New Introductions. The trip to and from Rice Lake, WI

“Each friend represents a world in us, a world not born until they arrive,
and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born”

-Anais Nin

An early morning rise to catch the light as the sun peaks its head over the horizon… Or was it?  An early rise yes, but to our surprise we saw a thick blanket of white haze blocking the suns rays.   We were not disappointed by this surprise however, and ventured out in search of a place to capture the morning fog.

Here is the plan- leave Red Wing, make our way to Isanti, then off to our destination…  Rice Lake, WI to meet family.  A first introduction in meeting the people who have taken Dan underneath their wings and welcomed him in as family.  Getting ready for this trip was easy… Shower, make-up, hair (my daily hair straightening ritual), getting dressed and running out the door.  I was ready to meet these people who Dan cares so much for.   Oh, did I mention fog in the first paragraph?  Does anyone know what moisture does to naturally curly hair?  I am usually not so worried about my appearance but I was meeting new people and didn’t want to give the impression of a wild wildebeest.

We found this cute farmstead that is for sale on Hwy 50 just past Meisville, MN.  We pulled into the property and retrieved our gear from the car.  As I looked up, Dan had pulled out two tri-pods both with a ball head… TWO? I had always admired the tri-pod that Dan had so on this day, he surprised me with a new Vanguard Alta Pro tripod with a ball head.  I love the versatility of this tri-pod!  Damn, I’m a lucky girl 🙂

An hour later, we packed up the camera gear and got into the car.  My hair is no longer straight, and both of our pants are wet and dirty from the knees down.  I just smiled as we both didn’t think about bringing a change of cloths.  We headed north and made our way to Isanti to meet with some life-long friends of mine (Kris, Karen, Johnny, Reid and Peyton)… An introduction of sorts for Dan.  These friends, I call family as they have been there for me through happy and sad; Damn, I’m a lucky girl 🙂  Tee-He– As luck would have it, Karen is the same size as me… A change out of my dirty cloths and I was good to go.

Meeting Dan’s friends and family was truly a blessing.  Such exceptional people and I enjoyed every minute of the time spend with them.  Thanks Connie and Kevin for the warm welcome.

One of my favorite stories from this trip included ” 1117 The Swan”.  As we were traveling down a country road, our eyes locked on a small pond with swans.  I heard a “hang on” while the car quickly turned on a dirt road.  We crept up to these beautiful birds and situated ourselves between the pond and two houses.  There we stayed, snapping away and catching the gracefulness of these beautiful birds.  I think we noticed at the same time that something was wrong.  The swans weren’t moving normally and had a yellow-greenish staining at the base of the body where it met the water.  As we zoomed in a little closer, we saw it… Can you see what we saw?  We looked at each other and laughed then wondered if anyone from the two neighboring houses saw us snapping away at the swans.  If they did, I’m sure they got a good laugh as well.

The trip to and from Rice Lake, WI was filled with many memories some that I have etched in my mind, while others were captured in pixels.  I hope you enjoy this trip as much as I did!