A Day at the Arboretum

We left the beauty of the North Shore and are spending some time in the Twin Cities before heading to Death Valley National Park for the winter. We miss Lake Superior but it's good to be able to get things squared away before we head out again.

As a wedding anniversary gift, my mother-in-law brought us to the Minnesota Arboretum. I had never been there and Kurt had visited it once as a child so we were both excited to discover the place...with the miniatures, of course :) For a late October day, the weather was nearly perfect, neither windy nor cold. The diffused light seemed to make the colors in the trees even more vibrant. After about an hour of meandering I realized that there was no way we could see it all in one day.

After a nice lunch at the arboretum's organic cafe - we ate early to beat the crowd - we toured the gift shop and walked the trails through the woods. It was so beautiful! There were yellow leaves covering the ground and the trees as far as the eye could see.

While exploring, Kurt noticed the top of a barn above the tree line off in the distance and got inspired by it. When asked, a park employee shared with us that the barn was closed to the public for renovations but that we could hike to it if we wished. My mother-in-law stayed at the visitor center so she could listen to a concert performed by the Minnetonka Symphony Orchestra and Kurt and I hiked to the barn.

When we arrived to the farm Kurt began scouting locations to shoot the minis. We were alone except for a group of wild turkeys feeding nearby. Kurt chose a lone farmer admiring his barn as the scene. We were pleased with the result and Kurt was happy to finally get a red barn in one of his scenes!