Lakes, Rivers, and more Lakes: KORD to KMSP...

[P_7878 6,622]

If I were to ask you (no need to answer...🙂...), what would you prefer to visit, in the natural world, given a choice of Lakes, Rivers, Mountains, and Seas....what would you say...? And no combination is allowed...🙂...noting that Mountain, my top preference, goes smoothly with each of the others... (i.e. Mountain + (Lake, or, River, or Sea) indeed creates an irresistible attraction). I can vouch for it personally e.g., after my most recent virtual (and long-gone RW) visit to Sausalito...because I recall when I was driving along the heights of Sausalito, with the roads often meandering past (and very near) the private residences, I was looking down on the Bay below, and was saying to myself, this is indeed breathtaking...!

My state Illinois has "3,000" lakes (including the "big" Lake Michigan seen in my previous post). Alaska, the un-disputed leader, has 3,000,000 lakes. The next two states, Wisconsin and Minnesota, across which I'm flying today, are (#2 and #3) behind Alaska, with 15,000 and 12,000 lakes respectively (unofficial numbers from yours truly...), because whether a body of water is a lake, or a pond is somewhat subjective. For folks outside U.S., these two (upper midwest) states exhibit some of the coldest winter temperatures in the country. I recall a fascinating experience once (and once was enough for me...🙂...) with "Ice Fishing" in Wisconsin, at the invitation of a seasoned (and veteran) Ice Fisherman friend. Most of the lakes you see (sparkling blue) in my pictures below, probably get all frozen over by mid to end December...with the fish merrily swimming along below the ice with help from some interesting physics...🙂...The Lake Winnebago (Wisconsin's largest lake, see its pictures below) may have a (winter) ice depth of about 6-7 inches. I trusted my friend (somewhat cautiously) when he told me, "I would need about 4 inches of ice to walk on it or 8 inches to drive a car on it..."...We never drove a car on the lake, thankfully...

So, here, I fly, starting out from Chicago (KORD) to Minneapolis (KMSP), heading in a northwesterly direction (the highway I-90/94, that I'd driven a while ago, between these two cities, actually runs more north than west...). These two states are major residences to people of Scandinavian descent. So, I recall, when I'd started out on my trip to Minneapolis, a colleague had suggested (and reminded) me, just before I got under way, "Don't forget to visit "Norske Nook"", which is a "Norwegian" diner off the Highway, supposedly famous for standout pies, for hundreds of miles around, so, I did visit it...not sure what (pie) I ordered there...

Please find 20 pictures, as I fly over the multitude of lakes (small and big) across the state of Wisconsin, including its largest inland Lake Winnebago (shot #s 9-11). Then I tracked, for a bit, the mighty and beautiful Mississippi River (shot #s 12-14), which runs along the border of Wisconsin and Minnesota. Past more Lakes, I finally reached Minneapolis, and not surprisingly noticed several lakes around the airport area. I have then landed in KMSP (Minneapolis-Saint Paul) Airport, an airport I've never flown into, in RW, but have visited it once to drop off a friend there...so, it felt nice to get re-acquainted to KMSP, here, again...

Thanks for viewing...! Hope you enjoy these images from my trip in the U.S. Midwest...in Spring season...!

[Alaska738 8,412]

Nice set of shots! 😉 

[pmplayer 9,475]

For me too, fine set, nice landscape around..

cheers 😉

[P_7878 6,622]

Will, pmplayer, John, ikbenik:

Thanks much for the comments and responses...🙂...!

[rmeier 473]

Your livery choice is a great contrast to the excellent mid-west scenery!

[andiflyit 445]

Nice landscape and it's always good to have a Piper Twin! 🙂

Edited March 30 by andiflyit

[P_7878 6,622]

21 hours ago, rmeier said:

Your livery choice is a great contrast to the excellent mid-west scenery!

...🙂...It was a hard choice, rmeier...On one hand, I'd this fire-cracker red (hot) PA-34 staring me at the face from my hangar, and then this bland-colored airframe also meekly begging me to take it up in the sky...🙂...

So, I fell for the latter, in deference to its (unknown) painter whoever it was ...🙂...

 

10 hours ago, andiflyit said:

Nice landscape and it's always good to have a Piper Twin! 🙂

Thank you, Andreas. And agree with you. Even though we have flown this Piper Twin in previous generation SIMs, its charm and appeal remain undiminished... 🙂...