Photo of Pewit's Nest, courtesy of Rachel Roberts
Many people begin planning their gardens this time of year. All the gardening magazines feature design plans and advertisements to "buy your heirloom tomato seeds now!"... these are the things that help us "northerners" keep our sanity.
By focusing on the future (summer) we can escape our current reality (winter). And surprisingly this works! Last year I measured out our garden space (in the snow) and determined what materials I would need to create a raised garden bed. I drew out a "map" of which vegetables would go where and by early spring I was ready to go! We had the best garden ever and it distracted me from a very harsh winter.
Today is the midpoint of winter and I'm starting to get a bit stir crazy. I miss hiking long distances with Charlie and hearing the rustle of leaves on the trees. Trails with packed snow have turned icy and the snow is too deep on untraveled trails to go very far.
Charlie and I have become resigned to neighborhood walks and very short hikes lately. Nothing too inspiring.
But because we're halfway through with winter, there's light at the end of the tunnel. Days are getting noticeably longer - I get to enjoy a few minutes of sunset on my way home from work now. It's a good time to start making plans for our hiking/camping/road trip excursions this year.
And last night, inspiration struck!
This year, we're going to visit Wisconsin's beautiful waterfalls. Wisconsin has over 62 waterfalls and most of them are not too far from where I live.
It's been amazing to discover so much beauty so close to home over the past 2 years, but there's so much more to see! At times I've been embarrassed that it's taken me so long to get out and explore and the fact that I have not had the chance to visit any of our state's waterfalls is just shameful!
Now the fun part begins... researching websites and blogs, consulting maps and penciling in dates on my calendar. I know I won't have time to see everything on my list this year, but I'll have plenty of adventures to choose from.
What adventures are you planning for this year?
Photo of Pewit's Nest, courtesy of Rachel Roberts