Checking out the Beaver Dam

 

A couple weeks ago I went to my Dad's cabin and we went with Lucy, Trina and Chris, walking along the backwaters to check out a giant beaver dam.  It was getting towards the end of the sunlight, and was really beautiful out!  Here are some pictures I took- some very busy beavers out there!
Snow on the dam

yep, they have been busy chomping away!!
Trina, writing her name int he snow, on the river ice.

Heading back to the cabin.  We then enjoyed some hot buttered rums by the fire outside, and had a reeeeally good meal of "crockpot lasagna" and salad....and many different kinds of cheesecake for desert- I was stuffed!  Just thinking about that lasagna makes me hungry again though!

Amnican Falls

The first week in January, I had yet another doctor's appointment in Duluth.  Up and back in one day, for a half hour appointment, if that!  But, good news- I got a new "flipper" that I can actually eat with- so my "soft food diet" ended MUCH earlier than expected!  Christopher, who made the trip with me, helped me celebrate as we headed to Grizzlies where I got a pulled pork sandwich and enjoyed some chewable food!!  We then headed back to Winona, but stopped at Amnican falls along the way for a little hike.  It is really beautiful there- and we found this amazing "Ice Monster" as seen in the first picture here!....as far as we can tell, just made from water splashing up into the same spot over, and over again, and freezing.  He was about 4-5 feet tall, and our greatest find of the day- though we enjoyed the whole hike =)

Christmas Break!

Well, with things uploading so slow....I haven't been all that motivated to get my pictures on here- but I will try to put at least a few on now.  Christmas break was great!  Not a lot of resting- I went to Winona for Christmas Eve, Dad's cabin Christmas Day, and then spent the weekend down in Missouri, visiting Katie, Matt, Aidan and Alaina.  I was then back in Winona for one day, and even came back to La Crosse for a couple hours with Christopher to drop off presents and grab some clean clothes, then we headed out to my land where we hiked around.  The next day I was off again- this time with Mom up to Duluth for a doctors appointment (check-up after my surgery), and then from there we headed up the Gunflint Trail to the cabin!  We stopped at Gooseberry on the way up, and then snowshoed to the cabin, carrying our stuff on a sled that we pulled behind us.  We started a cribbage tournament (which lasted 2 days and I ended up winning) and on New Years Eve Day we went snowshoeing out to Bill and Sandy's cabin- it was sunny and beautiful out that day and we had a lot of fun! Hiking back we hit a bit of slush, and my shoes iced up really bad, making travel not as easy (next time I am bringing a knife to chip it off) but otherwise it was a perfect day!  After finishing our cribbage tournament we played Scrabble (which I also won) =)....drank a little wine and headed to bed to get up early and watch the sunrise (which we were up in PLENTY of time for as the clock had not been set from daylight savings!).  New Years Day dawned pretty cold, with the thermometer reading -10, with a little bit of wind, but it felt good getting out and snowshoeing back to the car. We stopped at a few spots on the way back to take pictures of the fog rising on the lake (Superior) and the ice, and then headed to Eu Claire to celebrate Christmas with Michael, Randine,  Maryanne and Mike, and Alex and baby Isaac.  I then skipped the New Years party that night with friends to opt for a weekend at home....where I had not really been in a week and a half!  Heather came to La Crosse and we did a bit of sledding, which was a lot of fun! So....I have pictures of all these things, but probably won't get much uploaded.  I am putting more on Facebook if you are interested! =)