Northern Minnesota

We took a 4 1/2 hour drive up to North Branch MN. Wow the scenery is so completely different from around here. You go from corn fields to maples and from flat lands to rolling hills. It is so beautiful up north! Chad & I have both agreed on many occasions that we want to retire somewhere in Northern Minnesota. (although I'd also like to travel to the warmer climates when the dead of winter happens here) Back to my photos... So the it rained all day Saturday and I captured this maple leaf with the green cast of the forest and the raindrops. One of my favorite and very simple photos. The rest of the photos are taken with my camera phone so the quality of them is not as good but you still can see the beauty of God's land. We went to a park in Taylor Falls where all the rocks have been carved out by the whirling power of the St. Croix River many many years ago. We have made plans to come back to this park in the fall. Can you even imagine what the fall foliage will be like..Oh my goodness it's like waiting for Christmas for me. It's amazing how the beauty of the land can excite me so much. I am truly at peace when I am in nature. Back to that maple leaf. When I was standing there taking the photo all I could hear was the silence of the forest and the gentle sounds of the rain falling. Oh what an amazingly calm sound. I hope that I have captured what I feel about nature in these photos. If not I will keep trying.