The St. Paul Winter Carnival medallion hunt has been going on for two days. I'm pretty excited about the whole thing, and I'm hoping to get into it more this year.

If you are interested in the winter carnival, which starts next weekend, go to http://www.winter-carnival.com/ [1].

If you go, bring warm clothes, not just for yourself.

Bring a warm piece of winter clothing to the Smartwool booth inside the heated tent on Harriet Island on Jan. 27-28 and Feb. 3-4 of the carnival, and it will be donated to the Greater Twin Cities United Way.

Your hat, mittens, scarf, coat, or other winter gear donation will get you the chance to win a destination ski resort vacation, according to a press release. Additional drawings will be held to win Smartwool apparel that will keep you bundled up and wooly warm at the carnival, the press release said.