Winter Walks

A go-to place for us to walk outside in the winter is the Carleton College campus. Their sidewalks are always scraped clean – down to the cement – with no traces of ice. It feels very safe to walk there without worries of falling down. We are grateful for the team that keeps the walks so clear of snow and ice. And grateful for Carelton College to open their campus to the community.

The beautiful Skinner Chapel on Carleton College campus.

We were on campus on Saturday for a winter walk. It was cold, but not windy, which we all know makes a difference, plus the sun was shining and that always brightens the spirits!  I took a few photos on this picturesque campus. 

Two beautiful white birch trees stood out against the red brick science building.
My favorite gnarly tree on Carleton’s campus…a favorite in winter and summer.
Another gnarly tree on campus,
The amazing Goodwill Observatory.
Even the dorms on campus are lovely with the red brick and red roofs.

The following day however, was not so cold. It was 46* and it felt balmy! We decided to go to a park we know that maintains a clear trail in the winter… Whitetail Woods, in Rosemount, MN.

Rosemount, Minnesota

When we drove into the parking area it was full! It seems everyone wanted to take advantage of this unusually warm day in February. This park has a nice 2-mile paved trail, along with multiple trails throughout the woods for more hiking and cross-country skiing.

The loop trail is not all paved…there are wooden slats,…
and there is metal grating over a swampy area.

There were a lot of people and dogs, walking on this trail, free of ice (except two small spots), getting a dose of fresh air before the snow and cold make its way back to Minnesota in the coming week.  

Looking through the trees, to the lake in Whitetail Woods.

And another winter-type walk… Once in a while, I’ll go to Menard’s (a big box home improvement store) to walk indoors, on especially cold and/or icy days. Last week I had a little shopping to do there, and I thought I’d add a couple circles around the perimeter of the store to get in an indoor walk, on a very cold day. After shopping and some walking, I checked the pedometer on my phone and was surprised it hadn’t calculated many steps. I thought maybe it needed to recalculate so I continued around the store a few more times and checked in again and the number of steps still hadn’t changed. I decided something was not working, so I put my phone back in my purse which was in the cart. I left Menard’s after an hour and went home. Later it dawned on me that the step counter on my phone didn’t count my steps because it was merrily rolling along in the cart!!!

Now I know. HA

Confused Crocuses?

As I was on a walk this week I noticed something out of the ordinary…

Blooming crocuses.

beautiful, blooming purple crocuses. It was a surprise to see, what I thought were, confused crocuses because they were blooming in the fall.

After taking a picture of theses perky blooms, I looked on Google and learned there are some crocuses that do bloom in the fall…only they have no leaves.

Autumn blooming crocuses with no leaves.

This was a pleasant sight to see while walking on a beautiful, unusually warm, fall day.

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