Minnesota Early Mornings

Yes I know, It’s Sunday, and we are on our way to Alaska today! But I need to distribute some posts, just in case we can’t find wifi while out in the AK Wilds! I don’t want to leave you too long without any postings of any kind..when that happens, my inbox fills up with all kinds of “Where are you!?”emails!

Our flight gets into Anchorage about midnight Anchorage time…which is 5am North Carolina Time! It’s going to be a long long travel day….and we’ll sleep until we wake up because we have ZERO places to be or plans on Monday other than to get caught up on sleep and do some exploring.

Then we are heading down toward Seward where DH’s cousin lives and spending a day there. We plan to work our way through scenic areas and fabulous places and wind up near Delta Junction sometime on Wednesday evening. And that’s as far as we’ve planned! We figure the locals will have some ideas for us on things we should see and do.

DH already has plans to GOLF while I am teaching on Friday and Saturday. Knock your socks off, honey, I want you to be happy…..I know we will be! We’ll be up to our ears in a Bricks in the Barnyard workshop and a Love Shack workshop! And there is a lecture on Friday night. I understand a whole group of ladies are coming all the way from Anchorage for the workshop…that’s a 5.5 hour drive ONE WAY! I’m tickled that they want to come.

And here is where the rest of my Minnesota post comes in, just to give you a glimpse of where I’ve been!

I’ve always been an early morning girl. I love that time of the day, and I will even set my alarm while on vacation just to force encourage myself to get up and make the most of it.

There is a wonderful greenbelt area near where my Aunt and Uncle live --- Three rivers trail. And it is just BEAUTIFUL in the summer! This was my early morning Wednesday Walk/Jog:

This sign cracks me up! Do you see that last line, DH!?? NO GOLFING!! But even funnier is the picture in the center….I understand about cleaning up after a dog, but who scoots along behind the dog trying to catch it on the fly in a plastic bag?! It’s not like the dog is a nerf gun or something! LOL! Maybe poop-catching is a new sport? If you catch it before it hits the ground, do you get extra points? :cD

The morning light coming through the trees was just iridescent! I don’t suppose you can smell it from the picture, but I bet you can imagine how fresh and clean and beautiful it was to the senses. I had my ipod on shuffle, and my gps running…..I went out 3 miles, and turned around and came back 3 miles.

One part of the trail revealed a small waterfall at the end of part of the creek. Beautiful!

There are great maps to show you where you are, and these trails go for miles and miles. One thing I saw a lot of that I don’t near home are people in LONG LONG ski-type roller blades…doing an inline cross country skiing type sport.

I was passed by many people of all ages going like crazy on these long nordic inline skates, using their poles as if they were cross country skiing. It looked like fun!

I love the wild flowers. I can’t stop taking pictures of them! These little daisy things with the curly petals were so pretty…

And the yellow daisies with brown centerse….LOVE those. Summer is so beautiful in Minnesota!

There are sweet little curved bridges that cross the streams and creeks….I saw lots of bunnies hopping around in the early morning light too.

Upon recommendation from my cousins, Andrew and Bethany, I hit the trail on Friday morning early, and went LEFT instead of RIGHT and discovered new-to-me trails! There are paved trails that go all the way around Rice Lake and Fish Lake. Just take it from me, if you go…do NOT forget the bug spray! I was eaten alive by the time I got back!

THIS picture is my favorite of all! Doesn’t it look like the clouds are ON the water?? The water was so still that it perfectly mirrored the sky above. Time of the morning? About 6:30am.

I loved the way the sunlight filtered through the trees and the water sparkled just beyond. Friday was only a 5 mile morning, but we had packing to do and get to the airport to catch our flights! There is something so special in communicating with nature so early in the morning. I can hardly wait to experience the same feeling in Alaska….