Arctic Blast wrap up in smoke

Well, to sum up the Vikings Arctic Blast weekend, let's just say it was cold.

the celebrity poker tournament Friday night at the Casino was warm, freindly and fun. Each poker player paid $110 to get $4,000 in chips and tried to win the pot. there was one celebrity at each table with a bounty on their head. Whomever knocked them off the table won an additional $100 cash. The big winner of the tournament stood a good chance of winning over $50,000 real cash. I will have to check with my friend Sara at the casino to find out the exact total, because quite frankly, I lost my notes. Along with a bunch of photos — I'll get to that later.

But really, that amount is not what is important. What is important is the money that is collected for charity.

So, Saturday morning the weather was about 18 degrees, but the bottom dropped out of that quickly. by 1 p.m. the thermometer in my Jeep read minus 6 and the windchill made it about minus 30.

That's where the lost photos and notes came in. Somewhere along the line, through the blowing snow and frigid temperatures, my camera froze and damaged my memory card. Long story short, frostbite on two fingers, photos gone. As for the notes, I think they are blowing around in the middle of Wisconsin by now.

So the smoke comes in during an interesting turn of events at Barnacles Resort in Malmo.

Watch my video. And then read my story on www.millelacsmessenger.com or in the print version of the paper available on news stands everywhere. Please feel free to comment.

--- Well, I can't get the video to load into this page. Please go to www.millelacsmessenger.com to view the video.

Thanks again!

Thanks!