Outdoorsy

It was a bluebird day on Saturday.  Perfect for skiing at Welch Village.

We're not going to discuss how, for the first time in my life, I fell off the ski lift.  Right? 

Good.

We took a long hike in the Carleton Arboretum today, doing some geocache maintenance.

Another amazing bluebird day.

Malanaphy Springs

This past weekend, Paul and I headed down to Decorah Iowa to visit Ben and Bekky. We all headed to Malanaphy Springs State Preserve, just outside of town.

We hiked through the woods along the Iowa River and came upon the rocky cliffs where the spring is hidden.


We climbed up to near the top.












Paul had a look at the spring cave.










Little Bekky checked out the inside of the spring cave.
















Malanaphy spring starts with a rivulet down the stone face,
















it picks up steam and makes a larger falls as it enters the Iowa river.



It was a great day of hiking and exploring, made even better by the company of the kids.

I've done a bit of mindless, relaxing spinning. Two 4 ounces skeins of BFL from Chameleon Colorworks. They'll go into the basket of unplanned yarns, to be a project someday.

First thing you do in 88 degree heat

with a dew point of 75 degrees, is model the hats you just finished knitting!

This makes perfect sense to a compulsive knitter.

Here we are, after a long weekend of camping.

Note the happy inattention to personal grooming...


Both hats are knit from handspun. Girl of the House is modeling the Blue Face Leicester purchased at Shepherd's Harvest.

I'm wearing Karaoke (merino/soy silk) fiber purchased at Mielke's Farm last fall when I was at SOAR.



Here's a better photo of hats - no heads.











We returned to one of our favorite state parks in Minnesota - Beaver Creek Valley.



Our favorite morning coffee spot, the head of East Beaver Creek. There are springs popping cold, clear water right out of the rock walls.





We did miles and miles of hiking.

Beaver Creek Valley is a very narrow valley with steep walls. We hiked all around the rim. The views are incredible.

We did one geocache in the park.

Due to the depth of the valley and the tree coverage, the campground is always at least 10 degrees cooler than the surrounding area.

There were gentle breezes that kept us cool.


I did quite a bit of knitting.



Advanced a bit on Rogue.

I even got some spinning done. Can't say I'm very pleased with that, though...






We played games and games of cards.












And we read.












Even Ben made it down to see us for a night, before returning to camp.









On the way home, we went the roundabout way.

It's always best to take a different road home. There are so many things to see in this world.



We stopped at John Latsch State Park, along the Mississippi, and did two geocaches.

One of them was at the top of the bluff.

Roughly 600 steps up the bluff.



pant, pant, pant



The views were breathtaking.

(And it felt REALLY good to sit and rest.)








Now, we return to our regularly scheduled week.

(Whoa, kind of a drag, eh?!)

I did get some knitting done on the plane to/from Boston.

My own handspun lace weight alpaca, dyed with with logwood for another Seaman's Scarf.

Carolyn's Hearts and Rosebuds from Myrna Stahman's Shawls & Scarves.

I did 4 repeats of the lace after a provisional cast on. Then I picked up the provisional cast on and started the neck.

Of course, we all know, lace looks less than impressive til it's blocked!



Here's the second sock, knit during training.

Just beginning the gusset.












Yesterday, Mother's Day, we had a very nice family dinner with Paul's family.


Then we headed out for some hiking.

Can anyone tell me what this is? It's located in a wildlife management area.

The eaves are open, so we were thinking it might be a bat-house. But the door, roughly 8"x12", with the little perch area? No clue!




There was a mama goose, sitting on a nest, ducking her head so we wouldn't see the secret she was hiding.





The remainder of a deer carcass, feet black and shiny, looking freshly polished.









And my best fella, looking happy and relaxed in the cachemobile.

A lonely snowman

We went out for a walk in the arb today. Managed to drag the Girl of the House along.

She actually enjoyed the hike, but admitted she had been reluctant to go.

Even little Chip accompanied us.






We came across this little fellow, just waiting along the trail.












For scale, here he is with Chip.

It made us puzzle about his creator. He wasn't living in a place where you would expect a little snowman.







We walked 4.2 miles, it was good to come home.

This evening, we sat and listened to Prairie Home Companion.

I enjoyed some spinning time. This is more of the recently dyed superwash.