Here I am questioning my decision to walk across all this ice. Way in the background is my car.

This is the bridge I have to cross to get to my car.  Why am I more frightened coming back than going over the first time? Probably because I didn't read the warning signs over Beaver Creek. No beavers were spotted but I did smell a skunk.

Trumpeter swans and geese at Whitewater River.

One Saturday morning the dreaded feeling of boredom appeared. I really do not like to be bored. A road trip was the solution. A twelve hour road trip consisting of 425 miles. One half hour of the road trip was spent parked at a Kwik Trip because I was talking on the phone to family members in Italy.  I went to three state parks which I have never visited before: Beaver Creek State Park, Whitewater State Park, and John Latsch State Park. I really shouldn't count John Latsch State Park though. I entered it on impulse and promptly got stuck in the melting snow 15 feet into the driveway. I got myself unstuck and backed my car out onto Highway 61 and that was a thrilling moment if there ever was one! I saw eagles both bald and golden.  I saw swans and geese and ducks and crows and horned larks. I saw redtailed hawks and I think I saw a broadwing hawk but I'm not 100% sure of that. I talked to a couple on their first motorcycle excursion at the rest stop in La Crescent and I saw a snowmobile go by in the ditch near La Crosse.  La Crazy! I really enjoyed spending the day driving around the driftless region - the only part of our state that wasn't smushed flat by the glaciers. I love the hills and the valleys.  All that snow melting so quickly made me a little nervous though because I never knew what was around the next corner of the road. Sometimes the road was dry and sunny; sometimes wet and icy, and a few times slushy with melting snow. This part of the state gets the most rain and I worry about flash floods. Saturday was warm and sunny though with temperatures starting out in the 30's, raising to 40's and popping into the 50's before going down again. I also went to the International Festival of Owls in Houston, Minnesota. That was a hoot. People of all ages flocked to the event to have their faces painted, to dissect owl pellets, to see owls, and to participate in a hooting contest.My day was a success.  I was not bored at all.