Does Minnesota Have As Many Snowmobile Enthusiasts As Wisconsin

My father always had snowmobiles. We had a Polaris, a Ski-doo and some of you may remember the Scorpion brand, we had one with the red seat sporting the raised scorpion logo.  I haven’t been on a sled for years and back then a sled referred to a child's toy. Recently while on a trip to my sisters in the heart of WI (and a snow belt) I was shocked to see all the trails and people on snowmobiles. Especially when we went to the Cross Country Bar in Rhineland.

When I was 4 years old I refused to get on the "scary snow mobile" and instead would sit on the front steps of our home and watch my dad and sister circle the house. One day they enticed me to just sit on it in between them. When I did, my dad took off and that was all it took, you couldn’t get me off it. My father passed when I was 7 and sadly, the meaning of sledding went back to me flying at dangerously high speeds down an icy hill on a piece of hard blue plastic. I was always jealous of people on the highway that would pass us with a trailer of sleds and I started to see more and more of that when it seemed that Minnesota was getting less snow than Wisconsin. That’s the case now, but I still wasn’t expecting to see about 60 sleds at the bar we were going to have lunch at in Rhinelander, WI.

The reason for my blog was my surprise not only of how many sledders were there (of which we noted only one touring sled, all the others seemed to only accommodate one person), but that the bar catered to them so nicely. When we entered the bar there was a long entryway that housed their sledding apparel on one side with hangers, but on the other side it had shelving for their helmets (see pic above). While I think that is just a cool idea, I assume it’s because there really wouldn’t be any place to put all those helmets near the tables and still have room for the wait staff to walk.

We heard it’s suppose to be unseasonably warm next week so they were probably getting a ride in while they had the chance. I’m not saying there aren’t any bars or restaurants in the Northland that don’t have the same sort of set up for riders, I just haven’t encountered one. Do you know of any?