After only 1 year, I am still fascinated by the northern prairie: the birds, mammals, plants, wetlands. This ecosystem is both delicate and inviting, harsh and forbidding, depending on the season. A mild winter settles into the prairie this year. Snow is scarce, but the nighttime temperatures in the teens cause the lakes to freeze. People…
A few weeks ago I felt bogged down in an endless, long, northern winter. I managed to escape to Denver for 4 days but encountered a snow storm the last day and flew home to minus 20 degrees. My Denver sweet-ums Cooked a favorite dinner: Cuban pork, yellow rice, and black beans In an…
Christmas Day. Around 4 PM, I drove into the countryside. The sky was foggy and dusk was settling in. First stop, Green Lake. I zoomed in on these ice fishing houses. Next stop, my new camping spot. An old homestead sits nearby. Settlers built the home from sod bricks, then later framed, over the bricks. The…
The variables lined up for a winter camping adventure: sunny 40 degree days, nights around freezing, and low wind speeds. The winds while driving were actually much higher than expected–35 mph gusts on I-25. However, I did not know that when we took off, so I learned what those wind speeds are like when pulling…