Thursday, April 21, 2011

Minnesota Love

I LOVE Minnesota! But I'm sure there are those of you who wonder WHY ON EARTH anyone would want to live "up north", where it gets cold and snows a lot? and the winters are long? and the lakes actually freeze over and people drive their cars on them??? Well, I'll tell you - it's because Minnesota is beautiful, and Minnesotans are even more beautiful. There is a saying "Minnesota nice", describing the folks up there, and it's true!

I found this shot online, but I do remember deep snowdrifts this deep! I've got a picture somewhere of my grandma shoveling snow that she had to toss over her head! And we've also got a picture of Maggie as a puppy - around 1997 - standing on top of a snow pile that's at least 6 feet tall. Feeling the love yet?



How about now? This lovely picture is of Lake of the Isles, one of the dozen or so lakes that are located within the city limits of Minneapolis. Yes, this is IN the city. I shared a house on Lake of the Isles with 3 girlfriends one summer during my college years, and this was pretty much the view from our front door. You could just walk across the street and get on a nice walking path, and walk all the way around the lake. So relaxing on a hot summer day! (yes, it gets hot up there!) We even had an awesome porch swing on the front porch, how Norman Rockwell is that?




Love it now?



How about this gorgeous shot? This shows the stunning fall color around Lake Minnetonka, a huge network of lakes that is between Minneapolis and my home town of Delano. Doesn't this just take your breath away? My mom and dad used to love to take a drive to "look at the fall color", and they didn't have to go far to see beautiful scenery.



Here's something else to love about Minnesota - the good old U of M! The University of Minnesota, my alma mater, is located right in Minneapolis, just across the Mississippi River from downtown. College kids sprawled across the grass was a common sight in the spring and fall - same as most campuses!



I can't believe I found this picture! This is the house where I grew up, shown in a listing from when it was sold just a few years ago. Lots of good memories there! And look in the background, you can see the school I attended, kindergarten through 6th grade. Looks like a happy house, doesn't it?




Minnesota, Hail to Thee!










1 comment:

Sujata Shah said...

Chris, What a beautiful post! I love everything but the snow! What can I say.. this girl from India is still not a big fan of the snow!
I wonder if my kids would ever look at the house we sold and moved away with same emotions as you do with yours. Such great memories of kids growing up.. it still hurts to know that we are not in it! Hope it changes some day.

By the way, I have never seen fall colors as vibrant as this!

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