Carole and I drove to the kid's home in town on Friday morning, loaded their bags and we all headed north for a weekend of basketball games. The grandson plays on the local college team and they had a non-conference game on each of Friday and Saturday evenings. By north, I am referring to the opposite end of the state. 387 miles in one direction at the furthest point of the second college. And then back home again last night after the game. They won one and lost a close one.
Travelling north in Minnesota is, at best, iffy during the winter. Not far from where we needed to end up they had 42 inches of snow in one storm only a week ago. We didn't see any bad roads thankfully but it snowed about an inch every 8 hours the whole while we were in that country. There are hundreds of lakes in this region we visited and every once in a while we'd see a portable shelter on the ice of some but with the heavy snow that's fallen on young ice there just didn't seem to be that much winter fishing happening right now. At -4 for a daytime travel temp its not normal to see anglers on open ice either.
Aside from the fun of the game atmosphere, we were treated to some of the most outstanding beauty that Mother Nature can put up for us. The pines all had draping branches of white and as we drove along on the final northward leg of the trip on a two-lane highway it seemed as if we were driving along a country lane that one would see on a winter post card or a Christmas card scene. The snow and cold sometimes compound our lives in ways that make us really lose track of how stunningly beautiful it can be. I don't think there is anything more pure than seeing new snow in the setting that we saw it and the cold air just magnifies how white it really is. Seeing a winter sight like this is something that every person in the US should treat themselves to at least once.
Its good to be back home, but it just never stops amazing me at how beautiful Mother Nature can decorate our lives.
