Winter Picnic

The days are passing quickly and by the end of this week we are heading home.
You might find it most interesting that I put this on my Bucket List:
Have a winter picnic in the woods.


Why?   
I am not really a huge fan of snow and winter except in December.
(That White Christmas thing, you know?)

Here in Jonkoping we have only had a couple of dustings of snow so far.
When we learned of  more snowfall to the west of us, we decided to take a drive, pack a picnic and 
just go for it.


Snow is not a deterrent for this bike rider in front of us!


Some 40 minutes later, we pulled into the empty parking lot by the Aras Nature Reserve.
With the picnic stowed away in a bag, we headed off to explore.  

WARM SOCKS: check
HATS: check
TOASTY GLOVES: check
STURDY BOOTS: check





We opted to take the blue trail with 3.4 km to walk.








Did I mention it was lightly snowing during most of our walk?

When we rounded a bend in the trail, we came upon this unexpected spot.
It was perfect for our winter picnic.




Our picnic was not fancy at all:  warm soup in coffee thermoses and hard tack to spread with peanut butter and nutella.





It was just perfect, though.

Fortified with our picnic food, we continued on the trail which took us to the lakefront.
Vallern Lake, to be specific.



 How can I describe how peaceful and beautiful this was?





 I can't.

The Bucket List countdown continues, but surely nothing can top this as far as wintry beauty is concerned. 

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