Yesterday was a gorgeous winter day here in Minneapolis. The sun was shining brightly, launching its powerful, magical rays across the glittering white snow-packed ground. The birds were chirping cheerfully and it was unseasonably warm. Almost 40 degrees F which is considered balmy in Minnesota (if it is above 20 in January or February, we are considered lucky). It was the first morning in a long time that I woke up and literally sprang out of bed to the call of my children greeting me “Mama. Mama. Maaaaaaa-maaaa!” I instantly opened their bedroom shades and jumped with joy. Yeah! The sun is here! I was so happy to see my long lost friend.
My kids thought I was a bit crazy but they don’t understand my need for sunshine and vitamin D. It is said that most people living in northern climates are highly insufficient of vitamin D in the winter months. This can lead to intense fatigue (check), lethargic behavior (check) and sometimes depression (hmm….I have been feeling a bit blue). In winter months, our days are short and the nights are long. Although it can be quite sunny in the winter, the sunshine often brings bitter cold forcing you to hibernate and be trapped inside your home staring longingly outside your window wishing for spring.
Yesterday was different. Not only was the sun shining brightly, but our typical January thaw had arrived! For a few days we would get this nice warm weather (you know I’m from Minnesota when I’m calling 40 warm!). Thus, I decided to take advantage of the day and spend as much time outside as possible. The morning started with a run around the lake and in the afternoon, I took my daughter snowshoeing by the Minnehaha Falls.
Here are some pictures of what we saw at the falls which freezes into a magical display of ice during the winter.
Photo above taken last Monday, January 1st in Tucson, Arizona. A family walk through Sabino Canyon with Grandma, Grandpa, me and the kids.
After nine days in sunny, warm Arizona and two weeks off of school, we are back in balmy Minnesota (it has been record highs lately making me wonder what month it truly is) and off to another new year. The kids are back in school. My son started today and my daughter will resume preschool tomorrow. The weather has been uncanny and odd. It reached 50 degrees today, we have absolutely no snow and for the first time I can ever remember, the lake is not frozen solid. Either we are in for some serious payback in February or global warming has landed hard.
Today was unseasonably warm, a high of 50 degrees (normally it is in the teens and that is considered warm). My daughter and I went down to the lake where she rode her scooter, unbelievable for January! There is no snow (last year we had a few feet by now and 82 inches by the end of the season). And, as you can see on the picture below, the lake is not completely frozen! There is a huge hole in the middle!
Normally Lake Harriet and the other metro lakes are frozen solid by early December. The ice is so thick that cars, yes that is correct, can drive across them and ice fisherman drill their holes into the ice and set up their ice homes across Minnesota lakes. There are skaters, nordic skiers and snowshoers galore. Not this year! At least not yet.
The odd weather has left me confused and thinking that the Gods Must be Crazy! But as I know, having lived in Minnesota and the Midwest for almost all of my life, that I don’t have to worry one bit. Winter will come, and when it does decide to show up, it will be long, brutal and cold. For Minnesota is notorious for harsh, long winters. That is what makes us Minnesotans such hearty souls.
As I get back into my daily routines, it is time for me to start focusing on 2012 and all the exciting things coming ahead. Tomorrow, my post on my upcoming involvement with the UN Foundation’s pilot program, Shot@Life will be posted on World Mom’s Blog (I will add a link tomorrow on my blog). At the end of the month, I’m headed to DC to be trained as a grassroots advocate for this exciting program that focuses on providing immunizations to millions of children in developing countries. After that, the fun begins with blogging and hosting events to raise awareness of the dire straits of children around the world who don’t have access to life-saving vaccines.
In February, my daughter and I are going on a big ski trip out west to Taos, New Mexico to meet up with my dad. Both of my children have been learning how to ski this winter and we’ve spent every weekend at the ski hill (except of course when we were in Arizona). It has been a wonderful way to be together as a family and to see my children learn to ski. I grew up skiing and love the sport. Thank goodness they have the equipment to make snow on the hills here! The balmy weather has been ideal for weekend skiing.
In March, I am off on another adventure to volunteer and learn Spanish in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. I’ve been dusting off my old spanish grammar books and have started my evening lessons at home reviewing, memorizing and praying that I will be able to communicate with the locals when I’m there! I have no idea what to expect but that is what will make the experience so fun.
Other than that, who knows? I find that life is always an adventure and I look forward to what 2012 will bring.
Stay tuned..my next series on China will be about the different neighborhoods of Shanghai. Then, I will take you on a trip to a nearby water village dating back hundreds of years. Thanks for reading and comments welcome!
Yesterday was my last hike in the White Mountains of Arizona. It wasn’t the hike that I had imagined or wanted to do. Not the 16-miler haul to Mount Baldy. Instead, it was a much shorter hike to a different part of the White Mountains where perhaps we would be able to see some wildlife and scenic views.
We left early in the morning and unfortunately the monsoon clouds were already forming and turning black. It was not a good sign yet we were already in the car and on our way. Plus I’d been offered a free babysitting morning from my mother so I couldn’t pass that up.
My dad and I pulled into the trailhead for the Blue Ridge Trail around 9:30 am hoping it wouldn’t rain. We were mainly going on this hike to view wildlife as I still had not seen a thing since I’ve been here except for a giant bullfrog and a jackrabbit hare the size of a small dog.
The mountains of Arizona is known for a huge variety of both big and small mammals as well as a very diverse assortment of birds. I was hoping to avoid the big mammals such as the Black and Cinnamon (very rare) beers that range for 300 mile territories. I also had no desire to see a Mountain Lion, Coyote or Wolf lurking around. Yet I did want to see a Rocky Mountain Elk or a Mule Deer. That was the main reason why we selected this trail.
We set off walking against lingering clouds and stillness in the air. I also tend to talk a lot and walk with a nervous gait when I know there are bears around. I know they generally are more afraid of you yet I wouldn’t want to find out the hard way, especially if we surprised a mama bear with cubs.
We walked for an hour or so through the trail and saw absolutely no wildlife or views. We were quite disappointed. However, I did see something that was spectacular: The trees. The trail hosted the craziest, spookiest, and most beautiful trees I’d ever seen beside from the firs. Some looked like ghosts or monsters while others just looked plain old weird. I also thought that the alligator junipers with their scaly grey trunks were wild.
Here are some pictures of what I saw. Hope you enjoy!
Also, at the end are some photos taken to another short hike we did that day to a scenic view of the Mongollon Rim. The Mongollon Rim is the dividing line between the Colorado Plateau and the Gila-Salt River watersheds, and contains the largest grove of freestanding Ponderosa Pines in the world. It is quite a spectacular place.
The mystery is out. Where on earth did thirdeymom decide to go to spend her eleventh year anniversary for a family vacation? Greece, like I dreamed of going many years ago during a three-week honeymoon throughout the Greek Isles? No. Florida or California to see Disney and the gang? Absolutely not. Well, where on earth did she go then?
Here are a few hints. It did not require a plane ride (unless you fly on a float boat, which people do here!). It is in the same state that I live in, lovely Minnesota. Ok…we are getting closer now! And it was not at home in Minneapolis. So, where did we go? For our second annual family summer vacation, we chose the the good ole’ Historic Grand View Lodge in lovely Nisswa, Minnesota.
Located about 2.5 hours northwest of the Twin Cities, Nisswa is part of the Brainerd Lakes area which is loaded with lakes, cabins, resorts, golf courses, and plenty of family fun. The Grand View lodge dates back almost one hundred years (yeah, nothing compared to other parts of the world, but significant for us Americans!).
In 1916, real estate guru M.V. Baker purchased 238 lots (each a 50-foot lot) on the shore of splendid Gull Lake. He shortly after began selling the lakefront property for $10 per foot and his business grew so rapidly that in 1919 decided to build a lodge to house prospective clients. (This information I found in the Grand View Lodge history book at the lodge. It was complete with black and white photos from the early 1900s which were fascinating as well).
Baker brought in a small crew of workers to build the lodge using many of the Norway Pines that grew along the property. The lodge today remains unchanged and is an excellent example of Rustic lodge architecture. In 1980, it was chosen to be a member of the National Register of Historic places which means that no remodeling can be done that would change the true character of the building. Today, it doesn’t truly have the “Grand View” of the lake as it was intended (as it was built quite a bit back from the lake and it has all grown in with majestic pines). However, the view as you approach the lake and surrounding property is Minnesota at its finest. It is simply gorgeous!
In 1937, Baker sold the property to Reynolds Frederick Brownlee Cote otherwise known as “Brownie” by the locals. Brownie was a pioneer resorter in the area thus with his guidance and expertise, the Grand View Lodge grew into the fine Minnesotan resort that it is today.
Today the Grand View includes a large array of 1-8 bedroom cabins spread across 750 acre year-round resort on two lakes: Legendary Gull Lake (2,500 feet of shoreline) and the more secluded, nostalgic Roy Lake. The resort also offers three championship golf courses, a fabulous spa, an indoor pool and waterslide, beach front activities, boating, tubing, bike riding, kayaking, and dining. Not a bad place for a family vacation!
Well, it isn’t Greece that is for sure. Yet, given the fact we are traveling with two young children ages 4 and 6, who require a lot of attention, wake up at the crack of dawn and need to eat exactly at five, the Grand View Lodge turned out to be a Grand Ole vacation!
Here are some pictures of our trip, starting with some photos of the Historic Grand View Lodge, the beloved Chocolate Ox ice cream and candy shop, the lakefront, the beach, the pool, the nature (photo of the Minnesota State Bird, the Loon and her baby), our little red cabin at Roy Lake and best of all, the serene sunsets! Hope you enjoy!
The majestic Grand View Lodge, basking in the sun:
A slice of 1970s Americana: Family trip to the North Shore, Lake Superior circa 1975
Minnesota, known as the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” is the most northern state in the US aside from Alaska. The twelth largest state in size, it is located in the heart of the Upper Midwest bordering Canada, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa, and has a population of a little over five million people.
The word Minnesota comes from the Dakota Indians who inhabited this part of the country along with other Native American groups, and means “sky-tinted water”. The stem, “mini” or “minne” means water, and is used as part of many other Minnesota places such as Minneapolis (City of Lakes), Minnehaha Falls (Waterfall), and Minnetonka (Big Lake).
Minnesota has a long geological history and contains some of the oldest rocks found on earth known as the gneisses dating back to 3.6 billion years ago. Volcanic activity swept across the lands dramatically effecting the landscape, however, the real significant impact on the Land of 10,000 Lakes was the ice sheets and glaciations 12,000 years ago that formed and carved out the rivers, lakes and valleys that make Minnesota so beautiful and serene.
Minnesota is awash with nature and beauty, having over seventy state parks, large forests (birch, pines, spruce, poplar) and prairies, almost 13,000 lakes (including one of the Great Lakes, Lake Superior) and many rivers (the Mississippi River actually starts in Minnesota). The lakes and gorgeous lands create the perfect habitat for elk, caribou, moose, black bear, timber wolves, bob cats, linx, bald eagles, owls, hawks, loons, ducks and beavers.
Probably what Minnesota is most known for is it’s notoriously cold, long and brutal winter. Yet, what most people who are not from here do not know is that it is the land of extremes. The summers can be hot, sticky and reach a sizzling 100 degrees F while the winters can bear down to 20 below zero plus an additional 10-20 below wind chill. Yet, despite the weather, Minnesotans are quite active and run outdoors year-round.
The winters offer plenty of outdoor activities to embrace winter and enjoy the snow (82 inches of snow last year!) such as ice-skating, downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, sledding, and snowshoeing.
Summer in Minnesota is fabulous and quite frankly, there is no other place I’d rather be than hanging out at one of the 10,000 plus lakes, breathing in the fresh, clear air and watching the sun set well past ten.
Fall is awash in beauty as the leaves turn their magical tapestry of colors into brilliant hues of scarlet reds, burnt oranges, golds and yellows. The September days are cool and perfect as the sun heats the majestic bright blue sky up to a perfect 70 degrees F. The falling leaves trickle down in the breeze and it is incredibly serene.
Growing up Minnesotan meant a lot of things to me. Summers swimming in the lakes, biking, playing outside until well past ten and eating popsicles, popcorn and brats on the grill. Fall meant our family trips to the North Shore of Lake Superior to see the incredible fall colors in all their glory. Winter meant ski lessons every Saturday in frigid temps, building snow forts and making snow angles. Spring meant rebirth and survival as everyone came out of their hibernation from yet another long cold winter.
<em>How do we do it? you may wonder. Why do we do it? Others say. Because we love it! You must embrace it for all its worth or else it’s time to move!
Here are some oldies but goodies, pictures from my childhood.
Loading up the good old family-mobile, our wood-paneled station wagon, for one of our many road trips:
Our first trip to Brainerd, the Chain of Lakes, circa 1975:
