Christmas Eve will find me
Where the love light gleams
I’ll be home for Christmas
If only in my dreams
-kent

Today we wait in anticipation of another winter storm.  The third in just a few days.  Lest you begin to believe this is common Wisconsin weather, let me say it certainly is not.  Wisconsin is located on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan and rarely subject to lake effect snows.  Southern Wisconsin is certainly too distant from our Lake Superior coast to be effected by it’s heavy coastal snows.  No, as a matter of fact we just happen to be in the perfect location for the jet stream to carry west coast and occasionally gulf of Mexico moisture up our way to mix with the cold Canadian air that regulary dips over our little spot on the planet.

Yesterday I took a drive and thought I’d share a few images from winter in our part of the world.

Devil’s Lake State Park

Notice the lower ridge going from the left to meet the bigger hill to the right. This “alluvial dam”  was created when the glaciers receded some 10,000 years ago.  It blocked an ancient river,that once ran through this valley leaving behind the lake that I now paddle.

Merrimac Ferry

Most of the year a fee car ferry crosses this section of Lake Wisconsin which is formed by a dam further to the south and west.  At some point each year the lake freezes over and the ferry is put up for winter.  Residents then must add quite a few miles to their daily drive if they need to head south from here.

Ice Cream Shop

This little Ice Cream shop thrives off of the summer ferry passengers.  It is closed up for the winter. . . obviously!

County Roads

When we think about all the money it takes to run a community, county or nation for that matter it’s easy to over look the miles of roadways that are plowed after every snowfall.  It’s being reported that in our area the snow removal budgets are already gone which does not bode well for the rest of the season.

Baraboo River

Most of the season I can paddle this little river.  Now of course sections are iced over and you can no longer slip your way round each little island of ice.  Paddling the river will again have to wait until spring when at times (as we found out this year) our little river can become a raging torrent.

Devil’s Head Ski Resort

We live in a popular mid-west skiing destination with 3 large ski resorts.  That is often quite a surprise to people out west who have little respect for our baby mountains.  Still, millions of dollars each year come pouring into our economy as folks from Chicago-land visit Wisconsin to ski.

Horse Shoes

It’s not exactly “Marlboro Country” but there certainly do seem to be a lot of horses & cattle about.  Now they have all become big and fuzzy under their winter coats.

Wisconsin is a pretty cool place to be actually.  Lots of parks, miles of coastline, hundreds of little lakes, mountain bike trails, big-a*s tourist traps, lots of wildlife and always something to do year around. Still, I have to say. . regardless of the winter beauty, I’m getting really tired of winter.

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