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Arrowwood Resort and Conference Center,
Alexandria
The Arlan and Joyce Zieske family gathering has
met at Arrowwood every January for 31 years,
according to Rhonda Manderscheid, who now
lives in Wisconsin and coordinates the event.
She and her seven siblings, who grew up in
Renville, Minn., outgrew their mother’s home at
holiday time, once everyone was married and
had families of their own.
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“Mom booked Arrowwood, and we each paid
for our own kids,” Rhonda says. “We stayed for a
whole weekend, and we’ve been doing it ever
since. We book 15 rooms. Arrowwood is really
good about accommodating us. We take up a
whole wing, and we book the hospitality room
for our potluck meals.”
The families, which now number almost 60
people total, enjoy snowmobiling, ice fishing,
sledding, and the indoor water park. “One reason
we keep going back is that they offer all of it in
one place,” Rhonda says.
“It’s great. It’s the one and only time we all
get together. The kids look forward to it. It’s
a tradition, hanging out with their cousins.
We used to have a 6 p.m. volleyball game on
Saturday. This year, we had a big kickball game.”
Another set of winter regulars at Arrowwood
is Carla and Jim Taurinskas of Mendota Heights
and their family. “About 36 years ago we started
going for several days at New Year’s Eve,” Carla
says.
Their two sons were in elementary school
then, and Carla and Jim decided to start the
tradition of “getting out of town” for that holiday.
“Arrowwood has been just perfect for us,” Carla
says. “We thought the boys would lose interest
in it once they were in college, but every year it’s
their idea to go.”
Now the boys are married and have their own
families – including four grandchildren -- and
the whole group goes together, including
friends who got interested. “Last year we had
about 40 people,” Carla says. “It’s an awesome
thing.”
They have many indelible memories, including
the horse-drawn hay wagon, snowmobiling,
sliding, ice skating, ice fishing, snowshoeing, and
now an indoor water park.
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“As long as Arrowwood is there, we’ll be there,”
Carla says. “They have treated us very well.”
Arrowwood’s full slate of year-round activities
includes swimming, boating, fishing, cruises,
kayaks, canoes, paddle boards, paddle boats,
golf, campfires, snowmobiling, cross-country
skiing, broomball and sledding.
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