Winter Storm in Minnesota

Last week we headed to Minnesota to visit Joe’s family and to jointly celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas with all his family. I lived in Minnesota for almost 8 years and I always feel bummed to have to go back during the wintertime because that was my least favorite time of the year living there. But, because the holidays happen to take place during winter up in the Northern Hemisphere, I had to pack my bags and head to the Midwest for some days.

We were fortunate to encounter unusually high temperatures for December. When the temps are in the 30s in December you really can’t avoid thinking of climate change. It’s weird how some people will actually say they are happy for climate change because it makes days warmer. These are the same people who swear to love winters and who obviously don’t realize the impact the rising temperatures are going to have (and ARE having) on the lakes they love so much.

Climate change jokes are not funny.

Anyway, one reason why I was excited about visiting Minnesota was the possibility of getting some good winter shots and, hopefully, some snow photos. The forecast was predicting some snow for Saturday and, as the weekend approached, the forecast changed to predict about 10-16 inches of snow on a massive storm to hit Minnesota on Sunday.

But, before the city turned white, we managed to sneak some walks downtown Stillwater, the small town on the border with Wisconsin where my in laws live and where Joe is from, as well as some field trips to neighboring towns.

Stillwater is a cute little town with a very cute downtown where you can find several antique stores with awesome treasures. Next time I visit, I really want to go treasure hunting in those stores. I’m not looking for anything in particular, but I know I’ll find something fun!

One of our daytrips took us to a nice park right on the Saint Croix River.  We got to walk around the rocks, into a cave and watch the dogs run around and go in the freezing cold water—I assume it was freezing, I didn’t test it! The river was calm, the trees were bare, and there was some ice on the shore. At this time of year, the river should be somewhat frozen, but instead, water flowed nicely.

After walking around the Boom Site, as this place is called, we headed to Marine on St. Croix, the town where Garrison Keiler gets his inspiration for his show “Prairie Home Companion.” This very small town is home to less than 700 people, according to the US 2012 Census.

At Marine we got lunch and we also stopped at a fabulous chocolate store called St. Croix Chocolate Co. (http://www.stcroixchocolateco.com). Not only do they make mouth watering chocolate, but they also hand paint every single piece, creating truly beautiful works of art.

 

After Marine, we drove north to Franconia, a very small township with a bit over 1,000 people. Here we visited the Franconia Sculpture Park (http://www.franconia.org/about.html), an innovative community arts organization that houses art made by local and international artists. What’s fun about this park is that most of the sculptures are huge and some you can even climb on! Oh, and it’s free too!

We walked around the Park for an hour or so, until it got too chilly, at least for me! Photographing the sculptures was fun, but also challenging because it’s hard to convey their quirkiness in a single photo. Even trying to show the entire park was very challenging too, but I still tried!

On Sunday we attended a football game at the Metrodome, the big Minneapolis stadium. Sunday was also the day the big snowstorm hit the Twin Cities, as Minnesotans call Minneapolis and Saint Paul. This was my first game ever. I’m not a bit football fan, but more of a futbol fan, that’s soccer for those who are not familiar with it!

The drive to the game was painful and so was the drive back. It took us 2 hours to get back from Minneapolis to Stillwater! The roads were in terrible conditions and we saw several cars that had gone off the road, including a semi truck!

But, snow makes for pretty photos. Before leaving for the game, I managed to snap a few, even as the snow was still heavily coming down. It was super fun! Everything turn from brown to white overnight and the snow kept pilling up to a total of 2 feet by the end of the day!

I wish I’d had played in the snow or made a snowman, instead of the game, but the game was also fun and, if I may say, it was a great cultural experience as well!

Also on Sunday, I had the joy to watch cardinals feed on the birdfeeder my in laws have in their yard. At some point, there were 4 couples of cardinals flying around, their redness even more noticeable in the fresh white snow!

Monday was our last day in Minnesota before flying back to my beloved San Francisco.

That morning we went out to brunch with Joe’s parents and I was able to snap some street shots of the snow, the roads and the whiteness of the place. Click, click, short break to warm up hands, click, click!

I got my snow after all!

A few hours later, we were on our way to the airport. I was ready to shed the winter jacket and to leave the frozen tundra. It’s nothing personal Minnesota; it’s just that I’m a bit more Equatorial and your frozen winters do not sit well with me!

I hope you enjoyed the photos from this week! Also, I made another sale yesterday and I’m super pumped about it!!! For more photos of snow, and not snow, visit my Etsy store at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/WorldPhotosByPaola

Let it Rain

Starting last Wednesday, San Francisco, the Bay Area, and the entire northwest of the United States got hit by a rain storm that took about 5 days to go pass San Francisco, but that is still lingering around Portland, Oregon, where rainfall has been uninterrupted for the past 10 days or so. Yikes!

I am the kind of person who loves the rain because it doesn’t come often enough, and have been eagerly waiting to get some real rain days.

I say real, because sometimes we get rain on our forecast, only to get some sprinkles early in the morning or late at night when I’m sleeping. No, this time it was real rain that fell all day long, for days!

If it weren’t for Bomber, I would have probably not left the apartment for the entire time it rained. I guess that’s yet another reason to love owning a dog: He gets me out no matter what, and not just to the tree outside our apartment, no. This little 11 lb dog needs more than that, he needs to stretch his 4 legs, burn some energy, play with some dogs, and run a bit. That is probably why, every time it looked like the rain had stopped, we were out the door, heading uphill to the park!

The symbolism of rain is what I really like. The idea that the rain falls from the sky and cleans everything is just so comforting. The cleaning can be figuratively, as you might feel inclined to take it easy and do some thinking while snuggling with a blanket (and/or your dog!) inside your apartment. But rain also does some literal cleaning, especially in a big city like San Francisco, where the streets could always use an extra wash!

I love the rain as it falls, but I also love how the rain makes things look. Plants look so happy after they are rained on. My dad used to say that plants looked happy after they were watered. Rain is the natural way of watering plants, and seeing the drops on leaves, flowers and branches, makes me think of my dad’s words.

 

But as wonderful as rain is, it’s really bad for electronics. That is why I didn’t dare to go out with my camera to capture the drops as they made their descent from the sky. But, the couple of times during the weekend when the rain stopped, Joe, Bomber and I ran outside, to go stretch our legs, play and to get some shots of drops, water, reflections, and wet nature!

I took most of these photos at Michael Angelo Park, a park about a mile away from our place that we didn’t know existed until a lady told us about it while our dogs were playing with each other.

The rain has now passed. Today was sunny but there are rumors that we will be getting wet again in a couple of days. I personally don’t mind, but I also know that a lot of people were badly affected by the storm, and it would be nice for them to get a break from it so that they can get back on their feet.

I also feel bad for those who have no place to sleep. Rain must be terrible when you carry all your belongings on you and have no home to seek shelter in. Yeah, maybe I like the rain because I’m lucky enough to have a warm place to sleep and take shelter.

 

I hope you enjoy these photos of rain. For more fun photos, visit my Etsy store at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/WorldPhotosByPaola.  In 2 days we are flying to Minnesota to visit Joe’s family and I’m super excited to photograph the place that I called home for 7 years. Fingers crossed that there will be snow on the ground!