Walking in the woods

Chris and I are on a secret mission.  We have this winter before the snow begins to accumulate and in the spring up to our wedding to accomplish this task.  I can't tell you what it is right now... but I can share our journey!  It requires us to walk in the woods near water, and if we're going to walk in the woods we might as well bring McClane- and carry a big stick.

Poor Bella, has to stay home and entertain herself.  Something tells me she doesn't mind having the run of the place!

While we're out and about we might as well take some pictures of the beautiful and interesting things we come across. 

A first

I've never done this before.  It's 4:56 am and I'm about to try and hit some post-Thanksgiving sales.  (One more cup of coffee to go...)  I think I'm still drunk on gravy and stuffing...

Later..
It's 1:45 pm.  After two square meals, a shower and a nap I'm really ready to face the day!  Chris and I hit up Target at 6 am (two sets of queen sized 700 thread count sheets for the price of one) and then over to Lowes.  There we picked up a shop vac, two shelving units and a Christmas tree stand.
I did feel a little guilty this morning- I wish I could have gotten some of my Christmas shopping done!  Oh well, I've about a month left right?

The wild west.

This past weekend was the annual fall conference for the Minnesota Naturalists' Association. This year the it was held near Pipestone, MN which is in the far southwest corner of the state. For the most part this section of the state is incredibly flat and void of water.  It used to be a prairie pot hole region... now it's miles upon miles of agriculture and any water is tiled out of the fields. This area also has a ton of wind generators. (The bison in the second picture is not real, but they are native to this region.)

At Pipestone National Monument the landscape changes drastically.  For instance we found running water!  The second is that is the only place in the United States that Pipestone, or Catlinite, is found.  The pipes that are used in sacred Native American ceremonies are made from Pipestone.
It was a really neat place, it was so shocking to drive for hundreds of flat miles to suddenly stumble upon this ripple in the lanscape.  Very cool.