After several days of snow and clouds, the sun broke through and the bright, blue sky revealed itself and changed our already awesome winter scenes into breathtaking sights.
We grabbed our snowshoes and drove out to Valley Grove to tromp around the beautiful landscape. We enjoy Valley Grove in every season. We especially like to hike and picnic there in the summer and fall. I also enjoy seeing these two charming, and picturesque historic churches. This is the peaceful place where Gary and I have bought a cemetery plot.
The temperature this winter day was mild because the winds were calm. The landscape was pristine and untouched, except for one short path to a gravestone. I imagined that somebody may have lost their loved one close to this time of year to make the special effort to visit. The footprints in the snow sunk at least 20-24 inches, so it must have been a very difficult walk. Our snowshoes sunk about 6-8 inches, which is expected, and makes walking much easier.
We enjoyed snowshoeing the perimeter of the cemetery, making fresh tracks wherever we went. We made an effort not to disturb the smooth, undisturbed snow in the center of the churches and cemetery.
We continued to snowshoe on the prairie a bit too, to marvel at the vastness of white snow covering the ground, and every stubble of grass.
We missed the beloved Christmas eve service at the historic Valley Grove church this year because it was canceled due to subzero temperatures. But it’s warmed up, and it was fun to visit Valley Grove on this beautiful day in January.
We stopped for a bowl of soup and a cup of hot chocolate at Boots & Lu’s, a coffee shop in Nerstrand, before heading home.
