Moose Sighting

We went back up to the Sax-Zim bog in Minnesota to look for birds when we came across these moose prints, while taking the picture of the prints Eric looked up and there was the moose!

Snow Birding

Eric tapped a few trees but it is too cold for them to flow.

tried to have a fire but the snow melted and put it out!

Lets go Birding!  so we went to Duluth Mn and the North Shore by Lake Superior for a short mid week break.

seen 3 new birds on Tuesday: snow buntings, boreal Chickadee and long tailed ducks.

boreal chickadee

did not get pics of the other two.

was looking for the Boreal Owl but found this one on the bridge in Duluth

hmmm  some kind of plastic owl..  don’t think we can count this one.

some  mallards and common golden eye ducks

while we were looking for birds in Two Harbors we seen some seals in the water!  wait we don’t have seals in Lake Superior must be surfer dudes!  sure enough, two of them surfing in the frigid water, air temp at 20 winds at 20 mph.

another surfer came just as we were leaving.  spent the night in Duluth, great places to eat and drink.  pool was filled with kids…  the hotel was booked full..  what the heck. spring break?

Duluth out our window in the morning.  temp 9 deg cold!

the ice breaker is out opening a path for the ships..

this guy has to love his job!

next to the:

found some brave people on fishing on the big lake.

this is the same water the surfer dudes were in yesterday,  they were back again today!

On to Gooseberry Falls for a bit more birding

a downey woodpecker                                   a red breasted nuthatch (new to us)

finally on to:

so beautiful.  we had a wonderful two days in Duluth area.  hope to go back again in a month or two..  too much to see and do!

First full day home

our day was not only filled with work..  we took a very nice sauna…

going into                                                           coming out of

 

it really helps with the sore muscles and removes toxins…

met up with family and friends for our weekly dinner.  they were actually happy to see us and we were genuinely happy to see them too!

I had the Walleye… it has been a long time              Eric had the sautéed chicken livers!

there is nothing like good walleye, Wisconsin blue cheese dressing on my salad and some Wisconsin beer shared with good friends.

We Made it Home!

It took us an extra day but we made it home on Wed at about 1:00.  of course the driveway was not plowed…

 

the ride home was pretty uneventful.  the roads were all clear and dry until we hit Long Lake Road then of course our drive way..  we managed to plow through without an issue.  took me about 2 hours to empty the RV while Eric got the house in working order then plowed the drive and the pad.

Its good to be home, already got 5 loads of laundry done!  time to relax, have a beer and watch a little TV.

Eric will begin tapping trees on Friday..

Staying put…

Well the snow is still falling and has been snowing since last night.  suppose to clear up tomorrow (Wed). 

good day to stay put..  pool, spa, lunch, nap, casino time, dinner…  a great vacation day.

Heading Home Day Five

Well that was our last night in the RV.  Winterized it before we left Osceola, Iowa.  the roads were clear, the rain/snow went further north last night so we are able to move along…..  hoping to make it to the Minnesota border… 

we made it to Northwood Iowa, just 5 miles from the Minnesota border.  calling for 6-12 inches of snow tonight and tomorrow.  Just our luck we found a Country Inn and Suites connected to a nice casino, large pool, fitness room, restaurants and a 2 room suite!  life can not be better.  we are anxious to get home but happy to be safe, warm, fed and entertained!

Heading Home Day Four

Although the traffic has been light there are a lot of vehicles with plates from Canada, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa.  Lots of people heading home to the snow and cold.  I can’t imagine they are all going to tap trees to make syrup!

this mornings temp was a cool 30 deg…  with the space heater and furnace we are able to keep the RV pretty comfortable. the one good thing about living in the RV is that it does not take very long to warm it up or cool it down!

Well I have heard from some people that Kansas is the most boring state! We had lots of wildlife around our campground, deer, turkey, birds fox.  today as we were driving we seen 3 different instances of coyotes.  two were alone and one was a pack.  we are assuming about 100 snow geese (could have been Ross’s goose), lots of hawks, the Flint Hills were beautiful and lakes with snow all around them and the water was open, (we don’t see that in NW Wisconsin, the snow melts well before the lakes open). I guess its all a matter of perception and expectations.  we seen another lone coyote in Missouri too!  the lakes and ponds are frozen by the time we get to Kansas City.

Stopped at Cracker Barrel for lunch along with about 200 other people.  they moved people pretty quickly.  food as usual was pretty good.

we were planning on staying the night in Missouri but our campground is closed, probably because of last weeks snow storm. So instead we continued to southern Iowa. a little bit closer to home!  The weather forecasters are calling for lots of snow in Northern Iowa and Southern Mn!  We kept driving until we got to Osceola:

Casino and RV Park and the RV park is open!  no water available but plowed out sites and electricity for $20!

Of course it cost more than $20 after we donate a few dollars…

Plan for tomorrow is to wait and see..