There's been major activity here at the Tehvandi Stadium here in Otepää. Every time I walk past the stadium from our hotel to go ski or to go to lunch our dinner at the main building there's more fences up and more big white tents going up. This morning when we were skiing Kikkan & I were wondering if they had been adding snow to the 5km loop they had groomed. It wasn't long before we had our answer-- a huge pile of snow dumped in the middle of the trail and getting muscled around by a cat. Then some more piles further along. we got good at dodging both huge snow chunks and snow cats today. The snow they're spreading out on the course is snow they made last winter and stored over the summer for this race. Now that's what I call dedication to holding a ski race. Not only do they have snow making machines they also made the snow a year ahead of time in case there weren't days cold enough to make snow before the World Cup races. I, for one, appreciate that kind of foresight when it comes to ski races. Other people seem to appreciate it too. there's tons of people out skiing every afternoon-- lots of kids in matching club outfits. It's easy to get excited about a ski race when you get to watch the venue transform from a nice ski trail into a serious racing venue.

There's also a merry-go-round outside of our hotel which is a fun stop on the way back from skiing.