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Today was a GOOD DAY! A friend called last night and asked if I wanted to go snowmobiling today. For a place that has no mountains, we have mountains and mountains of snow - not wet snow but white powder - every skiers dream.
I'm a very novice snowmobiler. If I took you for a ride on the frozen lake, we'd be lost - guaranteed. But going with an experienced rider, who knows his way around is a completely different story. Me: I'm an Los Angeleno transplant - maybe my Lithuanian roots attracted me to the frozen tundra of the upper Midwest but really, who knows????
We embarked around ten am and got home around 3pm. In that time we covered about 100 miles. Now, say you live in LA . . . you've seen Lakes before - what do you do on a lake? You swim, go for a boat ride but in MN where the lake freezes you get to walk, drive or ride on frozen water. With our ginormous dumping of snow last week, there must be a foot of powder covering the lake. The conditions were great for riding. Now, I've got on the right clothes & wear a helmet and my googles are supposed to not fog up - but the only way I can see where my friend is - is by following the snow dust trail he's leaving behind.
Intuitively and in a survival sort of way, I am able to keep up with my friend. Eventually we transition from the Lake to the Luce Line Trail - used to be a railroad track but now a designated trail for snowmobiling - great fun. We took a few breaks today and on one, we're sitting on a small frozen lake - called Oak Lake. The motors are off and it's really quiet - its an overcast day and the lighting is great - out of nowhere we start hearing "honk - honk - honk" We look up and see a small flock of Trumpeter Swans - as "pure as the white driven snow" and BIG - the biggest birds I've ever seen EVER. It just another gift from above that brings this awe into my life. I know it's hard to internalize what I saw today but the settings here in MN are really spectacular and there's something unique about all four seasons.
Along the Luce Line Trail, we pass farms with fences with cattle, horses and snow covered fields that will be back to work in the Spring that will yield the food we all need to eat - corn, soybeans, wheat, alfalfa. Really amazing.
Got home and Annie & I went to the Camping & RV show - looked at some of the new Airstreams and visited our friend Betty Thoreson who own Lazy D Campground in SE MN, one of our favorite places to recreated in the summer. They have @ 35 horses and offer some great trail rides.
THEN, to cap off our day, we went from the Camping show to the Galleria Mall (very upscale) and ate dinner at the Good Earth restaurant - same chain as in So CA.
That's my story for today!
