Why Everybody Loves Winona, a Blog

Yuk. Sorry Mother Nature, and flowers and plants and trees, but I hate it when it rains.

I know, I know. We need rain. Rain is good. But I can’t take my camera out in the rain and I’m itching to get out around Winona. This is the time of year when the forest floor starts to green up with all sorts of beautiful little flowers, when the goat prairie on Garvin Heights begins to wake from winter, when baby ducks by the dozen are paddling furiously behind mom all over Lake Park…. Aaaagghhhh – I need to take some PICTURES!

I probably have 10,000 pictures of Winona and the bluffs and valleys around it in my archives, so one could argue that maybe I have enough already. But here’s the thing: Winona is so rich with beautiful and interesting things that there is no such thing. I could literally spend all day, every day, walking around shooting the flora and fauna that the Mississippi River and bluffs provide. Unlike some of the places I’ve visited, Winona has an unprecedented amount of access to its natural beauty – it’s all there for the looking within five minutes of my house.

Prairie Island Road, a little arm that stretches out from the city along the river, is one of my favorites. Across the backwaters I can shoot amazing photographs as the sun sinks behind the bluffs, and almost right next to the road I can photograph blue herons and egrets so close I could hit them with a rock (which I would never do, because that would be wrong, wrong, wrong and my karma would be ruined forever). I especially love Prairie Island Road when a mist hangs over the river in the morning – it all takes on an ethereal feel as you watch ducks float silently by and the only sound is an occasional fish splashing somewhere. And I’ll be heading out to the Lefty Hymes Deer Park on Prairie Island Road soon to see where does have hidden their new fawns in the grass, and I love to sit at Prairie Island Park and watch eagles compete with fishermen for a fresh catch from the rolling water of the dam… sigh. It’s beautiful.

Usually I only post a picture or two with my blog posts, but today I’m going to post more. AND – I’m going to give one of them away. I was visiting with Jade at Jade’s Community Acupuncture (another aaaaawesome thing in Winona) last week and telling her I felt lonely because I know people are reading the blog but not commenting. She, or maybe it was her front desk helper, said maybe I need to give something away to draw people out of their shells. I love this idea.

So here is how it’s going to work. You post and tell me something you like about Winona. If you’ve never been here, tell me something you would love to see. Next Wednesday I’ll take each of those posts and drop them in a hat. Whoever I pull out can pick an 8×10 of whichever picture they like. I’ll post the user name of the winner, then you’re going to have to contact me so I can hook you up. Sound fun? Let’s see how it goes. I’m excited. Almost as excited as I am for the forecast of 70 and sunny Saturday!