136: Presque Isle Lighthouse

(Presque Isle Lighthouse.)

As I was going through the photos from Monday morning’s jaunt around Presque Isle, it occurs to me that the sky was almost perfect.  I like the way the clouds almost match the snow and ice, with hints of blue showing between them.

I had planned to walk over to the lighthouse when we finished on the beach and ice dunes.  I wanted to be closer for some of the photos.  But it was so cold out there.  The wind was harsh and my face was starting to hurt so I ended up making a dash for the warmth of the car instead of getting more pictures.

We left Presque Isle, stopping at one or two more beaches along the way to look at more ice dunes.  Then we made our way to Oil Creek State Park which is about an hour’s drive south of Erie.

(Near the visitor’s center.  Oil Creek State Park.  Pennsylvania.)

The Oil Creek Valley in Pennsylvania is the site of the world’s first commercial oil well.  The state park has a variety of interpretive exhibits where you can learn about the early oil industry, oil boomtowns, oil wells, and transportation.  The park also has a lot of hiking trails some of which, in the winter, are used for cross-country skiing.

(The warming hut.  Oil Creek State Park.)

M and I had been to Oil Creek State Park several years ago.  We went in the fall to do some hiking.  I think that may have been before I got a digital camera as I can’t locate the photos on my computer.

I did not take photos of the skiing trails since I wasn’t sure what we would encounter along the way.  It’s a good thing I left the camera behind as I had a pretty good spill at the beginning.  Before we’d had a chance to warm up, we were going downhill and around a curve, something I wasn’t ready for so down I went.  It was my one and only fall on this outing.  We did the beginner’s loop first and then gave one of the intermediate trails a try.  All in all, we were out there for about an hour.

When we finished skiing we drove over to one of the park’s railway stations so we could make our way along the tracks to see the ice control dam.  I’ll be back with photos of that (and a miniature version of the Blue Wall) tomorrow.

Another blue-sky day, followed by another gray-sky day

The sun was with us once again yesterday.  It was nice to have two sunny days in a row.  We’ve had a weird combination of snow, sleet, and freezing rain today.  Messy.

(Yesterday’s view of the creek.)

While out walking yesterday I very much wished for a pair of snowshoes.  The trek through the crusty snow, very deep in spots, was difficult and it took me twice as long as usual to walk to the creek and back.

(Sun and shadows in the woods.)

Little things caught my attention yesterday.  A feather sitting on top of the snow:

And ice sculptures.  There were little ice sculptures everywhere.

(Wrapped in a leaf.)

(A small wave.)

(Ice bubbles.)

There were also some very cool icicles hanging about on the shed.

(An inside look.)

I took the camera with me today but didn’t get much in the way of nature shots since I ended up standing under the barn extension for a good deal of the time I was out there.  The snow, sleet, rain mixture was all rain until shortly after I came back inside when it turned to all snow.

(Waiting for spring.)

I got tired of watching the gray and the rain so I turned the camera on some of the objects sitting or hanging around under the extension to the barn.

(Sunshiny sledgehammer.)

And that, folks, is about it from the Bogs for today.  Thanks for visiting!

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