Bemidji

 Last weekend Jens had a tourney in Bemidji. All games were at the new Sanford arena the D1 BSU beavers play at. Never had been inside. Very nice arena and they have done a good job displaying the accomplishments of teams past in the locker room hallways.

 Pretty crazy nice place for 9 and 10 year olds to play hockey in the summer.

 Jonell left early the day we went up there to pick up Jack at camp and I left later, heading the back roads to ride at least 50 miles. Timing was perfect as Jonell met me just past Itasca state park and I was able to log the longest road ride I have done in 3 years. Wind was pretty much perfect, pushing me along most of the way to average almost 19mph. Through the refuge I ran in to Gaylon Mesh (sp) from Fargo. 71 years young and still cranking out big miles.

 Bemidji is pretty much the best town you could go to for a tourney or what not. If I had to rank the top towns/cities in Minnesota, I would probably put Bemidji at the top. Four sheets of ice for a town of 13,000. Numerous Nordic ski trail systems, a downhill ski area, tons of lakes including lake Bemidji (which is the Mississippi), new mountain bike trails, tons of decent paved road for road biking, Bemidji state park, including paved bike paths like above, Itasca just 30 minutes away and the probability for best chance to access Red Lake walleye, to name a few reasons why. You can also hone your Ojibway skills as both the arena and local liquor store has English and Ojibway written on the doors. I am partial as I worked 5 summers at the nearby Concordia Language Villages and have lot of great memories of the area. Saturday in between games, Jon and I bladed around lake Bemidji, logging just under 16 miles. About as good as it gets for paved bike paths. Nice deep woods feel with vegetation not found anywhere else in the state, according to Park signage.

 Didn't have the mtb along but still managed to ride a little on the Movil Maze system with the road bike since the trails are so smooth.

After having extra kids the day before, Jonell and I found ourselves kid less Saturday night. Thanks to my parents and the Fritz family for that. Nice break from the busy month.