Mother Nature has played a cruel little trick on us.

Last week temperatures reached into the 50s. The snow melted and we got a sneak peak into the coming spring.

For the first time in weeks I didn't have to wear a sweater.

But just when we were starting to get used to warm weather again, temperatures plunged and reminded us that it's only February and, in Minnesota, winter can last into May.

Which made getting the Victoria's Secret swimsuit catalog in the mail Monday all the more depressing.

It will be a long time before I will come close to laying on a beach under the sun. Although I probably won't make it to some tropical island, a hot summer day at the lake would suffice.

(The catalog also reminded me that any exercise resolutions I had made at the beginning of the year are not materializing.)

There's no scheduled spring break to get away this year. Really, I spent most of them in college at home in Owatonna, but last year two friends and I made it down to Florida for a long weekend.

A postcard from Pensacola Beach hangs in my apartment, reminding me of warmer, carefree times.

I had a million worries and projects rushing through my head before I left last March for Florida. It was my last semester at college and in each of the four classes I was taking, there was some monumental project that required research and surveys and a whole lot of stressing out.

But for those five days in Florida, we could leave our last semester behind and enjoy warm weather and a new location.

Pensacola Beach is a small island off of Pensacola, Fla. We managed to get a hotel right on the beach without having to blow too much of our work study money.

To save money, we bought some groceries at the convenience store for lunch and soon realized the drawbacks of living on an island. The store was out of bread and wouldn't be getting any shipment until the next couple days or so.

We spent our days on the beach, trying without success to get ahead on our reading. Our nights were spent taking in the low-key night life on the island.

Perhaps I'll be able to take a vacation this year, but it won't be the same.

My younger brother is leaving for Los Angeles tomorrow for an Air Force ROTC drill team competition. I'm sure the competition will be tough, but those southern California temperatures won't be hard to take. Then he gets to go to Washington, D.C. for Spring Break. What a life.

Local high school students will be taking a break from school in the next month. Maybe some of them will get to spend some time in a warmer climate. (At least they will get a break from their classes.)

Me, I'll just be waiting for summer to roll around.

Maybe that will give me enough time to jump start some sort of exercise routine in preparation for a day on the beach.

Cari Quam can be reached at 434-2235 or by e-mail at :mailto:cari.quam@austindailyherald.com