Sometimes even a global traveler like me needs to take time off and enjoy the simple yet beautiful things close to home.
Minnesota is a beautiful place that has over 10,000 lakes many of them untouched. You can find any kind of lake your heart desires from the urban lakes of the cities, to the many resort lakes lined with cabins and finally to the remote, untouched lakes within the Boundary Waters.
For four years, we have been coming to lovely Roy Lake in Nisswa, Minnesota and staying at a little red cabin as part of the Grand View Lodge. It is our week as a family to unwind, create memories, and enjoy the lakes, nature and sunsets. It is a tradition that we all look forward to each Fourth of July week.
A time meant to unwind and forget about life for awhile. A time to relax, refresh and smile.
And also a time to enjoy the small pleasures of life in Minnesota. A place like nowhere else.
A time to find beauty and love in the world. And leave all your worries at home.
Monday night I had the pleasure of showing off my amazing town and its progressive dining scene to a couple of travel, foodie and photographer bloggers, Anita’s Feast and her husband Tom from Switzerland. I had met Anita last year at BlogHer in New York and we have kept in touch via social media ever since. Little did I know, her husband and travel photographer Tom Fakler is originally from Minnesota and had recently spent a few months in Nepal on a photography trip volunteering for an NGO. When I heard they were coming to Minneapolis to visit family, we scheduled a date to meet for coffee to catch up. We had so much to talk about that meeting for dinner was inevitable.
Since Anita is a travel and food blogger I had to pick somewhere wonderful to show off our town and it’s amazingly diverse dining scene. Piccolo, a small eclectic restaurant nearby my home was the first place that came to mind.
The weather has turned crazy. After a painstakingly, long, grueling “sprinter” as we like to call it here in Minnesota (a winter than never ever ended and moved right into spring), we are now faced with one of the wettest, stormiest starts to summer that I can ever remember.
On Friday night, while we were out to dinner on the other side of town, a vicious maddening storm swept through the metropolitan area of Minneapolis-St. Paul with a vengeance. I honestly had no idea it was coming save the loud beeping warning blinking on my cell phone saying “flash flood warning”. Within moments of that text, insane winds and torrential downpours of rain struck the streets of Northeast Minneapolis and I was about ready to look for the Arc. It was absolutely insane. The city streets were flowing like an angry river and the gutters had so much water that they were sputtering and shooting up water. The few brave (or stupid) cars tried to drive through the mess while I just stared out the huge glass windows of The Northeast Social wondering what on earth was going on with this crazy weather.
An hour after the storm, our drive back to Southwest Minneapolis would prove daunting. Street after street was flooded with water, cars were stuck, trees were down and traffic lights were out. The next morning we would realize how fortunate we were to not be one of the 590,000 homes and businesses around the Twin Cities without power.
My run around my beloved lake was filled with dismay. Enormous beautiful trees were uprooted and laying across the path. Severe straight-line winds up to 60-80 mph had torn through the Twin Cities tearing out thousands of trees. In fact, the estimate of downed trees is likely to surpass the 3,200 trees lost during the 2011 tornado that tore through North Minneapolis. My favorite Minneapolis weatherman Paul Douglas wrote in today’s Star Tribune that “Friday’s severe straight-line winds created a damage swath consistent with a 15 mile wide EF-0 to EF-1 tornado”. Just plain scary.
Meanwhile us hearty Minnesotans are enduring our crazy weather bracing for the next round of storms coming in soon. It is hard to be upset with Mother Nature. Now that it is finally summer, most of us Minnesotans are going to do what we love best: Enjoy our over 10,000 lakes. With all the storms, comes sensational sunsets late into the night, fresh lake air, birds singing, flowers blooming and the beauty of nature that keeps us here. There is no place like Minnesota in the summer.
Stay tuned…My computer is in the Apple shop being repaired and may not be back soon as their other store has no power! There is a backlog. Once it is back, I hope to work on my photos from the South of France and share them here.
Author’s note: This is my last post on our recent family vacation to Big Sky, Montana. To see other posts on Montana, click here.
Mid-week during our ski trip to Montana we opted to try out neighboring Moonlight Basin ski resort. Known as Big Sky’s little sister, Moonlight Basin is smaller, cheaper and humbler yet in my opinion equally if not more beautiful and pristine. We spent a wonderful day skiing there with our dear friends who joined us on the trip. Two families, with two kids each, the same exact age. It was a wonderful day like all the rest.
The day started out iffy. Weather was moving in and it was expected to rain. But we couldn’t complain as the last five days of our trip in Montana had been absolutely spectacular with perhaps the bluest sky I’d ever seen. If all else fails, perhaps we’d have to get a day pass and hang out in Moonlight Basin’s magical, misty pool, slope – side.
“We have always been dreamers in Montana”. – Brian Schweitzer
Big Sky trail map. Photo credit: bigskyresort.com
Day three skiing at Big Sky meant it was time to pick it up a notch and hit the bowls. There is nothing more liberating and invigorating than physically challenging your body. It was time to hit the blacks.
We traveled with another family to Montana and my friend and I rode the gondola up to the top to hit the back bowls. It was another sensational, postcard perfect day. I felt more alive than I had in months.
“I’m in love with Montana. For other States I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection. But with Montana it is love. And it’s difficult to analyze love when you’re in it”. – John Steinbeck
I have always loved mountains for as long as I can remember. Starting at the mere age of three, I begin skiing with my parents which over the years blossomed into a life long love of downhill skiing. Today, decades later I’m in my parents boots and am skiing with my own children. It is quite a joy to see them go down the hill and develop the same love of the mountains and great outdoors as I have.
This week we are in Big Sky, Montana for our first-ever family ski trip. We’re here for an entire week of Spring skiing and you couldn’t ask for better weather. It has been absolutely brilliant. Bursting mountain blue sky, bright, joyous sunlight and deliciously soft, silky snow. What more could you ask for than a stint enjoying Big Sky’s bliss? Not much in my opinion.
Yesterday we left for a long awaited vacation and I can’t tell you how incredibly ready I was to get out of town. The last few weeks have been a bit difficult especially given our recent family stint with the stomach flu. Spring has not even attempted to visit and the weather has been unseasonably cold. All in all, my spirits were sinking and it was time to leave.
This year’s Macy’s Flower Show is a definite stunner to the senses. The theme is The Painted Garden and is inspired by the colorful, brilliant flowers, jewels and market hues of India and Southern Asia. For most Minnesotans like myself, who are literally starved of color right now, the rainbow hues of the Painted Garden offer a visual feast to our hungry eyes.
As you walk through the room, all at once you are at peace as you smell the fragrance of a thousand flowers. Gentle background music lightly hums in your ears, and the room is an elaborate display of colors ranging from a magnificent variety of tropical flowers to the brightly colored hanging umbrellas and gorgeous paintings along the walls.
I still can’t decide what my favorite flower or work of art is at the Painted Garden. But I’d have to vote either for the centerpiece of the show, the elaborate, exotic elephant sculpture which proudly wears a blanket made of 20 different species of dried and fresh plant material or the insanely surreal Phalaenopsis Blue Orchids which are out of this world.
Come, take a look for yourself at some of the gorgeous flowers that paint the 8th floor of Macy’s department store in downtown Minneapolis. You will not leave this post disappointed!
Today I decided that I’d had it with winter. I picked my daughter Sophia up from Kindergarten and we headed to downtown Minneapolis for the Macy’s Painted Garden Orchid Show. It was exactly what the doctor had in order.
We stepped inside this tropical paradise on the 8th floor of the Macy’s department store and were transported into a tropical garden more likely found in India or Thailand. Of course, given how much I adore flowers I snapped away like mad and then we walked around the show another time so 6-year-old Sophia could take some shots.
Here is just a teaser of some of the gorgeous flowers we saw. Once I have a chance to process all the photos, I will for sure give you a full report filled with color….a post not to be missed.
In honor of WordPress’ iPhonography month, all these photos were taken with my tiny iPhone and processed on Instagram. Hope you enjoyed them!
Today was an unforgettable day on the slopes. The sky was a brilliant knock-out blue and the sun was beaming down with joy. We rose feeling a little stiffer after a hard day of skiing but excited for the anticipated adrenaline rush that was before us. In my opinion, there is nothing better than flying down the mountain at lightening speed with the wind whipping in your face. It is the closest I feel to being 20 again.
Here are some of my favorite shots of an unforgettable day.
Ok…this isn’t exactly true but I saw it in the bar last night and thought it was hilarious.
Morning on the slopes.
Heading up on lift 9 to the top. Look at the wind blow off the crest of the Continental Divide. Wow!
It was absolutely freezing on top but the 360 view of the Colorado Rockies took my breathe away.
This weekend I just so happen to be among one of my favorite things: Mountains. I love to see them, climb them and ski them racing like wildfire down the terrain. There is something so magical about mountains. I will always find them mesmerizing.
Here are some photos from my first day skiing at Copper Mountain in Colorado. You will see that it was a magnificent day with brilliant sun and perfect powdery snow. I embraced every minute of it and let the exhilaration saturate my soul.
This post was written in response to Where’s my Backpack’s travel theme: Mountains. To. See more posts click here.
