Crabapple fruits foretelling winter

Fall is a good time in Minnesota for nature lovers. The leaves are in myriad colors and creates a glorious view. North Minnesota is busy time for tourists, especially places like Duluth and Lutzen along Highway 61. This year however the colors have been disappointing. We visited Duluth, Split Rock Light House and Gooseberry Falls last weekend. The weather was good and prediction was for peak fall colors. Friends who had visited previous weeks had said that the colors are yet to come out in full glory so we were kind of hoping that it will be peak at this time. Unfortunately fall colors seem to be washout this year. We had visited Stillwater couple of weeks back and visited the Arboretum also this week- all over the trees are either bare or still green. You can see a handful in reds and yellows and many have already lost their leaves.

While we were visiting the Split Rock Light house, the guide mentioned that the berries this year are still plentiful on the trees. Apparently the birds went away too soon before they could eat it all and somehow that's an indication for a hard winter. Let's wait and see!