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December 1, 2016
Winter adventure on a budgetAt non-profit lodges, you can go to the dogs — or wolves — at low cost.
In winter, it's hard to find a lodge getaway that fits every budget. Lodges that offer skiing on groomed trails, wood-fired saunas and home-cooked meals aren't cheap. But if you'd like to try those things — and be greeted by a plate of warm chocolate-chip cookies afterward — you have a friend in environmental learning centers. These non-profit centers are the low-cost Club Meds of the north woods, offering all-inclusive weekend packages that include lodgings, meals and winter fun — cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, ice fishing, even wolf-tracking and sled-dog mushing. Women get an especially good shake at Becoming an Outdoorswomen weekends in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. Here are some great budget adventures in 2017. Best bets for the weekendSee Santas by the hundreds and reindeer everywhere.
There are still three weeks before Christmas, but this is the biggest weekend for festivals. If you love parades, catch two in southeast Wisconsin on Saturday, Elkhorn's Christmas Card Town Parade at 1:30 p.m. and, 11 miles away in Lake Geneva, the Great Electric Children's Parade at 5 p.m. Santa will be there and also in Milwaukee for Christmas in the Ward and at the Milwaukee County Zoo, where Saturday is free day. Mrs. Claus probably will be in nearby Cedarburg, shopping at holiday fairs. Their reindeer will be in St. Paul for the Grand Meander, in Black River Falls for Christkindl Festival and in Geneva, Ill., for Christmas Walk, where Santa Lucia will hand out Swedish cookies. You'll see tomte, another kind of Santa's helper, at the American Swedish Institute's Julmarknad festival in Minneapolis, and Julenisse at Norwegian Christmas in Decorah. In Chicago, join hundreds of Santas for the free SantaCon bar crawl. Also in Chicago, the German Christkind will visit the Christkindlmarket, and the first of a month's worth of Polar Express train rides will leave Union Station. Chicago also is one of our great shopping towns, and this weekend is its One of a Kind fine-arts fair. From Duluth, take the train along Lake Superior to the Julebyen Christmas Village in Knife River, or drive and stop at the Duluth Winter Village outside Glensheen. The train also makes the short trip to the Bentleyville light display and back. If you feel the need to relax before the big day, this is a great time for a big-city getaway: The closer you get to Christmas, the cheaper hotels get. Next weekendMeet Father Christmas and the Christkind in Old World settings.
European Christmas Market in St. Paul. This market at Union Depot features choirs, dancers, warm mulled wine, European-inspired food and artisan goods. The Canadian Pacific Holiday Train arrives at 7:15 p.m. Dec. 9. Dec. 8-11. Christkindlmarket in Naperville, Ill. The Chicago Christkindlmarket has a satellite at the historic Naperville Settlement, featuring visits from the Christkind, dance concerts and a children's lantern parade on Kinder Tag, Dec. 11. Dec. 8-11. An Old World Christmas in Eagle, Wis. At this complex of pioneer homesteads, meet Father Christmas, stroll from historic houses to shops, sample ethnic foods and make old-fashioned crafts. Dec. 10-11. Folkways of the Holidays in Shakopee, Minn. This living-history museum offers horse-drawn trolley rides, tours of 19th-century homes given by costumed interpreters and concerts by folk musicians and ethnic dancers. Dec. 10-11. For more, see our Events Calendar.
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