Weather and Ice

A week ago we were supposed to get a blizzard.  It turned out that the wind blew so hard it kept the snow to the south of us (well, that may not be the technical, scientific explanation, but it a few words, that’s what happened).  The wind howled right from the northeast all day Tuesday and fiercely all through the night, and it was still blowing Wednesday when I dropped The Banana off at preschool, so I took a little trip over to the beach, where the waves were really quite amazing still.  They must have been splashing up onto the rocks and spraying at least 20 or 30 feet in the air.  It’s hard to capture in a picture, but for perspective, those two rocks stacked on top of each other in the first picture are a foot or two taller than Dr. Peds.  The Lake was rolling.

Last Saturday, when Grandma Kathy was visiting, we decided to explore a new beach just a little up the North Shore.  It is supposed to be a particularly great place to wave watch, and although it wasn’t a particularly wavy day on Saturday, the waves were still nicely rolling in, which has prompted me to remember to go up there the next time it is storming.  What was perhaps even better than the medium small waves rolling in was the residue of the windsorm earlier in the week.  The ice formations were really neat.  Mr. SP and Dr. Peds have a lot of fun cracking ice off rocks and throwing it into the water and watching it smash apart.  Even Grandma got into the ice throwing.  We explored a bit more and found a little canyon where the water came splashing into a crevice and created the most crystaline ice jewels hanging onto the walls of the cliff.  As Grandma put it, “they sparkled like diamonds.”  It was fun to look down and watch the waves wash and splash onto the rocks below.

We had a little snack in the car, and then planned to drive back to Duluth to walk around down in Canal Park where the lift bridge is, but when we got down there, we discovered the most amazing frozen wave of ice, two or three stories high, all along the Minnesota Point, so we zipped over the bridge and did some more exploring.  The wind was cold, so Squirmy didn’t last long, but it was so interesting.  We were far out on what would be water, walking on frozen waves, one of which was an ice mountain.  On the other side of the biggest pile of frozen spray were a couple of more layers of waves, and then real water waves rolling in, heaving enormous chunks and blocks of thick ice.  There were crevices to explore, and ice to slide down.  It was a great time in the fresh air.