Monthly Archives: November 2025

Fall 2025

We had an incredibly beautiful fall. Like, this is probably the most amazing fall I’ve had in Minnesota. It reminded me a lot of fall in the black hills. Here is why:

– complete lack of wind

– lower humidity 

– no rain

– stayed warm 

Minnesota is a very windy place. The fall color season is usually pretty short because the wind usually rips the leaves off the trees in short order. One of the photos has a boat driving up the Mississippi on a completely still day – it is a very rare day for there to be zero waves / ripples in the Mississippi. 

Minnesota is a very cold place. We have had years with a hard frost starting in early October and all the leaves, regardless of color, turn brown and fall off the trees. 

Minnesota is a stupidly humid place. All these freaking lakes make it very humid which means the cold is really cold unless a person is wearing moisture blocking clothes / gear. 

It was awesome driving around the cities with my windows down around November 20th, the warm weather had been incredible. 

Alas, it couldn’t keep up. Frost and snow have started and true late fall / early winter has started. 

I made sure to enjoy as much of the beautiful weather as possible. It was wild to see our raspberries fruiting until mid-November, our clematis flowering until early / mid November, and our grapes mature / fruit so late into the year. I’m not complaining, it was beautiful and delicious :). 

This year we also had the most amazing northern lights I’ve seen. The northern lights were so bright we could see them from our driveway in the core / center of the twin cities metro. It was truly stunning.

Outside of the weather, we enjoyed a lot of fun fall activities like cider making and a Day of the Dead celebration. Fall events are the best events – the celebrations and traditions different cultures have made for the fall are absolutely the best because of the color, the sounds, the smells, and, the tastes. The twin cities is a fabulous place to experience allllllll the different traditions often for free or very low cost. 

All in all, it was an amazing fall. I hope our falls continue to be so beautiful. It made Minnesota be that much more tolerable 🙂

Enjoy the photos!

Chris W.  

SoDak – Fall 2025

We made an impromptu trip to South Dakota and had an amazing time. The company was great, the weather was great, and, the scenery was great.

We actually drove this time, first time in a very long time, and it turned out wonderful. Usually, the drive is horrifically boring and extremely long. We broke up the trip a little and we had amazing scenery along the way – many rainbows and we actually spent a little time in the badlands! We also had a chance to stop at some of my favorite places like the Blue Line Truck Stop in Worthington, MN to get some of their amazing baked treats like Elephant Ears; there are places I’ve found and visited over the years that I was able to share on this trip – it was a lot of fun!

The government shutdown meant no one was collecting fees for the park and no rangers were out. Despite this, people were still being respectful and courteous in the park. 

While I don’t ever want to drive to Rapid City from the twin cities again, I am glad this trip went the way it did!

Enjoy the photos!

Chris W.