Wednesday, August 29, 2012

High Trestle Trail Bridge

Have you had the chance to visit the High Trestle Trail Bridge..........located just a little south and east of Seven Oaks?  It is an awesome piece of art and a heck of an accomplishment...........and it is right here in our back yard.  The bridge is a half mile long and thirteen stories high over the Des Moines River.........about 3 miles west of Madrid and 3 miles east of Woodward.

As we spent the eleven days in the Boone CVB booth at the Iowa State Fair, the bridge was one of the destinations a lot of people wanted more information on..........and a lot of people stopped to tell us how awesome the bridge was and shared their experiences of either walking across or riding across.  Seems more have visited during the daytime.........but if it works for you, you should consider an evening visit too.........the lights are quite the sight.

Speaking of night visits.........one piece of information that was shared at the booth was that while the bridge is lighted..........the trail is not...........so be sure to bring a light with you for the trail.  Good advice.

There are several web sites that offer pictures, history, specs and maps of the bridge.....but I liked this one to get you started.

http://raccoonrivervalleytrail.org/2011/04/wow-our-new-neighbor-the-high-trestle-trail-with-its-amazing-half-mile-long-bridge-that-is-13-stories-high-is-even-better-than-people-were-saying-its-going-to-be-dignitaries-and-the-media-got/

Seven Oaks was the host site for the West Central Coop customer appreciation following day one of the Farm Progress Show last night..............and wow........as usual.......West Central put on a good spread for their 400 invited guests.......it was a lot of fun.....

Brandie just returned from a five day trip to visit her daughter in Texas..........military graduation...... and said she had nine email and phone message inquiries for wedding receptions in 2013 to follow up on when she was gone.......wow........that's a lot of weddings..........a lot of people beyond us missed you Brandie......glad you had a safe and enjoyable trip............

A quick reminder that the 24 hour mt bike race is coming right up........Saturday and Sunday,  September 8 and 9.......plus the Dragoon River Romp is right behind it on Saturday, September 15.......

And believe it or not...........we are still floating canoes and kayaks...........river is really as low and slow as I can remember but the group that took kayaks out yesterday told us it was still a blast.  Man oh man it is going to be hot again today and tomorrow...........

I feel like one of the luckiest guys around..........great people I get to work with .......Ken, Joel, Dee, Brandie, Kris, Steve, Nick, Mike, Lynne, Aaron..........and so many great guests too...........many becoming friends that we see repeatedly after their first visit......

A shout out to our neighbor Donnie that had a hip replacement yesterday.........Get Well Soon!

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Transition Time is Here

Here we are just past the middle of August.  The annual Iowa State Fair is behind us........(great to see so many of our Seven Oaks friends at the booth in the Varied Industries Building, as well as having the opportunity to meet so many new people and introduce them to Seven Oaks).........with the recent rains and cooler days the grass is finally getting green again meaning we are back to mowing more often.......Steve is well into running the weed trimmer around everything on the ski trails that can't be reached with the large tractor and mower when we mow the hills in a few weeks..........full service river floats are continuing, but we are admittedly more concerned about the river flow now than we have been all summer...........the cooler temps have more groups booking and playing paintball - last Sunday a group of 41 military played and this Saturday there are three groups booked to have some fun........Ken, Joel and Rick had a detailed conversation yesterday regarding buying more rental ski boots, buying more rental ski poles, again increasing the upper pond size to gain more water holding capacity which will allow us more continuous hours of snowmaking when the time is right, finalizing the fall service on the two snow cats, installing a new electrical line to the snowmaking pump to free up capacity for more snow guns running simultaneously on the existing electrical line, adding a VFD to the snowmaking pump to improve the efficiency and consistency of the water pressure delivered to the system, picking up the snowmaking pump motor that was serviced by 3E in Des Moines, increasing the size and shape of the east side of the Riblet (Valley View) chairlift unload, changing the approach to Abby's Alley from the CTEC chairlift, building new unload ramps at both chairlifts, researching the purchase of more tables for the lodge for this winter, improving the lights in the original lodge building, Kris' status of servicing all the snow making guns, doing the annual service and inspection of the chairlift grips, taking oil samples from both chairlift drive systems for lab analysis, and even had a few comments regarding the October 21 Season Pass Sale........ .....WOW it was quite the meeting......and...........Brandie is busy meeting with couples that are using the lodge yet this summer and fall for their wedding receptions - yesterday she met for a couple hours with a couple having their reception in June 2013.............next week we will finalize the winter rates, hours and specials so we can update the website and brochure...............tomorrow we are at the ISU Welcomefest in Ames..............this Saturday is our first Mud Volleyball tournament........pits are dug........ready to fill with water......AND we still have room for more last minute teams..........so if you are interested, get your team assembled and register tomorrow........next Tuesday we are getting ready for about 400 coming for a Farm Progress Show customer appreciation in the lodge.......and we still have the 6/12/24 Hour Mt Bike Race on September 8............so basically it is too early to put the summer stuff away and too early to get all the winter stuff out.........but it is definitely transition time.............

........I would say that in 90 more calendar days we will be making snow.........lets see how close I come to that prediction............November 21.............and you can remind me !

........I should add that we had two scout troops camping here last weekend that gave our camphost Ian a big compliment before they left..........thanks for doing that and thanks to Ian for being a good Seven oaks amabassador.......
Happy Birthday to grand daughter Bella!

Friday, August 17, 2012

It Was A Hot Day

Back on July 29 when I posted, I referred to Kelly who had come out to Seven Oaks to get a picture taken in full snowboard apparel and equipment.  I do remember it was a really hot day and she was more than uncomfortable with all the winter clothing on.  But the trip was successful and here is the picture.  My guess is that the next time whe has her picture taken with snowboard at Seven Oaks........you won't be seeing any green grass in the background.............but lots of white SNOW!  That day is getting closer by the minute.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

I Know

I know it is still technically summer..........I know it is not even the middle of August...........I know we are in the midst of the Iowa State Fair........I know we still have a lot of days for canoeing, kayaking, tubing, camping, paintballing............I know we haven't held the 2012 Annual 24-Hour Mountain Bike Race...............I know we still have a Mud Volleyball Tournament on August 25th............I know Boone hasn't hosted the Farm Progess Show with a large gathering in the lodge on night one............I know the kids haven't returned to school yet.........I know we haven't had our Annual Season Pass Sale and Equipment Swap on the third Sunday of October...........I know there are still eleven wedding receptions scheduled for the lodge this year...........I know..........................BUT........



............ I AM GETTING EXCITED ABOUT OPERATING THE SNOW CAT...............Pushing snow and Grooming..........laying down fresh corduroy..............and I am NOT trying to get over it!



.........If you know what I mean..........

Thursday, August 9, 2012

It's State Fair Time!

It is that time of year again.............already............the Iowa State Fair.............eleven straight days...........and schools are about to resume for the new school year too...........OMG........time is a flying.......

......Seven Oaks has had a booth in the Varied Industries Building for ...........I think...........eleven years now...........many of you have stopped to get information or to say hi...........hope you will do that again this year too..........but we have moved!

.......this year we have opted to partner up with the Boone Convention and Visitors Bureau........which is in the same aisle that we have been in.........but a couple spaces west and on the other side of the aisle..........you really can't miss us..........

.......some of the more common questions we field include "when will the swap and season pass sale be held?".............and the answer is............the THIRD SUNDAY in OCTOBER.......save the date.......

........and "are you still floating the river?"............and the answer is.........yes we sure are, in spite of the unseasonably warm and dry summer we are still able to float.  We have had someone on a full service canoe, kayak or river tube float every day but two since we finished the Gladiator Race in May.  The river is low and slow...........about what you would normally see in late August..........but it is still flowing.............unlike many or most of the other rivers and streams in Iowa.

............and "when will you open for skiing, snowboarding and snow tubing?"............and the answer is...........we don't know for sure but NORMALLY we are open for the winter season on the first weekend in December.............but like so much of what we do at Seven Oaks it all depends on Mother Nature.  Whenever it gets cold enough to start making snow...........which is normally just before Thanksgiving.......we start making snow at night.......even though it gets to warm to keep blowing snow during the day............and then we go again the next night............BASICALLY WE ARE ABOUT THREE (3) MONTHS AWAY FROM MAKING SNOW!  Hard to imagine isn't it.........with all the hot days we have had recently.

......I see the Gladiator Assault 2013 people are offering a State Fair discount for our race in May..........check it out at the fair booth..........

See you at the fair.........

Friday, August 3, 2012

Canoe