More Minnesota Pictures

Last week I spent the better part of the week in Minnesota again. It didn't rain and it didn't snow, really the weather was OK for MN in November. Here's a few shots I took over the course of four days.
I had a site walk first thing Monday morning, and although it was quite sunny that morning the wind definitely had a bite to it. This is a picture I took of a pine-lined road to the east of the tower site as part of the visual assessment I often do. The trees blocked the wind and there was a very nice pine scent in the air.
At the next site I encountered a few wooded wetlands, which are always a concern as we need to avoid any impacts to these areas. I'm not familiar with this specific plant, but it was growing all over the place.
As fall progresses toward winter the days get shorter and the effective time for a site walk gets compressed. My last site on Monday was a race against the sun, as I rushed to take photos while I still had light. Normally I'm one to appreciate a sunset, but not so much when I'm still in the woods staking out a site.
It was a sunny but frosty morning on Tuesday, where I got to jump a barbed wire fence and avoid the cow flop while photographing this site.
I then had a long drive north to the next site, and on the way I passed a tower I'd designed last year that was constructed earlier this year.
The second to last site that day was on a big wooded parcel way out in the sticks. The owners had put in a few trails and had this sweet deer, I mean "beer" stand out there. Following this site I made my way back toward Duluth. We had one last site to try to fit in, but we lost our race against the sun and it was pitch black by the time we arrived. We still staked out the rough location for the surveyors, but I didn't even attempt to take any photos. Though I'd planned on heading home that night, it was way too late to make the full seven hour drive, so I split the difference and stayed in Rice Lake, finishing the drive Wednesday morning. I was pretty wiped out and suffering from a strange affliction with my jaw, but all in all it wasn't a bad trip. This week I'm heading up for a short one or two-day jaunt to northern WI and possibly Rochester.