Making Warm Memories in a Winter Wonderland
By Britt Aamodt
Picture yourself in your favorite flannel pajamas and fleece-lined slippers. Then see yourself heading into the kitchen to zap a mug of hot chocolate to complement the sugar cookies and Russian teacakes stacked on a snowflake napkin. Goodies assembled, you cozy onto the living room sofa, throw an afghan over your legs and punch play on the remote.
What’s on TV tonight? Why, of course, those old chestnuts: Miracle On 34th Street, It’s a Wonderful Life and White Christmas. Nothing goes better with your creature comforts than Bing Crosby on the piano, crooning, “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas. Just like the ones I used to know…”
Okay, so if you were to pause Bing right now and peer out the window, what would you see? Trees in full leaf, songbirds warbling, the thermometer chugging up to eighty-plus in the shade? I don’t think so. What you really want to see are mounded snowdrifts, ice-chunked eaves and Old Man Winter howling at the door. Anyway, cookies and hot chocolate just taste better with snow on the ground.
So, if you’re thinking of holing away for the winter and putting off group tour plans until flip-flop and shorts weather, well, think again. Right now is the best time of year for shopping, winter markets, songfests and sampling the bounty of a festively laden table. So put on your boots and knit cap, because we’re headed into a winter wonderland.
Open Air Freeze Fests
Maybe it’s because we don’t have a choice in the matter, but we Midwesterners and our neighbors to the north, the Canadians, have made quite a production out of winter festivals. And we’re talking outdoor winter festivals. Sure, you could take your group to an enormous shopping mall, like the Mall of America, and have a great time bopping in and out of temperature-controlled boutiques and specialty food stores. But there’s just something magical about stepping off the motorcoach into a city square trimmed with evergreen, sparkling with lights and the music of carolers tuning the crisp, winter air. And you can only do that one season a year.
At Winnipeg’s Festival du Voyageur, you can spend hours walking the stalls and checking out the open-air schedule of theatrical and musical performers. And what about the aroma of smoky barbecue rising from a grill at St. Paul’s Winter Carnival?
Warm yourself with a hot coffee at Winterfest in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and take a front-row seat at the United States National Snow Sculpting Competition. Watch outdoor artisans chainsaw and chip away at huge blocks of ice, then stick around for horse-drawn carriage and sleigh rides.
Or maybe shopping’s more up your alley? Then your group may want to check out Christkindlmarket in Chicago. Inspired by the outdoor Christmas fairs in Nuremberg, Germany, which began in 1545, the Chicago market offers up more than fifty vendors selling everything from glassware, toys, ornaments, jewelry and Christmas treats. Save your appetite for some good German food, too: bratwurst, schnitzel, strudel and gluhwein (hot spiced wine).
Every state in the Midwest has a winter festival or parade of some sort. Some even have more than one, to mark the before and after holiday seasons. Each outdoor event provides your group with a dozen reasons to celebrate life in the cold. You get it all—shopping, music, theater, food, craft demos, hot air balloons and fireworks. And you don’t even have to worry about hat hair, because you’ll want to keep your hats on.
Into the Great Wide Open
Now that we’ve tempted you outside to stroll market stalls and nibble krumkake and apple fritters in open-sided tents, why not go the next step? Why not take your group to a real winter wonderland? Many of the nature centers and parks you love to visit in summer for boat rides and nature walks are open in winter, too, but with a focus on the white fluffy stuff.
Winter nights are made for snowshoe hikes at Minnesota’s Voyageur’s National Park. Many state parks have heated camper cabins. So if you love to ski or snowshoe by candlelight, but also want to be close to a warm, well-lighted place, make your home in the park for the night.
Honey Creek, Iowa, hosts owl prowl night hikes. Listen to stories about these fascinating birds of the night on an evening hike and even learn to make your own owl calls. Keokuk, Iowa, pulls out all the stops for its annual Bald Eagle Appreciation Days. There are observation posts along the Mississippi River, as well as programs, films and special exhibits.
In Central Wisconsin, meanwhile, your group can participate in timber wolf tracking and ecology workshops at Sandhill State Wildlife Area. While you’re there, try out their snowshoe weaving workshop. North Dakota’s appropriately named ShiverFest puts the sport back in winter with the annual fishing and pond hockey tournaments.
Chill Out with History and Culture
You can trek wolves on foot, or you can soak up Christmas lights from the comfort of your motorcoach. Lake Shawnee, Kansas, boasts one millions lights along the two-mile scenic drive, while Chicago offers the Magnificent Mile Lights Festival.
But a drive is always better with a destination. Why not head to an historic home or farm feted out with holiday trimmings and cookies in the oven? Wisconsin’s Yuletide at the Portage, Iowa’s Living History Farms in Urbandale and the Old Tyme Christmas at Fort Massac State Park in Illinois, revive old-time traditions, stories, costumes and culinary treats. Sample plum pudding from a wood-burning stove and spiced tea straight off the hob.
And if you still want to spend your winter nights with a little Bing Crosby, then look no further than Illinois and the Marriot Theatre, presenting a staged musical version of White Christmas. Wintery productions abound in the Midwest. Iowa’s Riverside Theatre has Guys on Ice: An Ice Fishing Musical Comedy. And then there’s Wisconsin’s Fireside Dinner Theatre, which has been thrilling tour groups with its Christmas show.
There’s music, outdoor magic, plays, pageants, parades and festivals popping up this winter season. Who says cold weather is only about dry skin and a few extra pounds? Work off those hibernation pounds on a Winter Wonderland tour of the Midwest. The roads are plowed, the walks are shoveled and the roads are lined with twinkling lights. It’s lovely weather for a motorcoach adventure with your group. Dontcha think?
