Shovel Point - Closer-In Shot of Colors

...and a little ways down the path, before reaching the actual Shovel Point formation, this closer-up shot was captured.  Fiddling with the color slider in Photoshop yielded the two renditions of the same photo below (same thing done in Seattle here, here and here):

 

Shovel Point - Medium View

...this more of a medium view taken from the same spot along the path featured in yesterday's post.  Like the contrast of the evergreens against the deciduous maple leaves.

Shovel Point - Wide View with Contrasting Colors

Of course the whole reason for going up to Minnesota when we did (late September/early October) was to capture the fall colors.  And though the colors hadn't yet reached their peak, our gracious hosts did everything they could to take us to places that would showcase the awesome beauty of their part of the country.  We were supremely thankful for this, and I did my best to justify their time and work with pictures on a macro-scale, such as the one above, and closer up such as those that will be featured in the next two posts.

Shovel Point - Reed Stand

Took a bit of work to get them to stand out against a very busy background, but managed to capture the essence of what these reeds looked like alongside our path.

Shovel Point - Reed

As stated yesterday I don't do much with landscapes, preferring to focus on the smaller objects at hand such as this reed-thing.  Because of its shape, even as the photo was snapped out in the field I knew this would end up being a bookmark:

 

Shovel Point - Landscape Over Water

One of the finest places in Minnesota - and among our favorite stops while there - is Tettegouche State Park.  Whoever heard of Tettegouche State Park?  Don't think it's a secret with Minnesotans but we'd never dreamed we'd go to a place called Tettegouche State Park.

Which goes to show that there is so much to see in this great nation!  During pre-pandemic times, as we were going through the hassle of international travel, Chenjean and I would occasionally look at each other and say Never again!  There are GREAT places to see and visit right on our home turf in the United States!  And this is a case in point.

Within the park we went on two hikes - the first to the spit of land after which that section is named, Shovel Point.  Looking at this landscape one can see why it is called Shovel Point.  Though not much of a landscape photographer, I did manage to pull a few stops to make this one a keeper.

Minneapolis - Neat Houseplant

I was very intrigued by this houseplant in the home of our hosts just outside of Minneapolis...never seen anything like it.  Even more interesting was the fact that every evening they closed up as if asleep, only to "awaken" again the following morning:

Minneapolis - Fallen Leaves

This was captured where we parked adjacent to the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, featuring the iconic multi-colored maple leaves of a typical fall in northern latitudes.  The pic was taken on October 2nd...just in time to grab the beginnings of the fall colors.  We learned that every year is different in terms of the timing, and even the intensity of the colors, as the trees prepare to shed their leaves.

Minneapolis - Downtown Panorama

Towards the end of our time in Minnesota we spent a couple of days in Minneapolis.  It's a very nice city but unfortunately it was raining on our designated day to go into town.  Still, we were able to explore enough to capture this 4-shot panorama, as well as the fall leaves featured in tomorrow's post.

Duluth - Harbor Boats

The last of what was captured in Duluth, with wider shot below.

What might they do with their boats when this all freezes over?  Winterizing is a survival chore in places like this, because the cold will definitely get you if it's not respected.

I had an uncle in Iowa that owned a miniature sports car, and every winter he had to prepare it by draining fluids here and there, then putting it up on blocks under a tarp.  And there it stayed until April or so.  Their brutal winters had a bright spot, however, providing unlimited freezer space; to keep meat he would simply set it out on the porch during those months.