A Day at the Arboretum

 

   Yesterday's weather report showed that it would be sunny and 60. There's only one thing to do in Minnesota when you see weather like this. Go outside. (Unless you have to work in which case you are stuck inside.)

   For us this means a trip to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, a favourite place of ours. We decided to invite our friends, Ellen and Mac, to come with us. We drove together, something we can do because we have all been fully vaccinated. We stopped at a grocery store to pick up provisions for picnic lunch. We put the food in a cooler and drove to the Arboretum.

   We were able to find a nice parking spot and took the cooler out. C and I had originally planned to eat in a shelter overlooking a field. There were tables there. However this meant we would have to carry the cooler there and then carry it all the way back to the car. This was going to take too much time. We found some tables on a terrace on one end of the old building. It overlooked a pond. It was sunny, no one was sitting in that area, trash and recycling bins were nearby and the view was lovely. It was a perfect place to lunch.

   We enjoyed our meal, packed the cooler back into the trunk of the car and set out. There were a few things blooming. Ellen's favourite flower hyacinth was blooming. She told me it had a wonderful scent. I crouched down near a few flowers to smell them. The did smell nice. There were other little blue flowers growing in the grass and several other places. We learned later that they are squill and are among the first flowers to bloom in the spring.

   Some people would say that there isn't much to see at the Arb in the early spring. Not much is blooming and the trees are just starting to show leaves. The tulip beds have been planted and there are clearly buds, but nothing is opened. It's not the prettiest of seasons. However the potential is all around. Things are getting greener. Sprouts are pushing up through the earth. All that is needed is rain and warm sun to unleash leaves and flowers in the colourful show that is spring in Minnesota.

   We saw some animal life as we walked. Wild turkeys were strolling around. I never noticed that their body feathers have an iridescent colours as they passed. Canadian geese were eating while other geese stood guard. Turtles were sunning themselves on logs in the pond.

  We had a good time walking and talking. Several hours later we were all tired and ready to go home. I bought Ellen and Mac cloth holsters to carry a bottle of water in. C and I each have one. We like to use them whenever we are hiking or walking. We dropped them off grateful that we can do things like this again.