I find the sunrises and sunsets to be the most spectacular in the Spring.  I am not sure why this occurs, but I am sure it has to do with all the variables from season to season-location of the Sun to the Earth, how the Earth is spinning on its axis, or the different temperature changes.  Not that there aren’t beautiful sunrises and sunsets in the other seasons-they just seem to be at their peak in the Spring.  The Sun is enormous in the sky-at times it seems so large one can almost touch it.  The colors are impressive, pinks, blues, purples, oranges, reds all blend to take one’s breath away.   I can’t think of any other time of year that the rising or setting of the Sun is so vibrant.   It is often on these Spring mornings (or the occasional evening) I think “wow I wish I had my camera, or if I only had the perfect spot to capture these images”.  Well on March 12th I rushed home and did get my camera and these images don’t do any justice to how beautiful this sunrise was.

As the layers of deep snow thawed the warm spring air created a delightful blanket of fog.  I took my favorite little buddy for a walk to take some pictures and get him out a bit before our breakfast.  The temperature was in the fifties perfect to create the mist.  I love the brighter days of spring and summer but every now and then a beautiful thick fog is so mysterious –there is something about the way it hangs hiding the world around me.   The refraction of light is different altering colors to make things appear as if the world is in grey tones.  Sounds seem to bounce between the droplets in the air becoming muffled and distorted. 

We followed our little walk through the fog with a truck stop breakfast of course, my Grandson’s first choice for a big stack of hotcakes.  As I drank my coffee I enjoyed the philosophical ramblings of an almost four year old boy.   Although the fog we were in was dense and concealing the wisdom of that little boy made everything bright and clear.  Oh how I love my Tuesdays with him.

Well we finally had a Saturday when the roads were dry, the air wasn’t bitter cold, the sun was shining and everyone was relatively healthy.  This meant it was time for an adventure so my husband and I along with my daughter and grandson decided on The Greater Cleveland Aquarium.  Now my husband will tell you I am an overpacker for any adventure.  This was the first adventure in several months, and I over prepared as usual, this is a simple little trip just an hour from home, but I was hoping to incorporate a little frozen Lake Erie photography also, which added a little extra planning.

The trip up was filled with the chatter of my three year old Grandson; he was excited to be out of the house and on an adventure with us.  There were jokes and laughter the whole ride, the sweet sound of his little voice and all the giggles swirled around us.  I never take for granted these wonderful times. 

We arrived at the old powerhouse in the flats.  I hadn’t been up here for years, I have to say it was pretty exciting to see that it had once again been repurposed for the Aquarium.  The Aquarium itself is just the right size for little ones.  It is a little expensive but we enjoyed our time there.  As we walked through we weren’t sure if we were looking at the fish or if the fish were viewing us.  They were lined up inside their living areas staring out at us as if we were the ones on display.

After a morning of interesting sea, lake and river creatures, we were all pretty hungry we had a nice lunch in the Nautica café on the second floor of the powerhouse, things were getting busy at the Aquarium and we decided to not leave to seek out food in another area of Cleveland.  Lunch was good and my daughter and myself enjoyed some quiet conversation when grandpa took my little buddy into the exploration station.

Well I wanted some Lake Erie picks to we headed toward the east side of town to Cleveland Lakefront State Park.  Getting back there was a little challenging but we did it, bundled up and camera in hand headed toward the “water” which is ice right now.  It was a bit dangerous maneuvering through the deep snow, down stairs that were covered in large amounts of snow eventually got down to the rocks.  With all the snow it was really hard to visualize what this area would look like in the spring.