Take a load (slightly) off

It's getting to be that season where you just want to sit down and take it all in. Stop doing and start being. In other words, it's getting damned hot outside. Yesterday, we were stuck at hyperborean speed, even though the heat and humidity called for a more equatorial gearing. It just about killed us.

Short of drinking mint juleps on the screen poch, how can we northerners act more like our southerner cousins, without losing our self-righteous abolitionist identity? Why, by hitting the lakes with a cooler and a lawnchair. But if it's just too hot to lug lawn furniture, we've found that the simplest camp chairs work beautifully--you know, the Crazy Creek chair that looks like some sort of lumbar truss, which is what it is, in fact.

Buy one to keep in the trunk of your car or the back of your bike trailer, and you'll never want for humankind's simplest support. People say that what separates humans from most other animals is our ability to speak, or our large brains, or our opposable thumbs. No, it's that we're much more comfortable if we're sitting in a chair.

Crazy Creek Chairs, available at Midwest Mountaineering for around $50-75, depending on the model, http://www.midwestmtn.com/

Your mercury is in retrograde

Now that we've emerged from the deep freeze—at least for the moment—let's talk foundation garments. Specifically, that age-old problem of transitions when you want to go back to dresses and heavy skirts, or that lightweight pair of dress pants.

But you feel stupid wearing tights, and extra high socks do nothing for your thighs. For years now, leggings have been an option, and we hear leg warmers are coming back. (We knitters have to be working on something beyond scarves, right?)

Seriously, though. We recently struck upon the perfect solution: SmartWool long underwear. The 100 percent merino wool bottoms are like coconut butter on your legs. Buy them a little small for a stylish capri cut. Buy them a size up for down-to-the-ankle coverage. You can even buy them in three different weights, depending on where the mercury is at, and the color pallette is simple but versatile, from black to plum and pink.

The secret at the heart of this noble obsession? Wool is the original super fabric. Today's microfiber merino is smoother than silk, it self-regulates from -20F to +75F, and it will stay odor-free for a week of continuous wear. You say, "Ewwww." We say it's still too cold to risk getting out of our favorite unmentionables.

$50 in microweight pink, $60 in midweight black, and more. Available at REI, Midwest Mountaineering, and Galyan's.

REI, http://www.rei.com, 750 W American Blvd, Bloomington, 952.884.4315
Midwest Mountaineering , http://www.midwestmtn.com/, 309 Cedar Ave. S, Minneapolis, 612.339.3433
SmartWool, https://www.smartwool.com/

Like a mountain turned on its side

At last, the white stuff arrived. We sat and looked out the window in disgust as the rain poured down. It was, after all, December 21. Disgusted not because we hate rain, but because we love snow. All that precip was going to waste. Ah, but the next time we looked up from the computer, it was a white out. What did we do then? Threw on the coat and mitts, jumped on the bike, and headed down River Road to Midwest Mountaineering.

The ironic name of the place has never bugged us that much. (Uh, you might have noticed: There are no mountains in the Midwest.) Nor has its location here in flatland deprived it of the honors it deserves. The Twin Cities grandaddy of silent-sports shops has a national reputation for its impressive inventory of top-shelf softgoods, camping equipment, paddle-sports gear, skis, backpacks, and—yes—climbing gear.

While we still like to head out to REI now and again, it's a bummer of a car trip (almost unapproachable by bike or foot). The completely bunged interchange with Lyndale and the 494 frontage road is enough to keep us away for months at a time. Besides, we've come to believe that REI's house brand is a little suspect in the QA department. Midwest Mountaineering, on the other hand, lives in its quaint storefronts at seven corners, a few doors down from the 400 Bar, the Wienery, and a dozen other West Bank landmarks that are legitimate solo destinations on their own.

One minor pet peeve with MM: The most recent store layout? With the long outfitters' style checkout counter? Works roughly like a canvas pup tent. Nostalgic. Cute. Totally lame. No one knows where to stand, who's working the registers, what's the traffic flow. For a store that has every other snow-picket perfectly in place, this is one placement that is NOT bomber.

Midwest Mountaineering
309 Cedar Ave. So
Minneapolis, MN 55454
Phone local: 612-339-3433
Toll-free: 888-999-1077
Fax: 612-339-7249
info@midwestmtn.com