Lebanon Hills Regional Park (Eagan)

One of my good friends took these photos and was willing to share them (thank you!!). I will take more pictures at this lovely park as the seasons change, when I get the chance. My flight to Ecuador is in about a month though, so I'm not sure how much springtime I will get to see before I leave.

Lebanon Hills is a huge park! I think you could travel the paths all day and still not get to the end of it. There are lakes, woods, and wildlife. You could have a close encounter with deer, owls, squirrels, bunnies, and if you're really lucky, a coyote (Don't worry. When I saw one, all he did was take one look at me, then trot away; a completely harmless encounter)!

Here is a view of frozen Schultz Lake. You can walk across it if the ice is thick enough (it usually is for most of the winter!).

This is a smaller lake on the opposite end of the parking lot (if you enter the park near the Visitor Center). These two geese kept staring at us as we stared at them! They made very loud honking sounds to one another at different times, which surprised me becuase they were so close together. I thought they would have had a quieter voice when so close, like people whispering when they're next to each other. I understand that they make very loud honking noises to one another while they fly in formation in the sky though. How could they hear each other otherwise?

The ice is beginning to melt away now that we haven't had consistent freezing temperatures for about a month, but this mini iceberg was still impressive to see!

Yes, this bush really is vibrantly red naturally! No, I don't know what it is called, but I'll let you know if I find out.

The sun was brilliant, peaking through the trees. It was next to impossible to capture it in a photograph, though. I highly recommend watching the sunsets here at Lebanon Hills park so you can see the beauty for yourself.

Minnesota Snow!

I will be adding to this post in the years to come as I continue to see more snowfalls in Minnesota.

Here was the view from my kitchen window on a very snowy day!

Here is the porch at my parents' house. The snow is at least 8 inches deep!

 I tried to capture how many feet of snow had accumulated, between the snow that was already on the ground and the new snowfall. That snowbank across the street was a good 4-5 feet high!

I took this photo in a parking lot. When the snowplows come through, they often pile it high like this becuase there's nowhere else nearby to put the snow!

My pre-school neighbors made this cute little Hobbit-like snow hole in their yard next door.

The Walker Art Center (Minneapolis)

The Walker is a museum of contemporary art. They change their exhibits to the extent that if you go to the museum one year, the next year it might look completely different! I'm usually not a big fan of modern art, but I was very interested and impressed with the exhibits that are in the Walker right now.

It was very cold and already getting dark when I got to the Walker, so I decided to rely on a Google image search for some photos of the architecture of the building:

 http://www.citypages.com/arts/timeout-new-york-names-walker-art-center-one-of-the-best-museums-in-the-nation-7690823 

https://www.familyfuntwincities.com/3-opportunities-for-family-fun-at-walker-art-center/

Below is the main entrance to the Walker:

https://mgmcgrath.com/portfolio/walker-art-center-2/

Here is one of my own photos of the same entrance, but with the sign lit up at night. The rest of the photos on this post are my own unless cited with a URL (website address) or noted as one of my friend's photos.

This bridge is not a part of the Walker, but still an attractive design. My friend took this photo. The church to the right was more beautiful up close, but I'm glad my friend was able to capture the church in this photo, lit up in purple for the evening.

Here is another of my friend's photos. This is downtown Minneapolis, with a view of the sculpture garden and the city beyond. If you look carefully, you can see a bell on a pedestal, part of the sculpture garden, as is the lattice walkway. Downtown Minneapolis is worth a visit just to see the city lit up at night, but the old churches and cathedrals are also beautiful.

Another of my friend's photos, a closer look at the lattice walkway which cuts across the sculpture garden. I expect the lattice work is covered in vines during the spring and summer.

This bell is part of the sculpture garden (another of my friend's photos).

The "Spoonbridge and Cherry, photographed by my friend, is probably the most famous art piece at the Walker. Unfortunately, I don't think people are allowed to actually walk across the Spoonbridge, but you can walk quite close to it in the winter. During the spring and summer there is a moat surrounding the Spoonbridge, which makes it harder to get close. 

On the Walker website, it states that "water exits the cherry from both ends of the black cherry stem. Sculpture weighs approximately 7000 lbs"! I remember going to the Walker when the water was running, and saw how the cherry is continually washed over with water, making it shine at all times! They will have the water running again this spring and summer. 

I was lucky enough to notice that my own shadow could be caste upon the spoon! The Spoonbridge and Cherry sculpture rises high above my head, but the shadow made it look like I was of matching colossal size. The sculpture is at least 30 feet tall (the description listed on the Walker website, cited above, only includes the dimensions, it doesn't state which one is the length VS height)!

This rooster is also much larger than it appears. I could easily ride on top of it with a group of friends and still have my feet dangling only part way across the wings!

There are several other sculptures in the sculpture garden which I hope to photograph when there is more light (I visited at sunset, so it quickly got too dark for my camera).

Below is a photo from the inside of the Walker, looking out toward the sculpture garden I think:

http://hga.com/work/walker-art-center

This is one of my own photos. Sorry that it's blurry! Sometimes I don't realize I've taken a blurry photo until I review them at home.

A large area of the museum is currently housing Cuban art, centered around the Cuban socialist revolution.

Here is a description of the artwork above:

This is just what it looks like, a man siting high atop the crowd on a lamppost to get the best view! Unfortunately I didn't take note of which parade or speaker he was watching, but it was part of the Cuban revolution exhibit. 

The painting below was in a different part of the museum, not a part the Cuban exhibit. I wish I had taken a more steady shot of this painting. The detail and crispness was amazing in person!

I think the painting below was part of the Cuban exhibit.

I was shocked when I read the description for the painting above:

I had thought that it (the painting above) was clearly a celebration of dance and art, or perhaps a symbol of socialism (doesn't it look like there might be a sickle and hammer in the middle there?).

The artwork below was not a part of the Cuban exhibit either. The whole piece is much larger than this, but I wanted to zoom in so you could see the detail. The entire piece looked was a maze-like blueprint of the floor of a factory ("planta" is Spanish for "factory" or "industrial plant").

The photos with frames below were part of a large display of photos on one wall of the museum, each one with a frame in it. I only read a couple of the descriptions so I don't know the whole story, but the photos were taken during an African American parade in which a group of women hopped off of the parade float and took photos with people from the crowd using these frames. I love the expressions on the policemens' faces, though most of the photos did not include policemen.

Another of my friends was willing to be a subject in this photo for me. I thought the phrase included was a clever statement, especially given the current political climate here in the US concerning immigration.

I will return to the Walker at some point and take more photos when they put up new exhibits. This museum is definitely worth a visit! I recommend spending a couple of hours here, more if you have an artist's heart and want to walk through the sculpture garden too.

Delicious ice cream, St. Paul ice castle, skating and sculpture (St. Paul and Minneapolis)

Milkjam (below) had some of the most delicious ice cream I've ever had (and I've tried a lot of different ice creams too, believe me!). It was more expensive than I expected, but so good! Milkjam Creamery is in Minneapolis, right next to a cafe which also had very good food, though a bit pricey as well.

This was the smallest cup size, and they give you one big scoop in it- about the size of a baseball. I found it to be plenty, though, since it was so full of flavor!

A couple of the flavors below: raspberry with chocolate chunk, chai tea (or was it black tea? Ironically it's the orange colored ice cream).

Below are photos from Lake of the Isles ice rink, also in Minneapolis. It's free to skate here, there's a warming house, and they even provide free skates that you can borrow, though you have to be careful which pair you use. Some of them are pretty old!

The spiky ice sculptures below were amazing to see: perfectly shaped,  with little tea candles inside. The tips of the the pyramids of ice were frosted ice, and the rest of the ice was clear and perfectly smooth. The pyramids were set in lines, but from farther away it looked like an ice maze. 

This ice sculpture garden was also free to look at. You can walk across the frozen lake to get to it, which was part of the fun for me!

I couldn't tell what all of the shiny broken ice pieces on the ground were from. There was still a clear path throughout the area, so it did seem like the broken ice pieces were part of the design. They certainly added to the sparkle!

Below is a photo of the ice castle in downtown St. Paul, right by the Landmark Center (which is also worth a visit!). The castle area was closed off while I was there, but I still managed to get some decent photos of it.

I'm not sure what they show on the TVs when they're on, but here were 4 or more TVs set into the ice walls!

These kids were cute, checking out the big ice blocks which make up the castle. These kids were no taller than 4 and a half feet, so that gives you an idea of the scale of the castle.

Someone had recently spread a bunch of birdseed on the ground close to the castle, so these happy pigeons were having a feast! They let me come within grabbing distance, but got scared when I reached out my had to pet them, so I let them be after that ;-)