrived downtown for the run.  I was dressed pretty well.  I ended up slowing to a walk twice (my pace isn’t much faster than a walk) – once to adjust my head wear and once because we were going super uphill and my legs were a little numb.  All in all, I was pleased that I pulled my butt out of bed and made it happen.  Plus, I have a starting point for the rest of the year.  I can’t wait to see how many pictures I made it in.  Every time I saw a camera, I did a dramatic jump and posed in the air… that might have made me a little more tired than I should have been.

That’s us with the Securian man.  The slogan of the race was “frostbite is underrated.”  I obviously got myself a new shirt with that logo plus the mug we received for running.  I’m happy I did it and I’m glad Annika did it with me.

Saturday evening was the Crashed Ice event.  We didn’t actually make it to the Cathedral to watch the races live this year.  I had some serious knee pain after the run, so walking blocks to get there and then standing in the cold wasn’t in the cards for me.  We got together with some friends instead and went to one of the tents about 1/2 mile from the event and watched it on the big screens.  They had an awesome DJ that played tons of 90’s music and I had a Crispin or two.  It was a fantastic evening.

Dancing in snow pants is more fun than any other kind of dancing.  I was home and in bed by 11:00 which was awesome after my busy day.

Today was my niece’s 2nd birthday party.  We had cake & ice cream and caught up with the family.  The snow was starting to fall on our way home, but I was mentally preparing myself to hunt for the treasure.  I’m home relaxing now, but I’m secretly watching the clock.  Clue 9 will be released in 2 hours and I might just set an alarm to read it right away when they post it.  I’ll be heading back out right after work tomorrow if it hasn’t been found.

Hope you had a great weekend and were able to do something outside.  Cheers St. Paul!  Thanks for a great weekend!