You know it’s cold when you breathe in and your nostrils stick together.

So I am told.

And so I found out by actual experience.

We are now in Bayport, Minnesota and it’s currently -13.

Apparently not as cold as normal, the St. Croix River three streets away, hasn’t quite frozen over. Yet.

We arrived last night after a reasonably full day of travel, first to Denver then to Minneapolis/St. Paul.

I have never been to Denver, and still haven’t.

To be fair.

We flew in with one hour to spare between flights, only to sit on the tarmac for 45 minutes.

We intended to eat in Denver. Yes, at the airport. I hadn’t eaten all day and with ten minutes to spare before our next flight poor MoD had to contend with one very hangry wife. As it turned out, the luck of the Gods were with MoD. Beside our gate there just happened to be a little caravan with pizza. All boxed up and ready to be scoffed. Ok, inhaled. Nobody knows me here. I looked with lust upon MoD’s pizza.

He wasn’t forthcoming.

He clearly needs more training in the husband department.

Luck was also on our side; our flight hadn’t been cancelled, when a number of flights out of Denver were.

We had spent our first 24 hours in the USA in Carson City, Nevada with MoD’s ex mother and father-in-law. It wasn’t really even 24 hours. A quick visit. Enough time to have a chat, drive up to Virginia City and later to Reno for a lovely meal with some of the family who lived close. It was amazing to meet Jan’s daughter, son-in-law and grandson. People I had heard much about from MoD.

Their next door neighbour had a deer in their front yard. Apparently he must have jumped the fence and decided it was a good place to sleep for the night.

Of course, when we visit Jan and Harvey, we don’t come away empty handed.

A beautiful framed print will soon be displayed on the wall in the Tekapo ‘bach’ (that means holiday home for you Aussies). When it’s built. Build started this past Monday.

Harvey also gave me a book which his former boss had written. His first ever foray into writing. I took it with misgivings, first novel, probably fairly lame. It certainly wasn’t, I can’t put it down. If you get the opportunity to read ‘Epiphany, The Acolyte’ by Patrick Totman, I suggest you do. He is currently writing a follow up novel.

Anyway, we finally arrived fairly late into Bayport Minnesota and there were Mitch and Lori waiting, a full table laden with food, the wine ready to be poured.

It was a late night.

This morning, t’was perhaps a slow start, once again a fully laden breakfast table awaited us when we finally wandered upstairs – Lori really is a spectacular hostess.

During breakfast we had an audience.

Tiny Tim.

We fed him.

Across the back yard Tiny Tim’s other squirrel mates were followed by a gaggle of Turkeys.

We didn’t feed them.

And deer, of course.

They may have gotten a treat or two when we ventured out for a walk through the woods behind the house.

My latest adventure.

I had never experienced weather below -6.

Even in the snow fields in Victoria.

Here it was -13.

I thought I was prepared.

Long John’s, lambswool boot inserts, Lori’s snow boots, merino layers x3, winter hats x 2, merino gloves and my good ‘ole Macpac long black jacket.

I was not prepared.

Mitch had to lend me his scarf to wrap around my face.

My nostrils were sticking together on the in-breath.

It was not a pretty sight.

The northerly wind was brutal.

In the meantime, MoD, who insists on making the best of everything, anywhere, anytime, kept saying ‘This is not cold’……when it gets below 0 Fahrenheit then it’s cold’.

He may have got a slap or two.

Just the same I loved tramping through the fresh snow, looking at all the tracks, trying to determine what had been there.

I was wrong on every count.

What I thought were deer tracks were rabbits.

There appears to be a lot of rabbits around here.

I didn’t see a one.

Every so often we came across large circles of leaves.

That’s where the deer sleep.

Deer tracks also circle the house we discovered.

Everything is covered in white even though it is so far a fairly mild and disappointing winter for all.

The St. Croix River has not completely frozen over yet so we won’t be going ice fishing on this trip.

It’s fascinating to see the traffic just going about their normal business.

I expected everyone would have snow chains on their cars, but they don’t.

Salt and/or salt+sand is used to melt the ice but generally the roads are pretty clear to drive on.

I once got stuck in black ice in Ballarat and I will never forget how terrifying it was. But here it isn’t frightening. If it rains I guess that will change things.

Today we also ventured out to find a Starbucks. I didn’t mind a little snow hill to reach it. Well worth it for that Vente Single Shot Soy Latte.

It is an inside life right now which suits us fine, we needed a rest and relax and hang out with the USA fam. People who have just accepted me and loved me from the get go, a feeling well reciprocated.

In the next few days it will be all wedding.

Which is why we are here.

Where we get to spend more time with the rest of this wonderful family.

Not to mention a fabulous excuse to experience winter in Minnesota.