Captain George Gooding's Daughter, Amelia.

What a difference two months makes. Today, I ran an errand via my mountain bike (the fat bike with normal mountain bike tires on it). I took these photos roughly in the same spot by Lake Nokomis as in my February 14 Valentine's Day post.

You can tell that the ice is breaking up and that the snow is largely melted. The trees are still bare, but with these 50-60 degree temps, that won't last long. 

The February ride and the ride today are the only two times I've ridden around Lake Nokomis in many years. It is a highly underrated lake, but let's keep it a secret so all the crowds stay at Harriet and Calhoun. I am hopeful that this summer I'll get my act together and try out Sandcastle, the new restaurant at Lake Nokomis. A bit of trivia: Lake Nokomis, until 1910, was named Lake Amelia. (What is kind of funny is that there are about 100 websites indicating that Lake Amelia was named that in honor of Captain George Gooding's daughter, but none really say exactly who Gooding was, exactly. I think he was stationed near the fort early on in Minnesota history. I'll have to look in a *gasp* book!).

I'm 7 for 7 on the 30 days of biking in April, based on the fact that I've embraced the phrase "any distance counts." 

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MaggieMS150