Skip to content

Top Navigation

Midwest Living Midwest Living
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Home
  • Garden
  • Holidays & Entertaining
  • Videos
  • Sweeps and Contests

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Help
  • Logout

More

  • Win Your Dream Getaway!
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Magazine Issues
  • Destinations
Login
Subscribe
Pin FB

Explore Midwest Living

Midwest Living Midwest Living
  • Explore

    Explore

    • 40 Favorite Comfort Food Recipes

      Macaroni and cheese, Amish apple dumplings and chicken pot pie are among our Midwest comfort food favorites. Read More Next
    • 50 Romantic Midwest Getaways

      Romance, of course, can be wherever the two of you are. But wonderful surroundings help. We found some of the most romantic places anywhere in the Midwest—in the city and country. All you have to do is get away together! Read More Next
    • 50 Decadent Chocolate Dessert Recipes

      Chocolate lovers, these are for you: 50 of our best rich-and-gooey chocolate dessert recipes, including pie, pudding, cake, cookies, fondue and brownies. Read More Next
  • Travel

    Travel

    See All Travel

    50 Midwest Resorts We Love

    Our favorite Midwest resort destinations range from cozy lakeside lodges to indoor water park behemoths. Dive in to check out our top picks for a fabulous Midwest getaway.
    • Illinois
    • Indiana
    • Iowa
    • Kansas
    • Michigan
    • Minnesota
    • Missouri
    • Nebraska
    • North Dakota
    • Ohio
    • South Dakota
    • Wisconsin
    • Around the Region
    • Free Travel Info
  • Food

    Food

    See All Food

    Midwest Living November/December 2020 Recipes

    • Comfort Foods
    • Desserts & Baking
    • Breakfast
    • Quick & Easy
    • Chicken
    • Soups & Stews
    • Midwest Favorites
    • Fruits & Vegetables
    • Fish
    • Grilling
  • Home

    Home

    See All Home

    50 Quick and Easy Holiday Decorating Ideas

    Give your home holiday style in a flash with these simple yet creative decorating projects.
    • Quick Decorating
    • Featured Homes
    • Organizing & Storage
    • Outdoor Living
    • Seasonal Decorating
    • Room Decorating
  • Garden

    Garden

    See All Garden

    14 Cheerful Winter Container Gardens

    Create bountiful outdoor winter arrangements with a little help from Mother Nature.
    • Container Gardens
    • Flowers
    • Featured Gardens
    • Midwest Gardening Calendar
    • Garden Ideas & Inspiration
  • Holidays & Entertaining

    Holidays & Entertaining

    See All Holidays & Entertaining

    40 Easy Christmas Crafts

    Decorate your home, make a gift or create an ornament with our 40 ideas for fun and easy Christmas crafts.
    • Christmas
    • Valentine's Day
    • Easter
    • July 4th
    • Halloween
    • Thanksgiving
  • Videos

    Videos

    See All Videos
    • How to Make an All-Butter Pie Crust
    • How to Make Pumpkin-Spice Icebox Cake
  • Sweeps and Contests

    Sweeps and Contests

    See All Sweeps and Contests

    Warm-Weather Getaways Sweepstakes

    • Winter Getaways Sweepstakes
    • Warm-Weather Getaways Sweepstakes

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Help
  • Logout

More

  • Win Your Dream Getaway!
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Magazine Issues
  • Destinations
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Midwest Living
  2. Travel
  3. Around the Region
  4. 12 Ways to Own Winter

12 Ways to Own Winter

December 10, 2015
Skip gallery slides
Pin
Don’t waste another day longing for spring. Our guide shows you 12 ways to make this your best snow season ever in the Midwest.
Start Slideshow

1 of 11

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Skate in the city

Even the most romantic ice-skating outing can wear a little thin after a couple of laps around a pocket-size rink. But the curving quarter-mile track in Chicago's Maggie Daley Park is, actually, a skate in the park. The ice of the elegantly named Skating Ribbon slides around corners and up and down slight rises, bringing various angles on the city's skyline in and out of view as you loop the path near the Loop's Millennium Park. Landscaped berms, evergreen trees, kids' play areas, benches and vendors selling snacks and drinks round out the mood of a splendid family outing-or that scene from a rom-com you've always wanted to live out.

1 of 11

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 11

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Book Across the Bay

The treadmill's tyranny over winter fitness is fading, thanks to a big lineup of hot-chocolate runs and other cold-weather races. The most memorable monotony-buster may be northern Wisconsin's Book Across the Bay. At sundown on February 15, 2020, an estimated 4,000 skiers and snowshoers will take off from Ashland and head across Lake Superior's Chequamegon Bay ice, following the glow of 1,000 ice luminaria to a finish line (and heated party tent) 10 kilometers away in Washburn. If you prefer an on-ice adventure with a side of heat, play Ice Road Trucker by driving your car over the 2-mile track opened annually between nearby Bayfield and Madeline Island. Even if the snow's a-blowin', count on the lines of leftover Christmas trees to guide you home.

2 of 11

3 of 11

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Step through the desert’s door

Credit: Courtesy of Omaha Convention and Visitors Bureau

If airfare to Tucson isn't in the budget, a roadie to Omaha offers a quick substitute. The glass dome rising above the Missouri River covers an acre of desert laced with hiking trails and animal exhibits, all kept at a comfy 75 degrees by Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium. Exhibits re-create three desert ecosystems (including Arizona's Sonora) with the handy addition of screens and glass between you, the bobcats and the Gila monsters. Under the desert, the Kingdoms of the Night exhibit puts winter further out of mind with boardwalks passing over steamy, dark, gator-filled bayou waters.

3 of 11

Advertisement

4 of 11

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Get fat on a bike

These beefy bikes may look like a clown's ride, but nobody's laughing at the way they've swept the national biking scene. The bulbous tires' giant 4-inch footprint lets cyclists float through snow (or sand, as Southwest riders have found) and keep cranking year-round. That means that when a winter sunrise sets the woods sparkling under a load of fresh powder, cross-country skiers and snowshoers no longer get to hog all the fun. Busting drifts with giant tires is a hoot, and even tipping over is just a chance to make extreme snow angels. The Midwest epicenter for fat biking is the college town of Marquette in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, but you'll find outfitters renting the bikes all over states like Minnesota and Wisconsin. (And we've spotted them for sale in suburban bike shops well south of that.)

4 of 11

5 of 11

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Ski under the lights

Credit: Photo courtesy of Crystal Mountain.

High school football isn't the only sport that ramps up the drama when the lights go on. Hills across the Midwest stay open during prime time as night wraps the glowing scene like a darkened theater. The show is especially good at Michigan's Crystal Mountain (pictured). In long-winter states up north, many parks light cross-country and snowshoe trails with torches or electric lights to keep people active outdoors even when workdays begin and end in the dark. One of our favorite quiet escapes: Kettle Moraine State Forest near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, where lights cover 1.2 miles of trail at the Greenbush area-and a warming hut waits at the trailhead.

5 of 11

6 of 11

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Try a polar paddle

This one guarantees unique bragging rights when the selfies hit Facebook: a 90-minute raft trip in northern Michigan. In the dead of winter. Beyond the novelty factor, why go so radically out of season? For the raw beauty, among other things. During the float down the Sturgeon River with Big Bear Adventures, the pure air seems to sharply focus the river valley's colors. Nature looks downright high-def this time of year, compared to summer's hazy days. Your silent passage makes it easy to sneak up on deer, beavers and more. But it's not only scenery recharging your psyche. Functioning-yes, having actual fun-while floating along in frigid weather delivers a shot of can-do gratification no self-help book can match. Buoyed above the icy flow and joining the kinetic effort that keeps the raft on course, you're not just having an outing. You're proving your self-reliance (let's go ahead and ignore the guide for a moment).

6 of 11

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

7 of 11

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Fly like a snowbird

Once snow flies, the massive pool party at Wisconsin Dells (self-styled "Waterpark Capital of the World") moves under glass to the oases at numerous resorts. But for those with a taste for somewhat crisper air, the Vertical Illusions zipline sends high-flyers through snow-covered pine boughs in all temperatures. The aerial tour over pines and canyons includes 18 ziplines up to 1,000 feet long. For an extra 5 bucks, add snowshoe rental and spend the rest of the day trading the chickadee's-eye view for a walk among the drifts. When the cold finally gets to you, miles of indoor lazy rivers are always on standby in town.

7 of 11

8 of 11

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Trek to the ice caves

If Arctic exploration fires your imagination but the whole polar-bears-and- desolation thing hasn't really clicked, you'll find a satisfying stand-in waiting in northern Wisconsin. Prepared hikers can set out onto the Lake Superior ice for a walk to spectacular formations that drape caves at the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. (The journey is 5-12 miles round- trip, depending on how far you go.) In perfect-storm years (like 2013–14), epic ice formations and walkable lake ice draw well over 100,000 people. Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore near Munising, Michigan, also puts on a great icefall show, and if you know of waterfalls near you, it's worth a hike to look for photo ops. Tip: When ice conditions are primo, go during the week and try to carpool. On peak weekend days, you may have to park on the road, adding a couple of miles to the trek.

8 of 11

9 of 11

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

See the show on a string

When 7,000 people gather on a frozen lake, they're usually staring down at ice fishing lures. But each year (February 15, 2020) on northern Iowa's Clear Lake, every gaze points up during the Color the Wind Kite Festival. (The Midwest's largest of its kind, if you track such things.) The scene overhead is equal parts Macy's parade, air show and psychedelic vision. Pods of enormous dolphins surf the air while stunt kites slice around them on the cold breeze like barracudas. Meanwhile, geometric creations turn lazily in the wind like kaleidoscopic tunnels in the sky.

9 of 11

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

10 of 11

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Party like a fire god

The guest list gets exotic every winter (January 23– February 2, 2020) on the steps of a Minnesota library. On the culminating night of the Saint Paul Winter Carnival, Vulcanus Rex (the Fire King) and his minions make their annual assault on King Boreas at James J. Hill library before packed streets. Without fail, the Vulcans prevail, setting the stage for spring's return. The plot may be full of spoilers, but that hasn't stopped generations from coming for the battle, the parade and the glistening sculptures carved from ice.

Madison, Wisconsin, throws its own Winter Festival (February 1–2, 2020), in Elver Park. Along with contests for snowshoers, fat bikers and snow sculptors, there are also competitions for skijoring (dogs pulling one skier) and Wisconsin's high school Nordic ski sprint championship.

10 of 11

11 of 11

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Sauna like a Scandinavian

The term sauna (for the record, it's "SOW-na" not "SAW-na") has been recklessly commoditized to mean any small, steamy room. But the overheated broom closet at your health club is a pale cousin of the true Scandinavian sauna appreciated by, well, your pale cousins throughout the upper Midwest. A sauna in places like Minnesota and Michigan's UP offers not only an escape from the cold but also invigorating therapy. Steam up, dash out, dive into a snowbank. Repeat. It's not always easy finding a reputable public sauna, but many northern resorts have them. And you can approximate the experience at spas and health clubs that include cold plunge pools next to their steam rooms. You'll have to provide your own birch twigs for flogging your superheated skin in true Finnish style.

11 of 11

Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook
Trending Videos
Advertisement
Skip slide summaries

Everything in This Slideshow

Advertisement

View All

1 of 11 Skate in the city
2 of 11 Book Across the Bay
3 of 11 Step through the desert’s door
4 of 11 Get fat on a bike
5 of 11 Ski under the lights
6 of 11 Try a polar paddle
7 of 11 Fly like a snowbird
8 of 11 Trek to the ice caves
9 of 11 See the show on a string
10 of 11 Party like a fire god
11 of 11 Sauna like a Scandinavian

Share options

Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Login

Midwest Living

Magazines & More

Learn More

  • Contact Us
  • Help
  • Free Newsletters this link opens in a new tab
  • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
  • Customer Service this link opens in a new tab
  • Renew this link opens in a new tab
  • Advertise this link opens in a new tab
  • Content Licensing this link opens in a new tab
  • Affiliate Program
  • Free Travel Info this link opens in a new tab
  • Special Promotions this link opens in a new tab
  • Sweepstakes this link opens in a new tab
  • Video
  • Home Advisor this link opens in a new tab

Connect

Follow Us
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Other Meredith Sites

Other Meredith Sites

  • 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab
  • Better Homes & Gardens this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Insights this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Surveys this link opens in a new tab
  • Cooking Light this link opens in a new tab
  • Daily Paws this link opens in a new tab
  • EatingWell this link opens in a new tab
  • Eat This, Not That this link opens in a new tab
  • Entertainment Weekly this link opens in a new tab
  • Food & Wine this link opens in a new tab
  • Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Hello Giggles this link opens in a new tab
  • Instyle this link opens in a new tab
  • Martha Stewart this link opens in a new tab
  • Midwest Living this link opens in a new tab
  • More this link opens in a new tab
  • MyRecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • MyWedding this link opens in a new tab
  • My Food and Family this link opens in a new tab
  • MyLife this link opens in a new tab
  • Parenting this link opens in a new tab
  • Parents this link opens in a new tab
  • People this link opens in a new tab
  • People en Español this link opens in a new tab
  • Rachael Ray Magazine this link opens in a new tab
  • Real Simple this link opens in a new tab
  • Ser Padres this link opens in a new tab
  • Shape this link opens in a new tab
  • Siempre Mujer this link opens in a new tab
  • Southern Living this link opens in a new tab
  • SwearBy this link opens in a new tab
  • Travel & Leisure this link opens in a new tab
Midwest Living is part of the Meredith Home Group. © Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
© Copyright . All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.midwestliving.com

View image

12 Ways to Own Winter
this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.