The Truth About Minnesota Winters

This week in Minnesota, we got a blizzard. The kind of blizzard that shut down the entire East coast a few weeks ago. But we didn’t even get a day off school. You might think this is normal for Minnesotans. That “Minensota is always snowy”, “it’s always cold in Minnesota”, or even that “Minnesota is a winter tundra all year long!”. Yes, I’ve heard it all, and it’s far from the truth. We do, in fact, have warm summers in Minnesota, and this February blizzard is actually our first blizzard of the season

The snow started Tuesday at noon, and by dusk, driveways had been shoveled repeatedly, rush hour traffic was moving a mere 15 mph on the highway, and kids were coming inside with cold cheeks and icy fingers, eager for the warmth of a steaming cup of hot chocolate

Yellowstone Winter Scenery

Yellowstone National Park is often considered a summer destination. I have never visited in the summer, but I’ve heard it’s beautiful. However, winter in Yellowstone, a very under-rated adventure, is stunning as well. We just got back from a 10-day trip to Montana, where we spent a few days visiting Yellowstone to go cross-country skiing and animal watching. In this post, I want to focus solely on the scenery (the animals will come later). The beautiful mountains covered in snow, the fresh flocking on the trees, the powdery snow blowing about like fog, the vast winter landscapes stretching on and on and on.

Our first day in Yellowstone, we went cross-country skiing. The snow was perfect; my dad even claimed that this trail had the best snow conditions we would ever ski on. I don’t

Heading West

Saturday morning, my family and I packed up the car and embarked the a two day drive from Minnesota to Montana to spend Christmas in the mountains. Back in Minnesota, we haven’t gotten much snow this year, or least not in the part I’m from. We had about a week of snow early in December before it all melted and left us with spring-like days. Saturday, there wasn’t a single patch of snow and the grass was closer to green than it was to brown. Pretty surprising considering Minnesota’s stereotypes isn’t it?

As we drove West, we were ecstatic to see the little bits of snow in North Dakota and finally the thick blankets of snow that covered Montana’s land. The snow in Montana was