No not me. Southeastern Minnesota is part of the driftless area geographically. The area also includes southwestern Wisconsin and bordering states Illinois and Iowa. Due to the Lake Superior and Lake Michigan lowlands, geologists believe glaciers were deflected from this area thus leaving the random deposits of old and new rock and creating a terrain of isolated hills scattered across flat river beds. It's a unique landscape that really has to be seen to be understood.
What brings me to this area is the International owl festival held in Houston, MN population 983. The Illinois Raptor Center brought several owls who they use for education programs--a barred, a great horned, and a a snowy owl. The barred owl nests in cavities in dead trees and is one of over a thousand species who use dead trees as homes. That's a lot of reasons to leave old trees as is as long as they are not a safety hazard. I have left quite a few in my yard and when I get home, I'm going to see if anyone besides the pileated wood peckers have taken advatantage.
On the other hand the great horned owl will not build a nest and will pretty much drop its eggs anywhere. The biggest threat to their survival is humans who kill them because they will kill and eat just about anything. Snowy owls nest on the ground in the tundra. There are sometimes "eruptions" of snowy owls in the Chicago area but they only raise their babies up north.
After a pulled pork sandwich from a food truck, it was off to Winona and the Maritime Museum, which has an eclectic collection that includes some famous artists. They had a special exhibit of porcelain by a Japanese artist which were quite interesting and quite a few artifacts from Lord Nelson and his maritime battles.
The girl at the desk at the museum recommended the ice park as an attraction. The trailhead was not well marked and the trail was quite icy and slushy, so I was glad I had invested in good quality crampons earlier this year. Silly me, assumed it was ice sculptures but when I got to the ice park it was one of four ice parks in the US for cloning and repelling.
I then hiked across to the sugar loaf rock outcropping from where there was a panoramic view of Winona.
After a good climb, an adult beverage can be a welcome reward. I had a flight at Island brewing company; however, it was an underwhelming experience both the service and the beers. From there it was off to the food co op to pick up some take out that was lighter and healthier than lunch, so I could get back to Buddha. She must have gotten bored during the day because she got into the trash. It's a good thing she is so adorable. She enjoyed a short walk around the farm where we are staying.
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