Triathlon: Maggie Style

This weekend, we went camping at Scenic State Park (that's the official name, as well as an apt adjective) in north central Minnesota. We drove up Friday afternoon, set up camp, and walked along a ridge which once was a valley of running water during the glacial era. Apparently, the huge glacier dropped a bunch of rocks and silt into the valley and now it is a peninsular ridge. I think I need a video reenactment to fully appreciate the process.

Saturday was perfect - I rode on the more-rolling-than-Minneapolis country roads, got back to camp and went canoeing with Dan, and then jumped in the lake in my gross biking/canoeing clothes. That's my kind of triathlon: biking and water sports with no actual competition. 

Today, I took my coffee by the water, hoping to see the three otters and the eight loons that I saw yesterday. I just saw a couple of loons, which was still a super great way to start the day. 

Friday views of the lake. The once-a-valley-now-a-ridge
thing is on the right in the top photo. The bottom photo was
from the peninsula.

Piper on the ridge, Piper too tired to figure out
her bed, and Piper not wanting me to enjoy coffee
by the water. She wanted to explore the shore.
This poor old gal was a trooper, especially
considering that we really pushed her beyond
her current limits. 

Saturday night's storm rolling in.
I really appreciated our pop-up camper once it
started downpouring.

A couple of the loons, one of a ton of cute ground
squirrels. I didn't have my phone when I saw the
otters. And I couldn't snap photos of the fox
or deer I saw on my bike or the snake I saw swimming.

Scenic, right?

I prefer the carving to my round head in the
photo position. I had to share the photo of me,
though. My pink face blends in so nicely!
I listened to some good podcasts while riding;
glad I got a little bike speaker for Christmas.

I rode faster than I typically do and rode up some hills, although I'll need to do more to get ready for California. I'm a little nervous about my achy back and recurring slight uncomfortable spot on my seat, but I have six weeks to figure all that out.

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