![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(Click any picture for a larger version.)
When I left New Jersey, it looked more or less like this:
So it's not like I wasn't used to snow or cold weather. And I did come more or less prepared for their typical weather. The week before I went there, the high temperatures were usually around 8 degrees, with the nighttime lows around 15 below. (While I was there, someone told me that they'd had a day a few weeks back where the wind chill was 30 below in the morning. Instead of a snow day, school was kept closed on account of the cold. Not for the day, mind you. For two hours.)
So, really, I wasn't too surprised when I saw the Wisconsin River was frozen solid:
Fortunately, it was unseasonably warm the week I was there. Nearly got back up to the freezing point a couple of times. I barely had to zip up my jacket. The thing is that outside the cities, Minnesota is a lot of open farmland. And, off the highways, things aren't so quick to get plowed out. (An upside to New Jersey's population density is that even my little side street in the suburbs gets plowed promptly in the morning. The same person who told me about the delayed opening at school told me that the snowplows don't typically get to her town for three days.) Even though it hadn't snowed in a while, everything outside the city was coated in white.
Mind you, that didn't stop the farmers from leaving some of the larger farm animals outside. A few horses, but also several small herds of cows.
Soft serve, anyone?
Oh, and you know what this is?
That boat may give you a clue.
That there is the Mississippi River. Specifically, Lake Pepin. Mom and I went canoeing there a few years back. At this very spot. This time? Mom walked out, more than knee deep in snow, over criss-crossed tracks, just so she could stand on the river. Because underneath that snow was enough ice to not just hold her weight, but clearly that of several snowmobiles. Mind you, this is the Mississippi River we're talking about. The biggest river in the country. And at a point where it runs wide and deep enough to be considered a lake.
So, yeah. Everything was buried in the snow. But that didn't mean there weren't interesting things to see.
In a little town on the way back from the river, we found a store selling "calving minerals."
We asked about them inside. The cashier didn't know. She said she thought they were minerals to give to newborn calves. Mom thought they were minerals to aid in the birthing process. We looked it up when we got home. I guessed right. They're prenatal vitamins for cows.
The store had all sorts of interesting stuff, though. From jewelery to toy tractors to four foot tall doggie chews to winter gear for humans to suet bricks for bird feeders to squirrel feeders to... a deer brick?
Across the street was a building which, by its name, shape, and location, seemed to have been converted from a train station.
"Liquor Depot."
But it wasn't all liquor stores and calving minerals. We also toured a sculpture garden. Which, yes, was open. And yes, had some shoveled paths. For some reason, it also had what appeared to be a rabbit jumping over the liberty bell.
Oh, and a conservatory. The tropical plants inside had an unusual view.
Speaking of unusual views... Hey, look! A monkey!
Also in the conservatory:
Can you guess what that is?
It's a giant glass fish in a very small fountain.
Can you guess why there's a giant glass fish in a small fountain?
I'll give you a hint. The specific type of fish is a carp.
Can you guess now?
I'll be shocked if more than one of you gets it.
The answer? Is in another picture.
Never expected to find that in the middle of Minnesota. (Laugh with me, Julie. You're the only one who will.)
You know what else we saw in Minnesota? A zoo! Which, yes, was also open in the winter.
On those branches? Snow monkeys. Here, let me give you a better view.
"See no evil..."
The zoo had a good variety of other animals, including a pair of wolverines, a very playful otter, a tiger, a coyote, and more. Most of them perfectly happy to be living in the snow (so long as they got regular meals out of it). Oh yeah, and a regular fairy tale.
That's a mama bear, a papa bear, and a baby bear! All huddled up together for the winter. (Not technically hibernating, according to the sign, because it is possible to wake them up. This did not stop Mom from making noises at them. Which I'm pretty sure she wouldn't have done if not for the thick glass...)
Not all the animals were outdoors, of course. There was an extensive tropical section which had, among other animals, a very cute bunch of ring-tailed lemurs.
There was also a gorgeous aquarium. Inside, I was very pleasantly surprised to find a tank with the sea horse's ultra-rare cousins, sea dragons.
The pictures don't really do them justice. They're amazing to see live.
One thing I was less pleased to find? This ad in a hotel men's room:
The company rents out a variety of vehicles - cars, trucks, and even buses. That part made perfect sense. And I suppose their tagline "Why fight it? Rent it!" could make some semblance of sense (even though I'm not sure what, exactly, one is fighting if one does not rent a moving van).
However, there's one major element of the ad which doesn't go with the theme of renting trucks. Can you spot it? It's kind of subtle.
Yes, right next to the line "Why fight it? Rent it!" is a scantily-clad woman with giant fake boobs. (Positioned at eye level in front of a urinal. I pity the model.) Right. Is there some hidden meaning here? What do they really have for rent? Maybe it's a combo service for guys who have just gotten thrown out of the house by their exes. Show her you're totally over it! Get a moving van and an *ahem* escort in one stop!
Anyway, that was Minnesota. (Leaving out the bits that took place in the doctor's office.) As I mentioned before, we had some trouble getting home because a large snowstorm dumped another few feet of snow on the ground back home. Our driveway is a canyon. In New York?
The cars are not only buried in snow, they've been plowed in. Why did we leave Minnesota?
When I left New Jersey, it looked more or less like this:
So it's not like I wasn't used to snow or cold weather. And I did come more or less prepared for their typical weather. The week before I went there, the high temperatures were usually around 8 degrees, with the nighttime lows around 15 below. (While I was there, someone told me that they'd had a day a few weeks back where the wind chill was 30 below in the morning. Instead of a snow day, school was kept closed on account of the cold. Not for the day, mind you. For two hours.)
So, really, I wasn't too surprised when I saw the Wisconsin River was frozen solid:
Fortunately, it was unseasonably warm the week I was there. Nearly got back up to the freezing point a couple of times. I barely had to zip up my jacket. The thing is that outside the cities, Minnesota is a lot of open farmland. And, off the highways, things aren't so quick to get plowed out. (An upside to New Jersey's population density is that even my little side street in the suburbs gets plowed promptly in the morning. The same person who told me about the delayed opening at school told me that the snowplows don't typically get to her town for three days.) Even though it hadn't snowed in a while, everything outside the city was coated in white.
Mind you, that didn't stop the farmers from leaving some of the larger farm animals outside. A few horses, but also several small herds of cows.
Soft serve, anyone?
Oh, and you know what this is?
That boat may give you a clue.
That there is the Mississippi River. Specifically, Lake Pepin. Mom and I went canoeing there a few years back. At this very spot. This time? Mom walked out, more than knee deep in snow, over criss-crossed tracks, just so she could stand on the river. Because underneath that snow was enough ice to not just hold her weight, but clearly that of several snowmobiles. Mind you, this is the Mississippi River we're talking about. The biggest river in the country. And at a point where it runs wide and deep enough to be considered a lake.
So, yeah. Everything was buried in the snow. But that didn't mean there weren't interesting things to see.
In a little town on the way back from the river, we found a store selling "calving minerals."
We asked about them inside. The cashier didn't know. She said she thought they were minerals to give to newborn calves. Mom thought they were minerals to aid in the birthing process. We looked it up when we got home. I guessed right. They're prenatal vitamins for cows.
The store had all sorts of interesting stuff, though. From jewelery to toy tractors to four foot tall doggie chews to winter gear for humans to suet bricks for bird feeders to squirrel feeders to... a deer brick?
Across the street was a building which, by its name, shape, and location, seemed to have been converted from a train station.
"Liquor Depot."
But it wasn't all liquor stores and calving minerals. We also toured a sculpture garden. Which, yes, was open. And yes, had some shoveled paths. For some reason, it also had what appeared to be a rabbit jumping over the liberty bell.
Oh, and a conservatory. The tropical plants inside had an unusual view.
Speaking of unusual views... Hey, look! A monkey!
Also in the conservatory:
Can you guess what that is?
It's a giant glass fish in a very small fountain.
Can you guess why there's a giant glass fish in a small fountain?
I'll give you a hint. The specific type of fish is a carp.
Can you guess now?
I'll be shocked if more than one of you gets it.
The answer? Is in another picture.
Never expected to find that in the middle of Minnesota. (Laugh with me, Julie. You're the only one who will.)
You know what else we saw in Minnesota? A zoo! Which, yes, was also open in the winter.
On those branches? Snow monkeys. Here, let me give you a better view.
"See no evil..."
The zoo had a good variety of other animals, including a pair of wolverines, a very playful otter, a tiger, a coyote, and more. Most of them perfectly happy to be living in the snow (so long as they got regular meals out of it). Oh yeah, and a regular fairy tale.
That's a mama bear, a papa bear, and a baby bear! All huddled up together for the winter. (Not technically hibernating, according to the sign, because it is possible to wake them up. This did not stop Mom from making noises at them. Which I'm pretty sure she wouldn't have done if not for the thick glass...)
Not all the animals were outdoors, of course. There was an extensive tropical section which had, among other animals, a very cute bunch of ring-tailed lemurs.
There was also a gorgeous aquarium. Inside, I was very pleasantly surprised to find a tank with the sea horse's ultra-rare cousins, sea dragons.
The pictures don't really do them justice. They're amazing to see live.
One thing I was less pleased to find? This ad in a hotel men's room:
The company rents out a variety of vehicles - cars, trucks, and even buses. That part made perfect sense. And I suppose their tagline "Why fight it? Rent it!" could make some semblance of sense (even though I'm not sure what, exactly, one is fighting if one does not rent a moving van).
However, there's one major element of the ad which doesn't go with the theme of renting trucks. Can you spot it? It's kind of subtle.
Yes, right next to the line "Why fight it? Rent it!" is a scantily-clad woman with giant fake boobs. (Positioned at eye level in front of a urinal. I pity the model.) Right. Is there some hidden meaning here? What do they really have for rent? Maybe it's a combo service for guys who have just gotten thrown out of the house by their exes. Show her you're totally over it! Get a moving van and an *ahem* escort in one stop!
Anyway, that was Minnesota. (Leaving out the bits that took place in the doctor's office.) As I mentioned before, we had some trouble getting home because a large snowstorm dumped another few feet of snow on the ground back home. Our driveway is a canyon. In New York?
The cars are not only buried in snow, they've been plowed in. Why did we leave Minnesota?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
I am mindblown by the rivers. I've never in my life seen such big rivers, possibly not even in photos. And to be all frozen, wow!
The animals are also lovely! I'd never heard of sea dragons. They look majestic. (And weird, as though plants are growing on them.)
As for the scantily clad woman... hah. :p I think the idea is that, if something is addressed to men, a scantily clad woman can only help sell it. Whatever it is.
From:
no subject
Sea dragons are awesome. They're ultra-rare. Native to the waters near New Zealand, IIRC. As mentioned, they're related to seahorses. But they've evolved to look like they are plants. At least, one of the two species has. The other one just looks... fantastic. It's a sort of iridescent purple and green, and it really looks like, well... a sea dragon.
Yes, that does seem to be the idea. It's just that the words "Why fight it? Rent it!" take on a whole new meaning when pictured next to a woman like that. Less like they're renting trucks and more like... something that rhymes with trucks.