Walking in the winter wonderland...

 On this beautiful, fresh snow-fallen winter day, 

Rick and I decided to get our work-out by hiking at Quarry hill

 Quarry Hill Nature Center is located in 320-acre Quarry Hill Park, its often referred to 

as the "Jewel" of the Rochester Park system.

Quarry Hill

 We got a fresh 5 inches of snow overnight so we wavered whether or not to 

rent snowshoes or just walk...we decided to go without the snow shoes.

This guy keeps things interesting on our hikes.

I know many are "getting tired" of the snow,

 Not me,  I'm choosing to savoring the remaining 7 days of winter, and take advantage of it's beauty. 

I'm a firm believer that as long as it's WINTER, there may as well be snow....right!

Winter hiking...

Rick and I took advantage of going for a little hike on Saturday before the

 arctic blast struck southern Minnesota. It was a beautiful afternoon,

 warm enough to shed our coats and gloves half way through the hike. 

We chose to hike at Quarry Hill Nature center.

We just picked a trail and off we went.

To add a little challenge to our stroll, we ascended up to this high ridge

 We could see the nature center from where we were (note the pink arrow), now we just had to figure out how to get back down there. It wasn't clear by the trail markers, but with the help of our 

*"hiker angel" we found our way back down in one piece. 

That was one steep descent on the slippery white stuff.

 At one point we hiked up a path that led to a neighborhood bordering the park.

 I snapped a photo of this unique tree fort, someone was very creative.

*hiker angel - on three different occasions while trying to navigate our way back down the ridge, we encountered a man, cigar in one hand and a dog on a leash in the other. He helped direct us back down to the start of the trail in a safe and timely manner. On a side note, we would have made it down just fine, just maybe not in the most timely manner.  Dusk was upon us so it was nice to have a "little hiker angel" to guide us in the right direction. 

Winter Hike

Rick and I decided it would  be a good day to move a little,

so we got on our hiking boots and headed to Quarry hill nature center.

Yesterday was like the frozen tundra of russia,

 today was a beautiful winter afternoon

a great day for a hike

Most of it was a bit challenging for me, because the paths were very icy.

Falling doesn't sound that fun to me so I took my time.

Fireplace in the middle of nowhere

There are a lot of cool things to stop and see along the way 

if you're interested check it out here  History of Quarry hill

This cave used to be open but because of pranksters teenagers (like me)

 they had to be barred off  only to be opened for tours by the staff at QH.

As teenagers we used to make our way to the caves in the dark with only flashlights...

I remember being very frightened, it was spooky but fun at the same time.

Spending time with this guy.... aint nothing better

It's such a good thing to do

Yesterday started out on Superior national golf course.

It's a beautiful course, every hole is a sight to behold!

I rode along in the cart, getting out on the green to bring Rick Putting good luck

Rick had a great round of golf and I had a wonderful time just being with him

~

After golf we spent the rest of the day in Grand Marias.

It's a quaint little town with lots of character

Looking down on Grand Marais from the Gunflint Trail

dusk in Grand Marais

Just another pretty flower....

and sunrise over lake superior.

This morning we were up bright and early to watch the sun rise then after breakfast we headed out to the rocky shore beneath out condo for some R&R.

Rick got ahold of the camera

This afternoon we hiked in Temperance state part. It was a lovely day for a hike, the surrounding were awesome.

and I had great company !!!