WEBVTT
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Hey, what's up everyone. Welcome to Delightful Destinations. My name
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is Jeff save Pierre and this is episode thirty seven.
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If it's your first time checking out the program, welcome
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to the show. I really do appreciate your time. Delightful
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Destinations is a show that I created so I could
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talk to representatives from different locations around the country and
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learn more about these beautiful places that are just all
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around us. I am always looking for an excuse to
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get out of the house and go check out something new,
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and I hope this show will help inspire you the
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next time you're looking to escape the daily grind. If
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you've been a listener of this program, then you may
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have heard me mentioned before that I grew up in
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New England. I spent the first eighteen ish years of
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my life in New Hampshire. When I got to high school,
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snowboarding became a huge part of my life and personality.
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It was what my friends and I love to do
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all winter long. In fact, I think I was happiest
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when I was on a mountain. My favorite thing to
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do was get to the top of the highest peak
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at any ski resort and just look around at the
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world around me. These are the images that even though
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I saw them nearly thirty years ago, I still have
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them burned into my memory. I think snowboarding was what
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really made me fall in love with nature and the outdoors. Now,
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when you live in New England, you've got pretty easy
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access to some world class ski resorts, and of course
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everyone always hears about Colorado and Lake Tahoe. Basically it
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was always New England or the Rocky Mountains. When you
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talk about the Midwest, though, it was always about cornfields
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and how flat it is. Ski resorts weren't exactly top
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of mind. So let's go ahead and change that story.
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Today we're taking a look primarily at two wonderful resorts
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in Wisconsin and Michigan. They're part of the Midwest Family
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Ski Resorts properties. They actually have three in the group,
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but we're only going to focus on two here today,
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Loots and Mountains and Snow River Mountain Resort. With me
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to open my eyes about skiing and snowboarding and how
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special it can be in the Midwest are Greg Fisher,
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the chief marketing officer for Midwest Family Ski Resorts, and
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Charlotte Skinner. She's the chief financial officer and chief operating officer.
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Nice to meet both of you.
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Yeah, nice to meet you too. Thank you for having
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us pleasure.
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I got to tell you, I don't know if you
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guys have listened to this podcast at all before, but
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I grew up in New England and I'm just going
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to tell you from my personal experience, we didn't hear
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a lot about Midwest skiing, I'll be totally honest with you.
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So I'm excited to learn more about what you guys
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have to offer over there, because for us, it was
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always you know, New England has their history, and then
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there was also you know, Denver and the Rockies and
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all that. But Midwest, obviously, I know there's stuff there,
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but it wasn't something that we ever really heard a
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lot about. So I'm very excited to hear more about
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the Midwest Family Ski Resorts.
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We're three properties here in the Midwest. We have Luted Mountains,
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which is up in northern Minnesota. It's on the shores
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of Lake Superior and the Sawsmooth Mountains. It is one
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of the most beautiful mountains you'll have in the Midwest
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that anywhere in the country really that offers just this
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amazing view over you know, one of the largest inland
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seas in the world, and you.
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Didn't really compare that. I know you grew up in
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New England.
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I worked in New England for years, and I can
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tell you that this mountain and the views that this
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place offers, we'll break right up there with some of
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the biggest mountains in the East that showcase the mountains
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out there too. Snow River Mountain Resort is there a
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second resort that's up on the up Upper Peninsula of Michigan,
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right over the Wisconsin border. It's two different peaks, Jackson
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Creek's Summit and then Black River Basin. They offer kind
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of two different skiing experiences. We just installed a six
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passenger chairlift at Jackson Creek and that is the only
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one of its kind in the up and then down
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down where we're at I'm in Wassaw and we're at
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Granite Peak Ski Area, which is the largest one in
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Wisconsin and has three high speed chairlifts.
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Is seven hundred feet of vertical here. You can get
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a lot of ski.
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In in a very short amount of time, a lot
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of vertical up and down, up and down, and we
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have a superior snowmaking system.
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Here that really can rival.
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Anything in the country when it comes to snowmaking and
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the power of it, so we get.
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Open really quickly.
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We don't have to rely too much of mother nature
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here in northern you know all of our resorts it
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stays cold our too. Northern resorts Lusen and Snow River
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definitely get lake effects snows. Especially Snow River it gets
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over two hundred inches of annual snowpoll which is powder
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friendly stuff in the winter time.
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Greg, I'm curious where did you work in New England?
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Just out of curiosity.
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I worked at was marketing director at Mount Snow for
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ten years. Then I lived up in North Conway and
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worked for a company in marketing Peak resorts. We own
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att Attached and Wildcat, so I made North Conway my
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home for five years.
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I love north Conway. It is I grew up in
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New Hampshire, so that's one of my favorite places. Every
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summer I'm like, can we I tell my wife and
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dont I'm like, can we please make a trip to
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north Conway please? And we haven't done it in the
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last ten years, but it's on the list every single year.
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It's beautiful up there. But hearing you talk about where
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you guys are now. I mean, just sounds incredible, and
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I feel like for a lot of folks here on
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the East Coast, maybe it's an untapped resource that people
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haven't really checked. Doubt yet because I shouldn't assume everybody
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listening is from the East Coast, but I'm based in Baltimore,
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so I assume many of our listeners are tuning in
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because they know who I am through our radio station here.
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But yeah, just it sounds beautiful. I know we're going
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to focus on a couple of your mountains here today.
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And something else that I think people underutilize mountains for
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is the summertime. Like I think people forget how beautiful
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the scenery, how beautiful the hiking and everything can be
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at a ski resort when there's no snow on the ground,
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Like you just have this vision of ski resort. That's it.
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But there's so much to offer, So let's start with
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the Lutsen Mountains. Tell me what's the exciting stuff that's
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going on in the summertime.
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Well up at Lutsen, we have some amazing offerings all spring,
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summer and ball. We have the only gondola that is
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in the Midwest that kind of spreads across goes from
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the base of Eagle Mountain over to the top of
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Moose Mountain, and it goes across the river, the popular
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river valley that flows right through the middle of Lootson Mountains.
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So Luten's comprised of four different peaks.
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And over at Moose we have a summit chalet that
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offers this expansive, beautiful view of Lake Superior and the
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surrounding the Sawtooth Mountains. And it's called the Sawtooth Mountain
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because it makes like if you look at it from
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an angle from I would say that the northeast down
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it looks like literally a saw that goes right across
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an upside down saw.
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It's pretty cool.
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And the gondola, like I said, expands this beautiful river
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valley and just is it's a unique experience to go across.
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We also offer an alpine slide, which are few and
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far between in this country. As somebody who's from New Hampshire,
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I know there's a couple of them up there.
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It's really exhilarating to control your own speed.
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My two sons and I are going up in a
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couple of weeks to go experience that they've never been
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on the Alpine slide, I can tell you that there's
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a lot of these ziplines and stuff like that that
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go through woods and everything. But to control how you
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go and zip down through it is really is really
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quite fun, you know. But loosen that those are only
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just like two of the things that are there to offer.
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The whole area is something that is truly unique.
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You know. It offers like two.
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Hundred miles of single track mountain bike trails that are
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right at your doorstep. The Superior Hiking Trail goes right
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through the heart of Luton and that goes all the
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way up through to Canada. And then there's the Gitchy
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Gammy Trail. Is that how I pronounce it? I always
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mess that?
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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So that is a paved trail that goes all the
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way along Route sixty one and the Lake Superior shoreline,
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and it's paved so you can take any kind of
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bike and e bike or cycle, run, walk, whatever you got.
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And it stretches all the way down. Does it go
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all the way down to Duluth Charlotte.
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That's what they're that's what they're working on connecting too.
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Yes, yeah, so it's it's it's really long, and then
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it goes all the way up to you know, Grand Ray,
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which is this beautiful town north of Lutsen, about about
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twenty minutes away that it's kind of a little harbor
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town on Lake Superior, and it's got this beautiful two
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jetties that come out a lighthouse. The Coast Guard has
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been stationed there, and there's just all these sorts of
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galleries and great breweries.
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And places to go up there.
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So it's, you know, Luisen's kind of a it's like
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a really good base camp. Obviously, we have tons of
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activities at our place, but there's so much more to
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do outside of the area.
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Lutsen is really at this point considered a very, very
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much so a world class summer destination. People come from
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all over for the boundary waters, for the north shore
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of Lake Superior. Our job is in fact a lot
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easier in the summer from the standpoint.
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Of reaching more people because.
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People already kind of know what the area has to offer,
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and what we can offer as a resort is being
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right in the heart of all of that adventure.
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Whether you're into the.
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Camping or the hiking, you want to do explore the
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town of Grammar Ray, which is just riddled with all
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these art galleries and this history of art that really
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is interwoven into the fabric of that community. Lutsen is
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really this established space camp for adventure on the north
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shore of Lake Superior.
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It's so interesting to me to hear you say that
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summer is actually easier for you guys. And that's because
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I always have the opposite impression of ski resorts and
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ski resort areas because to me, it's just like winter
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is what people know about, and maybe they just kind
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of forget to come back in the summer. So it's
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fascinating to me that for what you guys have, maybe
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winter seems to be the thing that you've got to
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try to find a way to attract a few more
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people to come to. But just hearing you talk about Lutsen,
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I mean, I'm painting this picture in my own mind
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of what it looks like, and it's just this beautiful
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expanse of just, I don't know, wonderful outdoors.
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Yeah, it really is.
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And you know, another thing, in the spring kind of
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an area where I always say it's a little not
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as one of our key factors, but in the springtime
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waterfalls are like, yeah, abound all over the place.
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The snow runoff that goes on, you know.
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All of these rivers and streams all flow down into
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you Lake Superior, and there's just these amazing waterfalls that
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pop up all over the place.
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Is one of the largest ones in the country is up.
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There like a free flowing one that flows that you
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can get to.
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It really is beautiful country. For sure.
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When you said, you know, the picture that's in your
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head is just this beautiful kind of outdoors picture, I
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think that, you know, one of the things that makes
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Loosen really unique is you know, if you think about
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these coastal towns that are on the coast of California,
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and people enjoy going up there and getting away from
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the city a little bit, but they still enjoy the
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comforts of what they enjoy about living.
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In the city.
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You know, good coffee, good restaurants, shopping things to you know,
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art galleries to go look at. And I think that
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that really is what you know, makes Lutsin's outdoor feel
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so unique, is that you can come to the Midwest,
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you're on this huge body of water that makes you
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feel like you're on the side of an ocean. And
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on top of that, we have all of these cute
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stores and businesses that have really developed Loutson in the
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surrounding area into really like a destination for a developed
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destination for guests to come explore.
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They get their outdoor time, but they.
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Also get those experiences that can appeal to more than
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just that outdoor seeker, you know, if there's multiple people
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in the family looking for different types of experiences. The
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breadth of experience that you can find on the North
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Shore is really unique.
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Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned Lake Superior there and the
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way you described it, because my limited experience with the
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Great Lakes is just being in Chicago and seeing the
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lake there next to Chicago. But there are places where
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you will go on Lake Superior here where you're at
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where you will look out and you will see nothing
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but water and it will feel like you are at
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the ocean. I'm so glad you made that comparison. I
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always think back to again my growing up in New Hampshire.
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We had Lake Winnipesaki, which is not a great lake,
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but it is a very large lake. But even there,
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when you look in the horizon, you saw mountains like
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you still saw land on the horizon. But I'm looking
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at a map of where Lutsen is right now, and
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like where Lake Superior is. It's like there's gonna be
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spots where you see nothing thing but water. It's going
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to be the same as standing here, like where we
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would be like Ocean City, Maryland, just looking out at
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the Atlantic. Like that's what it's going to feel like.
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And that's a cool vibe to have where you're at.
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It's one of the few unique things and that even
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in the winter. I mean, there are very few ski
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areas that you know, Tahoe has a handful of them
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that are right on that lake. But to feel this
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feeling where you're skiing down the hill and you can't
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see the other side of the body of water, you
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just feel like you're almost skiing into the ocean.
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That is such a unique experience that you have so
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any big events coming up this summer that you guys
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want to highlight.
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But we host a bunch of weddings and really in
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the fall when we get we get really ramped up
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August into the fall with our business and people are
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just really coming up to enjoy the outdoors.
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I can only imagine a wedding out there. Now that
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you just said that, I hadn't been thinking about that,
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But now that you said it, oh my gosh, Like
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the beauty and the pictures from those weddings must be unbelievable.
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We've talked a lot about Loots in here in Minnesota,
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but let's go across Lake Superior a bit. Let's go
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into the Upper Peninsula or up as you call it.
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I love I haven't heard that before, So I love
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hearing that that new phrase. Snow River Mountain Resort, that's
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one of your other ones. It tell me more about that.
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Yeah, So Snow River came on board with with our
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three properties back in twenty twenty two. You know, it's
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the perfect like Loots, and you know, Snow River has
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a lot of these awesome activities in and around the
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whole facility and region. You know, we're on the south
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shore of Lake Superior, so really Loosen is kind of
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like due north, kind of due northwest, a little bit
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more north than where Snow River is located.
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But like Snow River has, you know the.
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Sportsback trail harks back trails that we have a stable
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for people if they want to come in and bring
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their horses, they can go across our two properties that
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are you know, kind of connected as this beautiful forest
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that's between the two.
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And it also has its own.
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Waterfall called Gabreu Fall that you can go and hike
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down to or get to from an easy walk right
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from the road that goes into Black River Basin, which
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is you know, our sister resort. There's a ton of
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really cool things like the Black River Scenic Byway, Copper Peak,
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which is the ski jump facility that you can see
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from the top of our hill off in the distance.
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It's getting completely renovated to offer world class ski jumping
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and training in the future. The Porcupine Mountains are located
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near US Windmen Trails, which is a section of trail
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systems that's down in Wisconsin, which is right over the border,
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so you're pretty much frosted to Michigan and then within
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like twenty minutes you can be in Wisconsin. So it's
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really right on the border of the two states. And yeah,
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you've never heard the terminology up but you know, anybody
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lives up in the up is known as a u burn.
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So it's a really beautiful part of the state and
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it's you know, as somebody who travels from about two
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and a half hours to go up there. It's quite
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nice to get into a little bit more of nature,
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tons lakes, tons of streams, tons of just beautiful countryside
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to enjoy.
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I think something I've really enjoyed when doing this podcast
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is hearing the slang that local people use for areas
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like here in Maryland. I don't know how familiar you
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are with Maryland, but Maryland is designed kind of awkwardly
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with a bay that sort of goes up on the
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east side, and everybody on the main part of the
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state will always call that the Eastern Shore, like the
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part of the state that's separated by the water. I
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just found out I've lived here for sevent to eighteen years.
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Eighteen years. I just found out that they call us
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the Western Shore, and I was like, I've never I mean,
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it makes sense logically, but I literally have never heard
345
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that until doing this podcast, and now here I am.
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I have very limited experience in Michigan. I think the
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Detroit Airport at about as closes as I've come to
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spending any time in Michigan. But yeah, never knew up
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was the abbreviation for that, and I kind of love that.
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Tell me a little bit more about So this is
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what I love about what I'm reading and learning more
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about your mountains is that you guys run the chair lifts,
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the gondle, you have things moving in the summertime as well.
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And I don't know if I see that at a lot,
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Like there's a resort here in Maryland on the western
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part of the state that my wife and I went
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to a few years back and we were like, Oh,
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can we go up there? And They're like, well, yeah,
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if you want to walk And I was like, I mean,
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we will because we got nothing to do today. But
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it's interesting, like they have things in the top, but
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you have to make your own effort to get there,
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like they're not helping you get up there. So I
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kind of love that you guys are running chairlifts. You
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are giving an opportunity to people to get to the
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top of the mountains in the summer to enjoy that
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as well.
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It's something that we're doing at Snow River.
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We have a dinner every night at our Jack's Bar
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and Grill, which is located right at the top of
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us the summit of Jackson Creek, and you can take
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a chairlift bride for any of our lodging guests are
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they're paid. If guests want to come up and take
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a chairlift bride, they can. You know, it gets as
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in the summertime, it's beautiful. As the leaves start to
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change their beautiful colors, it starts to get busier and
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we start to offer a little bit more hours for.
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Those types of time frames.
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As we get closer to August and stuff like that,
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we'll start to ramp those up up.
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Right now, we just offer them.
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Kind of like that's twilight because it is close to
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the longest day of the year here. But you know,
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rides after you enjoyed drink or dinner with us.
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I saw one of your hidden gems that you guys
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have there is that I'm saying it right, Gabreu Falls.
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Am I saying that right?
388
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Yes?
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Gabrel Falls is the waterfall that's kind of right between
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the two peaks between up at Snow River.
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So it offers like it's actually kind of cool.
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You can go to the top and watch it go down,
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and then you can get out of the bottom. You
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can go swimming in it, and there's kind of like
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these two cascading falls, so you can walk down to
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one and sit and I guess the pool that's there,
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or you can go down to the bottom and where
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the river kind of flows down and get in there.
399
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It's really easy and I've done it numerous times.
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It's kind of fun places to jump into.
401
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I'm always fascinated by waterfalls and the areas around mountains
402
00:17:57.759 --> 00:18:00.319
always tend to give you plenty of those. Like Again,
403
00:18:00.599 --> 00:18:02.720
not to harp on this, but thinking back to growing
404
00:18:02.759 --> 00:18:05.599
up in New England, you lived in North Conway area, Greg,
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there was so many little spots you could just pull
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off on the side of the row road, walk through
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the forest for about five minutes and find yourself like
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a little waterfall, a nice pool you can swim in.
409
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It was just these things are all around you when
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you're in this mountainous area and just again hearing you
411
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describe that, it sounds awesome. You guys have all these
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amazing experiences that people can find essentially on their own too.
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They can explore and enjoy these things.
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Yeah, one hundred percent. I mean, I will say that's you.
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Northern properties, you know, Lusen and Snow River both remind
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me very much New England style resorts, especially Lutsen, you
417
00:18:37.319 --> 00:18:40.759
know it it is a big resort. It is a
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destination in the winter time. In the summertime, you know,
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there are times where you know we'll have to you know,
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if the winds are coming in or their storms, you know,
421
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we'll have to definitely shut down our lists. And that's
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not a common thing in the Midwest because of low
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lift profiles. But Lusen really acts as were like a
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western ner Eastern resort where those types of things come
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into play, especially in the winter time, not so much
426
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in the in the summer, obviously, if you have lightning
427
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or anything like that around, you know, you have to
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shut down. But that's few and far between. I will
429
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say it is very much like a big, big time resort.
430
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After tasting, yeah, I wanted to just chime in on
431
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you know, you had mentioned that we run our lifts
432
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and we have these kind of unique experiences that are
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in the summer. You know, I think when we think
434
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big picture about the three resorts that we have and
435
00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:34.079
really when you when you ask to start this, you know,
436
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what is Midwest skiing? You know, how would you kind
437
00:19:36.680 --> 00:19:40.160
of think about that. In twenty twenty two, tea Time
438
00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:45.319
Gravity Research did a documentary on Midwest skiing and the
439
00:19:45.359 --> 00:19:48.200
independence of resorts back at that time, and there was
440
00:19:48.319 --> 00:19:50.720
both Lutsen and Granted and Peak were part of that
441
00:19:50.880 --> 00:19:55.039
documentary it's called in Pursuit of Soul too. And you know,
442
00:19:55.079 --> 00:19:57.799
when we think about what our resorts have to offer
443
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that would be appealing to anybody who have from the
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00:20:00.359 --> 00:20:04.359
East coast or the West coast, so the Midwest, you know,
445
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we're really family oriented ski resorts, including you know, families
446
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with children, couples, large groups of friends, families. You know,
447
00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:20.319
we're really wanting to become this what's in people's mind
448
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is the Midwest destination for outdoor recreation all year round,
449
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and that we really lean into having destinations that don't
450
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just call to one person in the family that is
451
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the avid skier, the avid snowboarder, But how do we
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build an experience that appeals to everybody in the family
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and so that there's more to visiting. You know, when
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you think of a vacation, there's the people who think
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of a vacation and they're like, Okay, this vacation I'm
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taking for an extreme sport and that's the main purpose
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of that vacation.
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But that's a very small subset.
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I would say it's probably the overall pool of people
460
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who are taking vacations, and certainly when you think about
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a fan family and kids and different age groups, you're
462
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going to want to have enough activities and enough amenities
463
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to be able to keep all of those people interested
464
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and excited about what that destination, what that vacation.
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Experience can be like, you know.
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And so Snow River is a relatively new resort to
467
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our family of resorts. We purchased it in twenty twenty two.
468
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We've had Lutsen and Granite Peak under common family ownership
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for over two decades going on twenty five years, and
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Snow River was a decision to add to that portfolio
471
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of family of resorts. And the reason for that is,
472
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you know, if you think about what we talked about
473
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with Lutsen's destination being already established as this, you know,
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this world class summer destination, and it's the Midwest only
475
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gondola in the winter, and it has four different peaks
476
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that you can travel between. That experience for what customers
477
00:21:55.920 --> 00:21:59.279
are looking for for that Western ski vacation is something
478
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that Lutsen has already developed and really put into the
479
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minds of people. Whereas Snow River has all of those
480
00:22:05.519 --> 00:22:08.400
same types of appeal. You know, when you look at
481
00:22:08.960 --> 00:22:12.039
what Snow River and the surrounding area has to offer,
482
00:22:12.119 --> 00:22:14.960
we we as the ski resort, don't really need to
483
00:22:15.039 --> 00:22:18.039
come up with these brand new ideas of why people
484
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should come in and visit Snow River. The Upper Peninsula
485
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is gorgeous for all of the reasons that Greg mentioned,
486
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and on top of that, they have some very cool
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cultural things and stores that reflect that uper culture. It's
488
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called YopE r is kind of the term for what
489
00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:42.920
people in the up call themselves. And there's just a
490
00:22:42.960 --> 00:22:46.599
lot of history and a lot of undiscovered, untouched adventure
491
00:22:46.720 --> 00:22:49.000
to be had at Snow River. And so you know,
492
00:22:49.039 --> 00:22:53.160
what we're really trying to help people realize is that
493
00:22:53.440 --> 00:22:56.000
you know, Snow River is located. It's on the south
494
00:22:56.000 --> 00:22:58.319
shore of Lake Superior, as you pointed out, basically a
495
00:22:58.359 --> 00:23:01.279
straight line down south from where loots and is located,
496
00:23:01.440 --> 00:23:04.599
across a huge body of water, and we're really curating
497
00:23:04.640 --> 00:23:08.880
the experience to show people what is undiscovered, what is
498
00:23:08.880 --> 00:23:12.400
this adventure that has not Snow Over story is just
499
00:23:12.440 --> 00:23:13.400
at the beginning.
500
00:23:13.079 --> 00:23:14.160
Phases of being told.
501
00:23:14.559 --> 00:23:18.599
The overall feel of what our resorts have to offer
502
00:23:18.960 --> 00:23:23.240
people from other regions. Is a full it's a comparable
503
00:23:23.319 --> 00:23:26.160
experience to what you would expect by taking a vacation
504
00:23:26.319 --> 00:23:29.039
out to a Western resort. You know, you think about
505
00:23:29.359 --> 00:23:32.039
Park City, you think about Aspen, and you think about
506
00:23:32.119 --> 00:23:35.319
people what pops into people's heads about the shopping and
507
00:23:35.359 --> 00:23:39.160
the dining and you know, the music and what makes
508
00:23:39.200 --> 00:23:42.480
that kind of a vibrant destination that you go and visit.
509
00:23:42.960 --> 00:23:46.880
You know, we invest on average twenty five percent of
510
00:23:46.880 --> 00:23:49.960
our annual revenues into capital investments, and all of that
511
00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.839
goes back into investments that really make that guest experience
512
00:23:55.559 --> 00:23:59.200
an equitable thing in people's minds, so that when they're considering, Okay,
513
00:23:59.240 --> 00:24:02.799
I can go out to these larger, established resorts, or
514
00:24:03.240 --> 00:24:05.680
maybe I have an interest in having that same type
515
00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:09.559
of experience with updated lodging, high speed lifts, snow quality
516
00:24:09.599 --> 00:24:12.839
that Okay, we can't replicate the mountains, but we certainly
517
00:24:12.880 --> 00:24:17.359
can provide a very quality snow and terrain experience for customers.
518
00:24:17.680 --> 00:24:21.039
The appeal to that is still being able to discover
519
00:24:21.200 --> 00:24:24.200
these destinations and these towns and these regions that we're
520
00:24:24.200 --> 00:24:29.359
located in. But maybe it's something that people haven't experienced before.
521
00:24:29.400 --> 00:24:32.400
Whereas it's much more common to have a better understanding
522
00:24:32.440 --> 00:24:34.559
of what that looks like at an Aspen or a
523
00:24:34.599 --> 00:24:35.200
park city.
524
00:24:35.359 --> 00:24:37.279
I think something else too that's running through my head,
525
00:24:37.319 --> 00:24:38.839
and I hope the words come out the way that
526
00:24:38.880 --> 00:24:41.559
I'm thinking about it, just hearing you talk about the
527
00:24:41.559 --> 00:24:44.240
people that you're attracting to these resorts. When I think
528
00:24:44.240 --> 00:24:47.720
about New England or I think about the Rocky Mountains,
529
00:24:48.319 --> 00:24:51.559
I think skiing, snowboarding, whatever, it's a lifestyle for a
530
00:24:51.559 --> 00:24:53.640
lot of people that live there, like it's something they
531
00:24:53.680 --> 00:24:57.240
do every single weekend for months upon the year, that
532
00:24:57.480 --> 00:25:00.440
it's a part of their world all the time time.
533
00:25:00.799 --> 00:25:03.440
Where what I hear you describing is that it's an
534
00:25:03.480 --> 00:25:06.839
activity for folks in your region where you want to
535
00:25:06.839 --> 00:25:08.599
bring people in and let them experience. And like I
536
00:25:08.920 --> 00:25:11.880
think I've gone to travel to Denver before and gone
537
00:25:11.880 --> 00:25:13.880
to some of the mountains there with friends. I was
538
00:25:13.920 --> 00:25:17.119
a much more active snowboarder than my friends were, and
539
00:25:17.160 --> 00:25:19.519
I don't know if they had the same enjoyment of
540
00:25:19.599 --> 00:25:22.319
going to these places because they were around you know,
541
00:25:22.799 --> 00:25:25.839
elite skiers, elite snowboard and like it didn't feels and
542
00:25:25.960 --> 00:25:28.079
comfortable to them because they're like, oh man, I'm not
543
00:25:28.119 --> 00:25:30.039
doing as good like or whatever. There were't as many
544
00:25:30.039 --> 00:25:32.599
activities for them. And what I hear you describing is
545
00:25:32.640 --> 00:25:36.240
you've got activities for everybody, Like everybody is welcome. You're
546
00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:39.160
going to have people that are really great at skiing
547
00:25:39.279 --> 00:25:41.319
or that really love hiking and do it. But you're
548
00:25:41.319 --> 00:25:43.599
also going to have the average person that just wants
549
00:25:43.640 --> 00:25:47.599
to experience a trip in a mountain resort and have all,
550
00:25:47.720 --> 00:25:50.640
like you said, like experience maybe you know park City,
551
00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:52.759
but not going to Park City. And I think that's
552
00:25:52.799 --> 00:25:55.240
a really interesting aspect to bring to it. I think
553
00:25:55.240 --> 00:25:57.160
it's smart for you guys to develop something like that.
554
00:25:57.359 --> 00:25:58.640
Yeah, you hit the nail on head.
555
00:25:58.720 --> 00:26:03.599
We see the same you know people year in, year out, weekends, weekdays.
556
00:26:03.720 --> 00:26:06.519
You know, it is a lifestyle and it's definitely is.
557
00:26:07.160 --> 00:26:08.799
You know, we have a ton of season pass holders
558
00:26:08.839 --> 00:26:12.920
that participate in you know, whether it's mid weekers, you know,
559
00:26:13.000 --> 00:26:15.240
retirees that can just get out in the morning. You
560
00:26:15.279 --> 00:26:17.519
see the same five guys. I see the same five
561
00:26:17.640 --> 00:26:20.240
six guys every morning. They go out for a couple
562
00:26:20.279 --> 00:26:23.559
of runs, have a couple of coffee. Usually they're gone
563
00:26:23.559 --> 00:26:25.480
by lunchtime, and then on the weekends, we have a
564
00:26:25.480 --> 00:26:30.440
whole other, you know, set of guests and season passolders
565
00:26:30.440 --> 00:26:32.200
that roll in from all across the state.
566
00:26:32.640 --> 00:26:34.240
And you've been further beyond.
567
00:26:34.599 --> 00:26:36.680
I mean, I know we have season passolders here at
568
00:26:36.680 --> 00:26:38.839
Granted Peak all the way down from Saint Louis. So
569
00:26:40.119 --> 00:26:42.960
it's pretty remarkable that they make the track because it's
570
00:26:43.000 --> 00:26:45.640
it's quite some far, but they see the value in
571
00:26:45.680 --> 00:26:47.759
it and they can get out and ski, you know,
572
00:26:47.839 --> 00:26:51.519
ten times every year and make a weekend trip of
573
00:26:51.559 --> 00:26:52.319
it for their families.
574
00:26:52.359 --> 00:26:53.119
So it's really cool.
575
00:26:53.440 --> 00:26:55.119
I've taken a lot of your time here today. I
576
00:26:55.160 --> 00:26:57.279
just have two last questions for you. One and you
577
00:26:57.279 --> 00:26:59.680
mentioned the Saint Louis, but one is if people are
578
00:26:59.680 --> 00:27:01.839
trying to come in for maybe a little bit further away,
579
00:27:02.160 --> 00:27:05.759
where are the best places to fly in to visit
580
00:27:05.799 --> 00:27:08.519
these resorts? What cities would use suggest, like, what what's
581
00:27:08.559 --> 00:27:09.160
the best plan.
582
00:27:09.359 --> 00:27:11.519
I'll let Charlotte take that one because she's a little
583
00:27:11.559 --> 00:27:14.160
bit more of a world traveler than I am.
584
00:27:14.240 --> 00:27:17.039
But you have a number of airports that are in
585
00:27:17.039 --> 00:27:18.920
and around all over a resources, so go ahead.
586
00:27:19.799 --> 00:27:25.359
Yeah, Duluth DLH is the best airport to fly into
587
00:27:25.400 --> 00:27:29.920
for Luten. It's a regional airport, does have international flights.
588
00:27:30.039 --> 00:27:33.039
You can also fly into Minneapolis, which is Duluth is
589
00:27:33.039 --> 00:27:35.000
about a two hour drive to Lutsen, two and a
590
00:27:35.039 --> 00:27:38.319
half hour drive to snow River, and Minneapolis adds about
591
00:27:38.440 --> 00:27:40.440
two and a half hours to both of those. Snow
592
00:27:40.519 --> 00:27:43.559
River actually has a regional airport that has a direct
593
00:27:43.599 --> 00:27:47.160
flight believe it or not, from Chicago.
594
00:27:46.640 --> 00:27:48.079
On Denver air.
595
00:27:49.599 --> 00:27:52.640
And it flies right into Ironwood, which is ten minutes
596
00:27:52.720 --> 00:27:56.039
from the ski area. So that's a pretty unique Usually
597
00:27:56.160 --> 00:28:00.079
regional ski areas that are that far away don't have
598
00:28:00.200 --> 00:28:03.839
a direct flight like that. So that's a good option
599
00:28:03.880 --> 00:28:07.279
if you're located in Chicago or you're transferring through Chicago.
600
00:28:07.400 --> 00:28:08.599
Like I said, it's a direct flight.
601
00:28:09.960 --> 00:28:14.480
And then for WAISA, for granted peak, there's Central Wisconsin Airport,
602
00:28:14.519 --> 00:28:16.319
which is just about.
603
00:28:16.039 --> 00:28:17.200
Twenty twenty five minutes.
604
00:28:17.240 --> 00:28:21.119
Again you're going to connect through Minneapolis or Chicago, but
605
00:28:21.279 --> 00:28:23.160
they have quite a few flights going in and out.
606
00:28:23.240 --> 00:28:23.720
Every day.
607
00:28:23.960 --> 00:28:27.000
Oh that's perfect. All right. Last question for you people
608
00:28:27.039 --> 00:28:28.599
that are listening right now, I'm sure a lot of
609
00:28:28.640 --> 00:28:30.559
them are thinking about how they can plan their trip
610
00:28:30.599 --> 00:28:32.440
to go and visit you. So where's the best place
611
00:28:32.480 --> 00:28:34.119
to go for them to start planning and find out
612
00:28:34.160 --> 00:28:34.759
more information.
613
00:28:35.079 --> 00:28:38.000
Yeah, our websites would be a great place to start
614
00:28:38.079 --> 00:28:42.200
leads in dot com Ski, Granite Peak dot com and
615
00:28:42.319 --> 00:28:43.720
Snow River dot com.
616
00:28:44.599 --> 00:28:47.279
Everything nice and easy. I appreciate that. Well. Listen, Greg Fisher,
617
00:28:47.359 --> 00:28:50.200
chief marketing Officer, and Charlotte Skinner, chief financial Officer and
618
00:28:50.279 --> 00:28:53.519
chief operating officer for the Midwest Family Ski Resorts. Thank
619
00:28:53.519 --> 00:28:55.119
you both so much for your time. This has been
620
00:28:55.319 --> 00:28:58.079
an eye opening experience and I hope that at one
621
00:28:58.119 --> 00:28:59.720
point in my life I'll be able to get out
622
00:28:59.720 --> 00:29:02.440
there experience these resorts as well. And if we make it,
623
00:29:02.480 --> 00:29:04.200
I'll make sure I look you guys up on our way.
624
00:29:04.319 --> 00:29:06.720
That would be awesome. Hey, one quick question in one
625
00:29:06.759 --> 00:29:07.440
favorite for him.
626
00:29:08.079 --> 00:29:10.359
So as somebody grew up on the East Coast that
627
00:29:10.400 --> 00:29:13.920
have family in Baltimore and I actually, what's my first
628
00:29:13.960 --> 00:29:17.039
ever baseball game at the Memorial Stadium nice back in
629
00:29:17.079 --> 00:29:19.720
the day. Yeah, can you do me a favor and
630
00:29:19.799 --> 00:29:21.799
send me like a bushel of crabs?
631
00:29:22.160 --> 00:29:23.960
Please send you a bushel of crabs.
632
00:29:24.240 --> 00:29:27.880
Yeah, that would be fantastic, Actually, like two of them.
633
00:29:27.920 --> 00:29:29.119
One of the things.
634
00:29:28.920 --> 00:29:31.720
I missed about the East coast is just the access
635
00:29:31.759 --> 00:29:34.960
to shellfish and fresh fresh shellfish.
636
00:29:35.279 --> 00:29:37.079
Well, Greg, I've got your email. I'll see if I
637
00:29:37.079 --> 00:29:39.599
can connect with you to make these crabs happen for you.
638
00:29:40.759 --> 00:29:43.839
Thanks man, big thank you to Greg and Charlotte for
639
00:29:43.880 --> 00:29:46.039
their time. My big trips for twenty twenty five may
640
00:29:46.039 --> 00:29:47.920
be done at this point, but I am keeping these
641
00:29:47.920 --> 00:29:50.960
mountains on the radar for a future winter trip. I'm
642
00:29:51.000 --> 00:29:53.319
really hoping my daughter catches the winter bug at some
643
00:29:53.359 --> 00:29:55.319
point so I have a better excuse to get out
644
00:29:55.359 --> 00:29:57.880
there on the slopes again. And thank you to all
645
00:29:57.880 --> 00:30:00.640
of you for listening to this episode of Delightful Destinations.
646
00:30:00.759 --> 00:30:02.039
Until next time, to be well,
1
00:00:01.960 --> 00:00:05.799
Hey, what's up everyone. Welcome to Delightful Destinations. My name
2
00:00:05.879 --> 00:00:08.599
is Jeff save Pierre and this is episode thirty seven.
3
00:00:08.960 --> 00:00:11.000
If it's your first time checking out the program, welcome
4
00:00:11.039 --> 00:00:13.679
to the show. I really do appreciate your time. Delightful
5
00:00:13.720 --> 00:00:16.120
Destinations is a show that I created so I could
6
00:00:16.120 --> 00:00:19.199
talk to representatives from different locations around the country and
7
00:00:19.320 --> 00:00:21.920
learn more about these beautiful places that are just all
8
00:00:22.039 --> 00:00:24.440
around us. I am always looking for an excuse to
9
00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:26.480
get out of the house and go check out something new,
10
00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:28.519
and I hope this show will help inspire you the
11
00:00:28.600 --> 00:00:31.600
next time you're looking to escape the daily grind. If
12
00:00:31.640 --> 00:00:33.679
you've been a listener of this program, then you may
13
00:00:33.679 --> 00:00:35.479
have heard me mentioned before that I grew up in
14
00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:38.320
New England. I spent the first eighteen ish years of
15
00:00:38.359 --> 00:00:40.640
my life in New Hampshire. When I got to high school,
16
00:00:40.799 --> 00:00:44.439
snowboarding became a huge part of my life and personality.
17
00:00:44.520 --> 00:00:46.520
It was what my friends and I love to do
18
00:00:46.719 --> 00:00:49.960
all winter long. In fact, I think I was happiest
19
00:00:50.039 --> 00:00:52.479
when I was on a mountain. My favorite thing to
20
00:00:52.520 --> 00:00:54.280
do was get to the top of the highest peak
21
00:00:54.320 --> 00:00:57.119
at any ski resort and just look around at the
22
00:00:57.119 --> 00:00:59.840
world around me. These are the images that even though
23
00:01:00.039 --> 00:01:02.719
I saw them nearly thirty years ago, I still have
24
00:01:02.840 --> 00:01:05.439
them burned into my memory. I think snowboarding was what
25
00:01:05.560 --> 00:01:08.799
really made me fall in love with nature and the outdoors. Now,
26
00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:10.760
when you live in New England, you've got pretty easy
27
00:01:10.799 --> 00:01:13.439
access to some world class ski resorts, and of course
28
00:01:13.480 --> 00:01:17.200
everyone always hears about Colorado and Lake Tahoe. Basically it
29
00:01:17.239 --> 00:01:19.319
was always New England or the Rocky Mountains. When you
30
00:01:19.319 --> 00:01:22.079
talk about the Midwest, though, it was always about cornfields
31
00:01:22.079 --> 00:01:25.120
and how flat it is. Ski resorts weren't exactly top
32
00:01:25.159 --> 00:01:28.159
of mind. So let's go ahead and change that story.
33
00:01:28.200 --> 00:01:31.319
Today we're taking a look primarily at two wonderful resorts
34
00:01:31.359 --> 00:01:34.359
in Wisconsin and Michigan. They're part of the Midwest Family
35
00:01:34.400 --> 00:01:37.200
Ski Resorts properties. They actually have three in the group,
36
00:01:37.200 --> 00:01:39.000
but we're only going to focus on two here today,
37
00:01:39.239 --> 00:01:42.359
Loots and Mountains and Snow River Mountain Resort. With me
38
00:01:42.439 --> 00:01:45.120
to open my eyes about skiing and snowboarding and how
39
00:01:45.159 --> 00:01:47.680
special it can be in the Midwest are Greg Fisher,
40
00:01:47.760 --> 00:01:50.920
the chief marketing officer for Midwest Family Ski Resorts, and
41
00:01:51.040 --> 00:01:54.719
Charlotte Skinner. She's the chief financial officer and chief operating officer.
42
00:01:55.359 --> 00:01:56.200
Nice to meet both of you.
43
00:01:56.359 --> 00:01:58.040
Yeah, nice to meet you too. Thank you for having
44
00:01:58.079 --> 00:01:58.599
us pleasure.
45
00:01:58.680 --> 00:01:59.640
I got to tell you, I don't know if you
46
00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:01.959
guys have listened to this podcast at all before, but
47
00:02:02.040 --> 00:02:03.680
I grew up in New England and I'm just going
48
00:02:03.719 --> 00:02:06.480
to tell you from my personal experience, we didn't hear
49
00:02:06.560 --> 00:02:09.840
a lot about Midwest skiing, I'll be totally honest with you.
50
00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:12.599
So I'm excited to learn more about what you guys
51
00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:14.439
have to offer over there, because for us, it was
52
00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:17.039
always you know, New England has their history, and then
53
00:02:17.080 --> 00:02:19.400
there was also you know, Denver and the Rockies and
54
00:02:19.439 --> 00:02:22.439
all that. But Midwest, obviously, I know there's stuff there,
55
00:02:22.680 --> 00:02:24.479
but it wasn't something that we ever really heard a
56
00:02:24.479 --> 00:02:26.599
lot about. So I'm very excited to hear more about
57
00:02:26.599 --> 00:02:28.120
the Midwest Family Ski Resorts.
58
00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:33.039
We're three properties here in the Midwest. We have Luted Mountains,
59
00:02:33.039 --> 00:02:37.240
which is up in northern Minnesota. It's on the shores
60
00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:41.120
of Lake Superior and the Sawsmooth Mountains. It is one
61
00:02:41.159 --> 00:02:44.080
of the most beautiful mountains you'll have in the Midwest
62
00:02:44.080 --> 00:02:46.520
that anywhere in the country really that offers just this
63
00:02:46.680 --> 00:02:50.560
amazing view over you know, one of the largest inland
64
00:02:50.599 --> 00:02:52.879
seas in the world, and you.
65
00:02:52.879 --> 00:02:55.240
Didn't really compare that. I know you grew up in
66
00:02:55.280 --> 00:02:55.840
New England.
67
00:02:55.919 --> 00:02:58.759
I worked in New England for years, and I can
68
00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:01.080
tell you that this mountain and the views that this
69
00:03:01.159 --> 00:03:05.159
place offers, we'll break right up there with some of
70
00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:08.479
the biggest mountains in the East that showcase the mountains
71
00:03:08.479 --> 00:03:10.680
out there too. Snow River Mountain Resort is there a
72
00:03:10.759 --> 00:03:14.360
second resort that's up on the up Upper Peninsula of Michigan,
73
00:03:14.599 --> 00:03:18.080
right over the Wisconsin border. It's two different peaks, Jackson
74
00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:21.960
Creek's Summit and then Black River Basin. They offer kind
75
00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:25.879
of two different skiing experiences. We just installed a six
76
00:03:25.960 --> 00:03:30.400
passenger chairlift at Jackson Creek and that is the only
77
00:03:31.199 --> 00:03:35.319
one of its kind in the up and then down
78
00:03:36.520 --> 00:03:39.199
down where we're at I'm in Wassaw and we're at
79
00:03:39.199 --> 00:03:41.479
Granite Peak Ski Area, which is the largest one in
80
00:03:41.520 --> 00:03:43.680
Wisconsin and has three high speed chairlifts.
81
00:03:43.800 --> 00:03:46.879
Is seven hundred feet of vertical here. You can get
82
00:03:46.919 --> 00:03:47.840
a lot of ski.
83
00:03:47.680 --> 00:03:49.919
In in a very short amount of time, a lot
84
00:03:49.960 --> 00:03:52.919
of vertical up and down, up and down, and we
85
00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:55.199
have a superior snowmaking system.
86
00:03:54.879 --> 00:03:58.080
Here that really can rival.
87
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Anything in the country when it comes to snowmaking and
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the power of it, so we get.
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Open really quickly.
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We don't have to rely too much of mother nature
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here in northern you know all of our resorts it
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stays cold our too. Northern resorts Lusen and Snow River
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definitely get lake effects snows. Especially Snow River it gets
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over two hundred inches of annual snowpoll which is powder
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friendly stuff in the winter time.
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Greg, I'm curious where did you work in New England?
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Just out of curiosity.
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I worked at was marketing director at Mount Snow for
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ten years. Then I lived up in North Conway and
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worked for a company in marketing Peak resorts. We own
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att Attached and Wildcat, so I made North Conway my
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home for five years.
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I love north Conway. It is I grew up in
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New Hampshire, so that's one of my favorite places. Every
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summer I'm like, can we I tell my wife and
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dont I'm like, can we please make a trip to
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north Conway please? And we haven't done it in the
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last ten years, but it's on the list every single year.
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It's beautiful up there. But hearing you talk about where
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you guys are now. I mean, just sounds incredible, and
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I feel like for a lot of folks here on
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the East Coast, maybe it's an untapped resource that people
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haven't really checked. Doubt yet because I shouldn't assume everybody
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listening is from the East Coast, but I'm based in Baltimore,
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so I assume many of our listeners are tuning in
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because they know who I am through our radio station here.
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But yeah, just it sounds beautiful. I know we're going
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to focus on a couple of your mountains here today.
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And something else that I think people underutilize mountains for
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is the summertime. Like I think people forget how beautiful
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the scenery, how beautiful the hiking and everything can be
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at a ski resort when there's no snow on the ground,
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Like you just have this vision of ski resort. That's it.
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But there's so much to offer, So let's start with
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the Lutsen Mountains. Tell me what's the exciting stuff that's
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going on in the summertime.
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Well up at Lutsen, we have some amazing offerings all spring,
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summer and ball. We have the only gondola that is
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in the Midwest that kind of spreads across goes from
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the base of Eagle Mountain over to the top of
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Moose Mountain, and it goes across the river, the popular
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river valley that flows right through the middle of Lootson Mountains.
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So Luten's comprised of four different peaks.
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And over at Moose we have a summit chalet that
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offers this expansive, beautiful view of Lake Superior and the
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surrounding the Sawtooth Mountains. And it's called the Sawtooth Mountain
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because it makes like if you look at it from
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an angle from I would say that the northeast down
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it looks like literally a saw that goes right across
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an upside down saw.
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It's pretty cool.
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And the gondola, like I said, expands this beautiful river
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valley and just is it's a unique experience to go across.
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We also offer an alpine slide, which are few and
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far between in this country. As somebody who's from New Hampshire,
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I know there's a couple of them up there.
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It's really exhilarating to control your own speed.
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My two sons and I are going up in a
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couple of weeks to go experience that they've never been
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on the Alpine slide, I can tell you that there's
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a lot of these ziplines and stuff like that that
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go through woods and everything. But to control how you
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go and zip down through it is really is really
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quite fun, you know. But loosen that those are only
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just like two of the things that are there to offer.
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The whole area is something that is truly unique.
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You know. It offers like two.
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Hundred miles of single track mountain bike trails that are
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right at your doorstep. The Superior Hiking Trail goes right
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through the heart of Luton and that goes all the
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way up through to Canada. And then there's the Gitchy
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Gammy Trail. Is that how I pronounce it? I always
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mess that?
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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So that is a paved trail that goes all the
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way along Route sixty one and the Lake Superior shoreline,
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and it's paved so you can take any kind of
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bike and e bike or cycle, run, walk, whatever you got.
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And it stretches all the way down. Does it go
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all the way down to Duluth Charlotte.
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That's what they're that's what they're working on connecting too.
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Yes, yeah, so it's it's it's really long, and then
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it goes all the way up to you know, Grand Ray,
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which is this beautiful town north of Lutsen, about about
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twenty minutes away that it's kind of a little harbor
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town on Lake Superior, and it's got this beautiful two
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jetties that come out a lighthouse. The Coast Guard has
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been stationed there, and there's just all these sorts of
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galleries and great breweries.
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And places to go up there.
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So it's, you know, Luisen's kind of a it's like
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a really good base camp. Obviously, we have tons of
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activities at our place, but there's so much more to
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do outside of the area.
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Lutsen is really at this point considered a very, very
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much so a world class summer destination. People come from
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all over for the boundary waters, for the north shore
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of Lake Superior. Our job is in fact a lot
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easier in the summer from the standpoint.
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Of reaching more people because.
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People already kind of know what the area has to offer,
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and what we can offer as a resort is being
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right in the heart of all of that adventure.
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Whether you're into the.
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Camping or the hiking, you want to do explore the
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town of Grammar Ray, which is just riddled with all
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these art galleries and this history of art that really
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is interwoven into the fabric of that community. Lutsen is
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really this established space camp for adventure on the north
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shore of Lake Superior.
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It's so interesting to me to hear you say that
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summer is actually easier for you guys. And that's because
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I always have the opposite impression of ski resorts and
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ski resort areas because to me, it's just like winter
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is what people know about, and maybe they just kind
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of forget to come back in the summer. So it's
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fascinating to me that for what you guys have, maybe
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winter seems to be the thing that you've got to
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try to find a way to attract a few more
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people to come to. But just hearing you talk about Lutsen,
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I mean, I'm painting this picture in my own mind
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of what it looks like, and it's just this beautiful
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expanse of just, I don't know, wonderful outdoors.
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Yeah, it really is.
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And you know, another thing, in the spring kind of
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an area where I always say it's a little not
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as one of our key factors, but in the springtime
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waterfalls are like, yeah, abound all over the place.
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The snow runoff that goes on, you know.
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All of these rivers and streams all flow down into
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you Lake Superior, and there's just these amazing waterfalls that
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pop up all over the place.
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Is one of the largest ones in the country is up.
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There like a free flowing one that flows that you
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can get to.
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It really is beautiful country. For sure.
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When you said, you know, the picture that's in your
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head is just this beautiful kind of outdoors picture, I
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think that, you know, one of the things that makes
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Loosen really unique is you know, if you think about
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these coastal towns that are on the coast of California,
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and people enjoy going up there and getting away from
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the city a little bit, but they still enjoy the
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comforts of what they enjoy about living.
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In the city.
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You know, good coffee, good restaurants, shopping things to you know,
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art galleries to go look at. And I think that
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that really is what you know, makes Lutsin's outdoor feel
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so unique, is that you can come to the Midwest,
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you're on this huge body of water that makes you
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feel like you're on the side of an ocean. And
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on top of that, we have all of these cute
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stores and businesses that have really developed Loutson in the
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surrounding area into really like a destination for a developed
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destination for guests to come explore.
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They get their outdoor time, but they.
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Also get those experiences that can appeal to more than
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just that outdoor seeker, you know, if there's multiple people
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in the family looking for different types of experiences. The
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breadth of experience that you can find on the North
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Shore is really unique.
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Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned Lake Superior there and the
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way you described it, because my limited experience with the
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Great Lakes is just being in Chicago and seeing the
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lake there next to Chicago. But there are places where
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you will go on Lake Superior here where you're at
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where you will look out and you will see nothing
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but water and it will feel like you are at
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the ocean. I'm so glad you made that comparison. I
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always think back to again my growing up in New Hampshire.
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We had Lake Winnipesaki, which is not a great lake,
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but it is a very large lake. But even there,
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when you look in the horizon, you saw mountains like
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you still saw land on the horizon. But I'm looking
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at a map of where Lutsen is right now, and
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like where Lake Superior is. It's like there's gonna be
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spots where you see nothing thing but water. It's going
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to be the same as standing here, like where we
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would be like Ocean City, Maryland, just looking out at
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the Atlantic. Like that's what it's going to feel like.
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And that's a cool vibe to have where you're at.
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It's one of the few unique things and that even
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in the winter. I mean, there are very few ski
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areas that you know, Tahoe has a handful of them
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that are right on that lake. But to feel this
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feeling where you're skiing down the hill and you can't
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see the other side of the body of water, you
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just feel like you're almost skiing into the ocean.
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That is such a unique experience that you have so
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any big events coming up this summer that you guys
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want to highlight.
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But we host a bunch of weddings and really in
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the fall when we get we get really ramped up
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August into the fall with our business and people are
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just really coming up to enjoy the outdoors.
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I can only imagine a wedding out there. Now that
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you just said that, I hadn't been thinking about that,
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But now that you said it, oh my gosh, Like
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the beauty and the pictures from those weddings must be unbelievable.
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We've talked a lot about Loots in here in Minnesota,
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but let's go across Lake Superior a bit. Let's go
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into the Upper Peninsula or up as you call it.
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I love I haven't heard that before, So I love
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hearing that that new phrase. Snow River Mountain Resort, that's
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one of your other ones. It tell me more about that.
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Yeah, So Snow River came on board with with our
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three properties back in twenty twenty two. You know, it's
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the perfect like Loots, and you know, Snow River has
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a lot of these awesome activities in and around the
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whole facility and region. You know, we're on the south
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shore of Lake Superior, so really Loosen is kind of
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like due north, kind of due northwest, a little bit
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more north than where Snow River is located.
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But like Snow River has, you know the.
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Sportsback trail harks back trails that we have a stable
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for people if they want to come in and bring
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their horses, they can go across our two properties that
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are you know, kind of connected as this beautiful forest
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that's between the two.
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And it also has its own.
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Waterfall called Gabreu Fall that you can go and hike
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down to or get to from an easy walk right
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from the road that goes into Black River Basin, which
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is you know, our sister resort. There's a ton of
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really cool things like the Black River Scenic Byway, Copper Peak,
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which is the ski jump facility that you can see
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from the top of our hill off in the distance.
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It's getting completely renovated to offer world class ski jumping
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and training in the future. The Porcupine Mountains are located
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near US Windmen Trails, which is a section of trail
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systems that's down in Wisconsin, which is right over the border,
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so you're pretty much frosted to Michigan and then within
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like twenty minutes you can be in Wisconsin. So it's
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really right on the border of the two states. And yeah,
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you've never heard the terminology up but you know, anybody
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lives up in the up is known as a u burn.
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So it's a really beautiful part of the state and
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it's you know, as somebody who travels from about two
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and a half hours to go up there. It's quite
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nice to get into a little bit more of nature,
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tons lakes, tons of streams, tons of just beautiful countryside
332
00:15:03.600 --> 00:15:04.480
to enjoy.
333
00:15:04.600 --> 00:15:07.039
I think something I've really enjoyed when doing this podcast
334
00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:10.879
is hearing the slang that local people use for areas
335
00:15:10.960 --> 00:15:12.720
like here in Maryland. I don't know how familiar you
336
00:15:12.720 --> 00:15:15.000
are with Maryland, but Maryland is designed kind of awkwardly
337
00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:16.960
with a bay that sort of goes up on the
338
00:15:17.000 --> 00:15:19.080
east side, and everybody on the main part of the
339
00:15:19.080 --> 00:15:21.360
state will always call that the Eastern Shore, like the
340
00:15:21.399 --> 00:15:23.840
part of the state that's separated by the water. I
341
00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:26.720
just found out I've lived here for sevent to eighteen years.
342
00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:28.919
Eighteen years. I just found out that they call us
343
00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:31.159
the Western Shore, and I was like, I've never I mean,
344
00:15:31.159 --> 00:15:33.759
it makes sense logically, but I literally have never heard
345
00:15:33.799 --> 00:15:36.799
that until doing this podcast, and now here I am.
346
00:15:36.879 --> 00:15:39.159
I have very limited experience in Michigan. I think the
347
00:15:39.200 --> 00:15:41.200
Detroit Airport at about as closes as I've come to
348
00:15:41.240 --> 00:15:44.559
spending any time in Michigan. But yeah, never knew up
349
00:15:44.879 --> 00:15:47.039
was the abbreviation for that, and I kind of love that.
350
00:15:47.639 --> 00:15:49.120
Tell me a little bit more about So this is
351
00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:51.399
what I love about what I'm reading and learning more
352
00:15:51.480 --> 00:15:54.679
about your mountains is that you guys run the chair lifts,
353
00:15:54.720 --> 00:15:57.600
the gondle, you have things moving in the summertime as well.
354
00:15:57.840 --> 00:15:59.919
And I don't know if I see that at a lot,
355
00:16:00.120 --> 00:16:02.399
Like there's a resort here in Maryland on the western
356
00:16:02.440 --> 00:16:04.080
part of the state that my wife and I went
357
00:16:04.120 --> 00:16:05.399
to a few years back and we were like, Oh,
358
00:16:05.399 --> 00:16:06.720
can we go up there? And They're like, well, yeah,
359
00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:08.639
if you want to walk And I was like, I mean,
360
00:16:08.679 --> 00:16:10.559
we will because we got nothing to do today. But
361
00:16:10.559 --> 00:16:12.519
it's interesting, like they have things in the top, but
362
00:16:12.600 --> 00:16:14.240
you have to make your own effort to get there,
363
00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:16.120
like they're not helping you get up there. So I
364
00:16:16.200 --> 00:16:18.480
kind of love that you guys are running chairlifts. You
365
00:16:18.600 --> 00:16:20.720
are giving an opportunity to people to get to the
366
00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:22.480
top of the mountains in the summer to enjoy that
367
00:16:22.519 --> 00:16:22.919
as well.
368
00:16:23.320 --> 00:16:25.279
It's something that we're doing at Snow River.
369
00:16:25.480 --> 00:16:30.039
We have a dinner every night at our Jack's Bar
370
00:16:30.120 --> 00:16:32.120
and Grill, which is located right at the top of
371
00:16:32.200 --> 00:16:36.480
us the summit of Jackson Creek, and you can take
372
00:16:36.519 --> 00:16:38.840
a chairlift bride for any of our lodging guests are
373
00:16:38.879 --> 00:16:41.919
they're paid. If guests want to come up and take
374
00:16:41.960 --> 00:16:45.120
a chairlift bride, they can. You know, it gets as
375
00:16:45.600 --> 00:16:49.519
in the summertime, it's beautiful. As the leaves start to
376
00:16:49.600 --> 00:16:53.720
change their beautiful colors, it starts to get busier and
377
00:16:53.759 --> 00:16:56.480
we start to offer a little bit more hours for.
378
00:16:56.480 --> 00:16:59.720
Those types of time frames.
379
00:17:00.039 --> 00:17:02.159
As we get closer to August and stuff like that,
380
00:17:02.159 --> 00:17:03.519
we'll start to ramp those up up.
381
00:17:03.639 --> 00:17:05.160
Right now, we just offer them.
382
00:17:05.240 --> 00:17:08.640
Kind of like that's twilight because it is close to
383
00:17:08.680 --> 00:17:11.920
the longest day of the year here. But you know,
384
00:17:12.039 --> 00:17:15.519
rides after you enjoyed drink or dinner with us.
385
00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:18.240
I saw one of your hidden gems that you guys
386
00:17:18.240 --> 00:17:20.440
have there is that I'm saying it right, Gabreu Falls.
387
00:17:20.440 --> 00:17:21.160
Am I saying that right?
388
00:17:21.319 --> 00:17:21.519
Yes?
389
00:17:21.599 --> 00:17:25.440
Gabrel Falls is the waterfall that's kind of right between
390
00:17:25.480 --> 00:17:29.480
the two peaks between up at Snow River.
391
00:17:29.400 --> 00:17:31.839
So it offers like it's actually kind of cool.
392
00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:34.039
You can go to the top and watch it go down,
393
00:17:34.160 --> 00:17:35.880
and then you can get out of the bottom. You
394
00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:37.839
can go swimming in it, and there's kind of like
395
00:17:37.880 --> 00:17:41.200
these two cascading falls, so you can walk down to
396
00:17:41.319 --> 00:17:43.759
one and sit and I guess the pool that's there,
397
00:17:43.880 --> 00:17:45.400
or you can go down to the bottom and where
398
00:17:45.400 --> 00:17:47.960
the river kind of flows down and get in there.
399
00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:50.920
It's really easy and I've done it numerous times.
400
00:17:50.960 --> 00:17:52.960
It's kind of fun places to jump into.
401
00:17:53.119 --> 00:17:57.720
I'm always fascinated by waterfalls and the areas around mountains
402
00:17:57.759 --> 00:18:00.319
always tend to give you plenty of those. Like Again,
403
00:18:00.599 --> 00:18:02.720
not to harp on this, but thinking back to growing
404
00:18:02.759 --> 00:18:05.599
up in New England, you lived in North Conway area, Greg,
405
00:18:06.160 --> 00:18:08.119
there was so many little spots you could just pull
406
00:18:08.160 --> 00:18:10.319
off on the side of the row road, walk through
407
00:18:10.319 --> 00:18:12.880
the forest for about five minutes and find yourself like
408
00:18:13.079 --> 00:18:15.279
a little waterfall, a nice pool you can swim in.
409
00:18:15.359 --> 00:18:17.559
It was just these things are all around you when
410
00:18:17.559 --> 00:18:20.400
you're in this mountainous area and just again hearing you
411
00:18:20.480 --> 00:18:22.680
describe that, it sounds awesome. You guys have all these
412
00:18:22.680 --> 00:18:26.039
amazing experiences that people can find essentially on their own too.
413
00:18:26.039 --> 00:18:27.960
They can explore and enjoy these things.
414
00:18:28.160 --> 00:18:30.160
Yeah, one hundred percent. I mean, I will say that's you.
415
00:18:30.279 --> 00:18:33.440
Northern properties, you know, Lusen and Snow River both remind
416
00:18:33.480 --> 00:18:37.319
me very much New England style resorts, especially Lutsen, you
417
00:18:37.319 --> 00:18:40.759
know it it is a big resort. It is a
418
00:18:40.839 --> 00:18:45.079
destination in the winter time. In the summertime, you know,
419
00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:48.640
there are times where you know we'll have to you know,
420
00:18:48.720 --> 00:18:51.640
if the winds are coming in or their storms, you know,
421
00:18:51.720 --> 00:18:54.200
we'll have to definitely shut down our lists. And that's
422
00:18:54.319 --> 00:18:57.680
not a common thing in the Midwest because of low
423
00:18:57.759 --> 00:19:00.559
lift profiles. But Lusen really acts as were like a
424
00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:03.599
western ner Eastern resort where those types of things come
425
00:19:03.640 --> 00:19:06.720
into play, especially in the winter time, not so much
426
00:19:06.759 --> 00:19:08.839
in the in the summer, obviously, if you have lightning
427
00:19:08.920 --> 00:19:11.400
or anything like that around, you know, you have to
428
00:19:11.519 --> 00:19:14.680
shut down. But that's few and far between. I will
429
00:19:14.680 --> 00:19:17.160
say it is very much like a big, big time resort.
430
00:19:17.160 --> 00:19:19.400
After tasting, yeah, I wanted to just chime in on
431
00:19:19.640 --> 00:19:22.759
you know, you had mentioned that we run our lifts
432
00:19:22.759 --> 00:19:25.119
and we have these kind of unique experiences that are
433
00:19:25.160 --> 00:19:27.359
in the summer. You know, I think when we think
434
00:19:27.440 --> 00:19:30.119
big picture about the three resorts that we have and
435
00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:34.079
really when you when you ask to start this, you know,
436
00:19:34.119 --> 00:19:36.640
what is Midwest skiing? You know, how would you kind
437
00:19:36.680 --> 00:19:40.160
of think about that. In twenty twenty two, tea Time
438
00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:45.319
Gravity Research did a documentary on Midwest skiing and the
439
00:19:45.359 --> 00:19:48.200
independence of resorts back at that time, and there was
440
00:19:48.319 --> 00:19:50.720
both Lutsen and Granted and Peak were part of that
441
00:19:50.880 --> 00:19:55.039
documentary it's called in Pursuit of Soul too. And you know,
442
00:19:55.079 --> 00:19:57.799
when we think about what our resorts have to offer
443
00:19:57.920 --> 00:20:00.319
that would be appealing to anybody who have from the
444
00:20:00.359 --> 00:20:04.359
East coast or the West coast, so the Midwest, you know,
445
00:20:04.559 --> 00:20:10.960
we're really family oriented ski resorts, including you know, families
446
00:20:11.000 --> 00:20:15.200
with children, couples, large groups of friends, families. You know,
447
00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:20.319
we're really wanting to become this what's in people's mind
448
00:20:20.440 --> 00:20:25.279
is the Midwest destination for outdoor recreation all year round,
449
00:20:25.680 --> 00:20:29.920
and that we really lean into having destinations that don't
450
00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:32.839
just call to one person in the family that is
451
00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:35.480
the avid skier, the avid snowboarder, But how do we
452
00:20:35.519 --> 00:20:38.960
build an experience that appeals to everybody in the family
453
00:20:39.119 --> 00:20:42.519
and so that there's more to visiting. You know, when
454
00:20:42.559 --> 00:20:45.000
you think of a vacation, there's the people who think
455
00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:47.759
of a vacation and they're like, Okay, this vacation I'm
456
00:20:47.799 --> 00:20:50.599
taking for an extreme sport and that's the main purpose
457
00:20:50.680 --> 00:20:51.680
of that vacation.
458
00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:53.960
But that's a very small subset.
459
00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:56.680
I would say it's probably the overall pool of people
460
00:20:56.680 --> 00:20:59.720
who are taking vacations, and certainly when you think about
461
00:20:59.759 --> 00:21:02.599
a fan family and kids and different age groups, you're
462
00:21:02.759 --> 00:21:06.160
going to want to have enough activities and enough amenities
463
00:21:06.200 --> 00:21:09.039
to be able to keep all of those people interested
464
00:21:09.200 --> 00:21:13.400
and excited about what that destination, what that vacation.
465
00:21:13.160 --> 00:21:14.759
Experience can be like, you know.
466
00:21:14.799 --> 00:21:18.279
And so Snow River is a relatively new resort to
467
00:21:18.640 --> 00:21:23.160
our family of resorts. We purchased it in twenty twenty two.
468
00:21:23.880 --> 00:21:28.400
We've had Lutsen and Granite Peak under common family ownership
469
00:21:28.519 --> 00:21:32.839
for over two decades going on twenty five years, and
470
00:21:32.920 --> 00:21:35.680
Snow River was a decision to add to that portfolio
471
00:21:35.720 --> 00:21:38.480
of family of resorts. And the reason for that is,
472
00:21:38.599 --> 00:21:40.519
you know, if you think about what we talked about
473
00:21:40.519 --> 00:21:44.960
with Lutsen's destination being already established as this, you know,
474
00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.119
this world class summer destination, and it's the Midwest only
475
00:21:49.160 --> 00:21:52.119
gondola in the winter, and it has four different peaks
476
00:21:52.119 --> 00:21:55.880
that you can travel between. That experience for what customers
477
00:21:55.920 --> 00:21:59.279
are looking for for that Western ski vacation is something
478
00:21:59.279 --> 00:22:02.480
that Lutsen has already developed and really put into the
479
00:22:02.519 --> 00:22:05.480
minds of people. Whereas Snow River has all of those
480
00:22:05.519 --> 00:22:08.400
same types of appeal. You know, when you look at
481
00:22:08.960 --> 00:22:12.039
what Snow River and the surrounding area has to offer,
482
00:22:12.119 --> 00:22:14.960
we we as the ski resort, don't really need to
483
00:22:15.039 --> 00:22:18.039
come up with these brand new ideas of why people
484
00:22:18.039 --> 00:22:21.880
should come in and visit Snow River. The Upper Peninsula
485
00:22:21.960 --> 00:22:25.319
is gorgeous for all of the reasons that Greg mentioned,
486
00:22:25.400 --> 00:22:27.599
and on top of that, they have some very cool
487
00:22:28.519 --> 00:22:33.599
cultural things and stores that reflect that uper culture. It's
488
00:22:33.640 --> 00:22:37.920
called YopE r is kind of the term for what
489
00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:42.920
people in the up call themselves. And there's just a
490
00:22:42.960 --> 00:22:46.599
lot of history and a lot of undiscovered, untouched adventure
491
00:22:46.720 --> 00:22:49.000
to be had at Snow River. And so you know,
492
00:22:49.039 --> 00:22:53.160
what we're really trying to help people realize is that
493
00:22:53.440 --> 00:22:56.000
you know, Snow River is located. It's on the south
494
00:22:56.000 --> 00:22:58.319
shore of Lake Superior, as you pointed out, basically a
495
00:22:58.359 --> 00:23:01.279
straight line down south from where loots and is located,
496
00:23:01.440 --> 00:23:04.599
across a huge body of water, and we're really curating
497
00:23:04.640 --> 00:23:08.880
the experience to show people what is undiscovered, what is
498
00:23:08.880 --> 00:23:12.400
this adventure that has not Snow Over story is just
499
00:23:12.440 --> 00:23:13.400
at the beginning.
500
00:23:13.079 --> 00:23:14.160
Phases of being told.
501
00:23:14.559 --> 00:23:18.599
The overall feel of what our resorts have to offer
502
00:23:18.960 --> 00:23:23.240
people from other regions. Is a full it's a comparable
503
00:23:23.319 --> 00:23:26.160
experience to what you would expect by taking a vacation
504
00:23:26.319 --> 00:23:29.039
out to a Western resort. You know, you think about
505
00:23:29.359 --> 00:23:32.039
Park City, you think about Aspen, and you think about
506
00:23:32.119 --> 00:23:35.319
people what pops into people's heads about the shopping and
507
00:23:35.359 --> 00:23:39.160
the dining and you know, the music and what makes
508
00:23:39.200 --> 00:23:42.480
that kind of a vibrant destination that you go and visit.
509
00:23:42.960 --> 00:23:46.880
You know, we invest on average twenty five percent of
510
00:23:46.880 --> 00:23:49.960
our annual revenues into capital investments, and all of that
511
00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.839
goes back into investments that really make that guest experience
512
00:23:55.559 --> 00:23:59.200
an equitable thing in people's minds, so that when they're considering, Okay,
513
00:23:59.240 --> 00:24:02.799
I can go out to these larger, established resorts, or
514
00:24:03.240 --> 00:24:05.680
maybe I have an interest in having that same type
515
00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:09.559
of experience with updated lodging, high speed lifts, snow quality
516
00:24:09.599 --> 00:24:12.839
that Okay, we can't replicate the mountains, but we certainly
517
00:24:12.880 --> 00:24:17.359
can provide a very quality snow and terrain experience for customers.
518
00:24:17.680 --> 00:24:21.039
The appeal to that is still being able to discover
519
00:24:21.200 --> 00:24:24.200
these destinations and these towns and these regions that we're
520
00:24:24.200 --> 00:24:29.359
located in. But maybe it's something that people haven't experienced before.
521
00:24:29.400 --> 00:24:32.400
Whereas it's much more common to have a better understanding
522
00:24:32.440 --> 00:24:34.559
of what that looks like at an Aspen or a
523
00:24:34.599 --> 00:24:35.200
park city.
524
00:24:35.359 --> 00:24:37.279
I think something else too that's running through my head,
525
00:24:37.319 --> 00:24:38.839
and I hope the words come out the way that
526
00:24:38.880 --> 00:24:41.559
I'm thinking about it, just hearing you talk about the
527
00:24:41.559 --> 00:24:44.240
people that you're attracting to these resorts. When I think
528
00:24:44.240 --> 00:24:47.720
about New England or I think about the Rocky Mountains,
529
00:24:48.319 --> 00:24:51.559
I think skiing, snowboarding, whatever, it's a lifestyle for a
530
00:24:51.559 --> 00:24:53.640
lot of people that live there, like it's something they
531
00:24:53.680 --> 00:24:57.240
do every single weekend for months upon the year, that
532
00:24:57.480 --> 00:25:00.440
it's a part of their world all the time time.
533
00:25:00.799 --> 00:25:03.440
Where what I hear you describing is that it's an
534
00:25:03.480 --> 00:25:06.839
activity for folks in your region where you want to
535
00:25:06.839 --> 00:25:08.599
bring people in and let them experience. And like I
536
00:25:08.920 --> 00:25:11.880
think I've gone to travel to Denver before and gone
537
00:25:11.880 --> 00:25:13.880
to some of the mountains there with friends. I was
538
00:25:13.920 --> 00:25:17.119
a much more active snowboarder than my friends were, and
539
00:25:17.160 --> 00:25:19.519
I don't know if they had the same enjoyment of
540
00:25:19.599 --> 00:25:22.319
going to these places because they were around you know,
541
00:25:22.799 --> 00:25:25.839
elite skiers, elite snowboard and like it didn't feels and
542
00:25:25.960 --> 00:25:28.079
comfortable to them because they're like, oh man, I'm not
543
00:25:28.119 --> 00:25:30.039
doing as good like or whatever. There were't as many
544
00:25:30.039 --> 00:25:32.599
activities for them. And what I hear you describing is
545
00:25:32.640 --> 00:25:36.240
you've got activities for everybody, Like everybody is welcome. You're
546
00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:39.160
going to have people that are really great at skiing
547
00:25:39.279 --> 00:25:41.319
or that really love hiking and do it. But you're
548
00:25:41.319 --> 00:25:43.599
also going to have the average person that just wants
549
00:25:43.640 --> 00:25:47.599
to experience a trip in a mountain resort and have all,
550
00:25:47.720 --> 00:25:50.640
like you said, like experience maybe you know park City,
551
00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:52.759
but not going to Park City. And I think that's
552
00:25:52.799 --> 00:25:55.240
a really interesting aspect to bring to it. I think
553
00:25:55.240 --> 00:25:57.160
it's smart for you guys to develop something like that.
554
00:25:57.359 --> 00:25:58.640
Yeah, you hit the nail on head.
555
00:25:58.720 --> 00:26:03.599
We see the same you know people year in, year out, weekends, weekdays.
556
00:26:03.720 --> 00:26:06.519
You know, it is a lifestyle and it's definitely is.
557
00:26:07.160 --> 00:26:08.799
You know, we have a ton of season pass holders
558
00:26:08.839 --> 00:26:12.920
that participate in you know, whether it's mid weekers, you know,
559
00:26:13.000 --> 00:26:15.240
retirees that can just get out in the morning. You
560
00:26:15.279 --> 00:26:17.519
see the same five guys. I see the same five
561
00:26:17.640 --> 00:26:20.240
six guys every morning. They go out for a couple
562
00:26:20.279 --> 00:26:23.559
of runs, have a couple of coffee. Usually they're gone
563
00:26:23.559 --> 00:26:25.480
by lunchtime, and then on the weekends, we have a
564
00:26:25.480 --> 00:26:30.440
whole other, you know, set of guests and season passolders
565
00:26:30.440 --> 00:26:32.200
that roll in from all across the state.
566
00:26:32.640 --> 00:26:34.240
And you've been further beyond.
567
00:26:34.599 --> 00:26:36.680
I mean, I know we have season passolders here at
568
00:26:36.680 --> 00:26:38.839
Granted Peak all the way down from Saint Louis. So
569
00:26:40.119 --> 00:26:42.960
it's pretty remarkable that they make the track because it's
570
00:26:43.000 --> 00:26:45.640
it's quite some far, but they see the value in
571
00:26:45.680 --> 00:26:47.759
it and they can get out and ski, you know,
572
00:26:47.839 --> 00:26:51.519
ten times every year and make a weekend trip of
573
00:26:51.559 --> 00:26:52.319
it for their families.
574
00:26:52.359 --> 00:26:53.119
So it's really cool.
575
00:26:53.440 --> 00:26:55.119
I've taken a lot of your time here today. I
576
00:26:55.160 --> 00:26:57.279
just have two last questions for you. One and you
577
00:26:57.279 --> 00:26:59.680
mentioned the Saint Louis, but one is if people are
578
00:26:59.680 --> 00:27:01.839
trying to come in for maybe a little bit further away,
579
00:27:02.160 --> 00:27:05.759
where are the best places to fly in to visit
580
00:27:05.799 --> 00:27:08.519
these resorts? What cities would use suggest, like, what what's
581
00:27:08.559 --> 00:27:09.160
the best plan.
582
00:27:09.359 --> 00:27:11.519
I'll let Charlotte take that one because she's a little
583
00:27:11.559 --> 00:27:14.160
bit more of a world traveler than I am.
584
00:27:14.240 --> 00:27:17.039
But you have a number of airports that are in
585
00:27:17.039 --> 00:27:18.920
and around all over a resources, so go ahead.
586
00:27:19.799 --> 00:27:25.359
Yeah, Duluth DLH is the best airport to fly into
587
00:27:25.400 --> 00:27:29.920
for Luten. It's a regional airport, does have international flights.
588
00:27:30.039 --> 00:27:33.039
You can also fly into Minneapolis, which is Duluth is
589
00:27:33.039 --> 00:27:35.000
about a two hour drive to Lutsen, two and a
590
00:27:35.039 --> 00:27:38.319
half hour drive to snow River, and Minneapolis adds about
591
00:27:38.440 --> 00:27:40.440
two and a half hours to both of those. Snow
592
00:27:40.519 --> 00:27:43.559
River actually has a regional airport that has a direct
593
00:27:43.599 --> 00:27:47.160
flight believe it or not, from Chicago.
594
00:27:46.640 --> 00:27:48.079
On Denver air.
595
00:27:49.599 --> 00:27:52.640
And it flies right into Ironwood, which is ten minutes
596
00:27:52.720 --> 00:27:56.039
from the ski area. So that's a pretty unique Usually
597
00:27:56.160 --> 00:28:00.079
regional ski areas that are that far away don't have
598
00:28:00.200 --> 00:28:03.839
a direct flight like that. So that's a good option
599
00:28:03.880 --> 00:28:07.279
if you're located in Chicago or you're transferring through Chicago.
600
00:28:07.400 --> 00:28:08.599
Like I said, it's a direct flight.
601
00:28:09.960 --> 00:28:14.480
And then for WAISA, for granted peak, there's Central Wisconsin Airport,
602
00:28:14.519 --> 00:28:16.319
which is just about.
603
00:28:16.039 --> 00:28:17.200
Twenty twenty five minutes.
604
00:28:17.240 --> 00:28:21.119
Again you're going to connect through Minneapolis or Chicago, but
605
00:28:21.279 --> 00:28:23.160
they have quite a few flights going in and out.
606
00:28:23.240 --> 00:28:23.720
Every day.
607
00:28:23.960 --> 00:28:27.000
Oh that's perfect. All right. Last question for you people
608
00:28:27.039 --> 00:28:28.599
that are listening right now, I'm sure a lot of
609
00:28:28.640 --> 00:28:30.559
them are thinking about how they can plan their trip
610
00:28:30.599 --> 00:28:32.440
to go and visit you. So where's the best place
611
00:28:32.480 --> 00:28:34.119
to go for them to start planning and find out
612
00:28:34.160 --> 00:28:34.759
more information.
613
00:28:35.079 --> 00:28:38.000
Yeah, our websites would be a great place to start
614
00:28:38.079 --> 00:28:42.200
leads in dot com Ski, Granite Peak dot com and
615
00:28:42.319 --> 00:28:43.720
Snow River dot com.
616
00:28:44.599 --> 00:28:47.279
Everything nice and easy. I appreciate that. Well. Listen, Greg Fisher,
617
00:28:47.359 --> 00:28:50.200
chief marketing Officer, and Charlotte Skinner, chief financial Officer and
618
00:28:50.279 --> 00:28:53.519
chief operating officer for the Midwest Family Ski Resorts. Thank
619
00:28:53.519 --> 00:28:55.119
you both so much for your time. This has been
620
00:28:55.319 --> 00:28:58.079
an eye opening experience and I hope that at one
621
00:28:58.119 --> 00:28:59.720
point in my life I'll be able to get out
622
00:28:59.720 --> 00:29:02.440
there experience these resorts as well. And if we make it,
623
00:29:02.480 --> 00:29:04.200
I'll make sure I look you guys up on our way.
624
00:29:04.319 --> 00:29:06.720
That would be awesome. Hey, one quick question in one
625
00:29:06.759 --> 00:29:07.440
favorite for him.
626
00:29:08.079 --> 00:29:10.359
So as somebody grew up on the East Coast that
627
00:29:10.400 --> 00:29:13.920
have family in Baltimore and I actually, what's my first
628
00:29:13.960 --> 00:29:17.039
ever baseball game at the Memorial Stadium nice back in
629
00:29:17.079 --> 00:29:19.720
the day. Yeah, can you do me a favor and
630
00:29:19.799 --> 00:29:21.799
send me like a bushel of crabs?
631
00:29:22.160 --> 00:29:23.960
Please send you a bushel of crabs.
632
00:29:24.240 --> 00:29:27.880
Yeah, that would be fantastic, Actually, like two of them.
633
00:29:27.920 --> 00:29:29.119
One of the things.
634
00:29:28.920 --> 00:29:31.720
I missed about the East coast is just the access
635
00:29:31.759 --> 00:29:34.960
to shellfish and fresh fresh shellfish.
636
00:29:35.279 --> 00:29:37.079
Well, Greg, I've got your email. I'll see if I
637
00:29:37.079 --> 00:29:39.599
can connect with you to make these crabs happen for you.
638
00:29:40.759 --> 00:29:43.839
Thanks man, big thank you to Greg and Charlotte for
639
00:29:43.880 --> 00:29:46.039
their time. My big trips for twenty twenty five may
640
00:29:46.039 --> 00:29:47.920
be done at this point, but I am keeping these
641
00:29:47.920 --> 00:29:50.960
mountains on the radar for a future winter trip. I'm
642
00:29:51.000 --> 00:29:53.319
really hoping my daughter catches the winter bug at some
643
00:29:53.359 --> 00:29:55.319
point so I have a better excuse to get out
644
00:29:55.359 --> 00:29:57.880
there on the slopes again. And thank you to all
645
00:29:57.880 --> 00:30:00.640
of you for listening to this episode of Delightful Destinations.
646
00:30:00.759 --> 00:30:02.039
Until next time, to be well,
