Spring in Minnesota

It is May 2nd and there is SNOW in the forecast - OK, so not inches but flurries are bad enough. If the weathermen are correct, the high will only be in the 40's and with windchill it will be in the 30's. Yikes, that is the coldest weather we have experienced in years! Enough about the weather, I am starting to sound like a Minnesotan!

Our welcome to Minnesota has been warm. We joined Amariah at Gymnastics. It is really hard to photograph a 3 year old at a gymnastics class so most of my photos were deleted. I love this one; you can tell she was delighted to see her "Opa". And near the end of class, the kids all get to jump in the foam - Am looks like she is just taking a break from it all - for a minute anyway.


Later at dinner, Mike got the opportunity to meet his newest great grandbaby, Aiden.

I didn't waste any time in getting a four-generation picture.
I do love to photograph the grands and great grands!

On Friday, we needed to be in the metro for an appt. so we stopped by the resort at which we had planned to work for the summer. Notice that is past tense. After a rather sleepless night, we decided it really was not a place in which we could stay, let alone work. Falling down buildings, a general state of disrepair and a weekend tenting party crew is not what we look for in a campground. So, for a couple of days, we were "parkless".

Yesterday, after church where we reconnected with many friends, we headed out to visit a couple of campgrounds people had told us about. We found one that will serve very well as our summer park. It is Silver's Resort and is located in the town of Elysian. The majority of the campers are seasonal with only a couple overnight spots. It won't be as spacious as we had the last few years, but it is a block from Lake Elysian and only a block off "the road to mom's". We will move there next week.

In the meantime, we stayed at Minneopa State Park in Mankato for a few days and then moved to Bray Park on Madison Lake. Of course, I have been out locating signs of spring.

The falls is really flowing from the extensive snow melt.

The still bare trees are reflected in the temporary spring ponds within Minneopa.

The Minneopa Cemetary is an old cemetary that I have never visited, so I did a drive through one gloomy day. It offered a fine view of the Minnesota River Valley and gravestones dating back to the mid 1800's.
This stone is one of the most unique I have seen. It is in amazingly good shape considering Elizabeth died in 1869.






At Bray Park, I found some spring wildflowers in bloom. I wonder why the earliest flowers of spring are white...




I have heard these called Angel's Wings but I think the name is "Dutchman's Britches". They are a beautiful delicate flower that proved very difficult to photograph. You find them very early in the spring and many flowers are strung out on a stem like pantaloons on a clothesline.



I can't remember the name of these early bloomers.




The weather may be cold and dreary, but it is still good to be close to family and friends. We are looking forward to fishing and fellowship and all that summer in Minnesota has to offer.