Winter Fun in Wausau
Wausau, Wisconsin is a 2.5 hour drive from where we live in Madison. We went there last weekend to have a ski day. We've gone before for a couple of nights, so the guys can go skiing for two days straight and I ski one day, then snowshoe the next. Last year we left early because Sunday was going to be way too cold to have any fun skiing (in the single digit Fahrenheit before wind chill).
This year we learned that it is definitely a viable one-day trip. We left at 6:30 a.m., and we were on the slopes by 10:00 a.m. The ski hill is Granite Peak at Rib Mountain, and its 700 foot mountain has more than enough runs to keep us going all day, including challenging ones for John and Jeff (pictured here), and easier runs for me in the afternoon.
There are a lot of options for good, hearty food a the bottom of the hill, and their cheese curds in the dining hall are delicious. I especially liked the new lockers that could be reserved using credit cards, not quarters, thankfully. And you could access them as many times as you needed.
This year's snow was fairly icy - there hasn't been much natural snow in Wisconsin this year yet. It is pretty tough for me to ski on icy slopes, so I spent the afternoon on many green runs and going through the kiddie tree ski area "Enchanted Forest" segment of the hill - but I liked it just fine as an adult.
After skiing, I found a table in the lodge where they usually have live music - an acoustic pair of singer/guitar that was lively and played well-known older tunes. After relaxing a bit with a beer,
(and hot chocolate for John), we went to one of Wausau's liveliest spots, the Red Eye Brewery. Jeff snagged us a reservation through Open Table, other people who stopped in found themselves facing a two-hour wait.
Again, I didn't take pictures, but I can say that my mussels with a coconut-curry broth, accompanied by a seasonal brew called "Man Pants" (yeah, totally fun to order) was extraordinary. Jeff had an extremely rich bacon mac-n-cheese, and John ordered a homemade strawberry soda with his sandwich that was light and not too sweet.
The one thing about a day trip is there is not time to pack in extras, but based on other trips up to Wausau I have to give a shout out to these other places, which is what I would do with an extra day:
This year we learned that it is definitely a viable one-day trip. We left at 6:30 a.m., and we were on the slopes by 10:00 a.m. The ski hill is Granite Peak at Rib Mountain, and its 700 foot mountain has more than enough runs to keep us going all day, including challenging ones for John and Jeff (pictured here), and easier runs for me in the afternoon.
There are a lot of options for good, hearty food a the bottom of the hill, and their cheese curds in the dining hall are delicious. I especially liked the new lockers that could be reserved using credit cards, not quarters, thankfully. And you could access them as many times as you needed.
This year's snow was fairly icy - there hasn't been much natural snow in Wisconsin this year yet. It is pretty tough for me to ski on icy slopes, so I spent the afternoon on many green runs and going through the kiddie tree ski area "Enchanted Forest" segment of the hill - but I liked it just fine as an adult.
After skiing, I found a table in the lodge where they usually have live music - an acoustic pair of singer/guitar that was lively and played well-known older tunes. After relaxing a bit with a beer,
(and hot chocolate for John), we went to one of Wausau's liveliest spots, the Red Eye Brewery. Jeff snagged us a reservation through Open Table, other people who stopped in found themselves facing a two-hour wait.
Again, I didn't take pictures, but I can say that my mussels with a coconut-curry broth, accompanied by a seasonal brew called "Man Pants" (yeah, totally fun to order) was extraordinary. Jeff had an extremely rich bacon mac-n-cheese, and John ordered a homemade strawberry soda with his sandwich that was light and not too sweet.
The one thing about a day trip is there is not time to pack in extras, but based on other trips up to Wausau I have to give a shout out to these other places, which is what I would do with an extra day:
- Woodson Museum of Art especially if you like birds, and they have other exhibits too.
- For truly authentic Mexican dishes out of a house kitchen, try Taqueria Tres Hermanos. I recommend calling ahead for carry out, and enjoy the giant roasted pepper.
- Snowshoeing at Rib Mountain State Park: Mostly known for its ski slopes at Granite Peak, Rib Mountain State Park also boasts a less well-known collection of excellent, albeit challenging, snowshoe trails. More than eight miles of trails are marked specifically for hiking and snowshoeing, with one of the most demanding being the Yellow Trail, a strenuous 3-mile hike through maple forest up and down the south side of the mountain with elevation changes of 500 feet. Having escaped the bulldozing glaciers and a billion years of erosive forces, the mountain is technically a monadnock, a geological formation that consists of a ridge, hill or mountain that rises sharply from a surrounding relatively flat plain. Rib Mountain is actually a 4-mile-long ridge, and snowshoers can catch a glimpse of its hardy quartzite rock interior at the old 3M quarry off the Quarry Trail. Gear: Rent gear at Shepherd & Schaller in Wausau (324 Scott St., 715.845.5432). Source: Steve Johnson at the Wisconsin Journal Sentinel.
Since Jeff is going to do a solo ski trip this season, maybe I can interview him for a future post for recapping that experience - he is planning to go to the Upper Peninsula in Michigan for some challenging ski terrain. I hear there is a communal yurt there - no thanks!
Where is your favorite place to ski? Any after-ski traditions?
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