Saturday and Sunday-Mother Nature

This past Saturday, I was inspired by my friend Kristi to take a trip to Tamarack Nature Center in White Bear Lake.  I hadn't been there for since at least my early 20's and it is something that was on my list of things I wanted to do this fall.  I went by myself and it was a beautiful sunny, but windy day.  It was a good feeling to just think and get away from everything. (even though you can still hear cars from the freeway)  Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day.  I apologize as some of them may be the same as Kristi's.  

I just loved this tree

Sunday was a gorgeous unseasonably warm day so Michael and I decided to take the motorcycle out for one of the last trips of the season.  We just went down to Vadnais Lake by our house but I am so glad we did as we were lucky to see some Trumpeter Swans stopping there during their migration process.  First of all, they are huge!  They are the largest native North American bird and weigh 20-35 lbs and some males can have a wingspan up to 10 feet but average is 7 feet.  The Candian Geese looked small next to these guys and the ducks in the picture below look tiny.  They were almost extinct at one point and there are current conservation efforts to save and maintain the species.  I was so fascinated by them, I ended up taking lots of pictures.