The Five Best Smells of Summer in Minnesota

While we didn't have much of a winter this year, spring has been colder and windier in Minnesota, but there are some signs-- and smells-- that summer can't be far behind!

Living here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, we're lucky in that we get to experience all four seasons Mother Nature has to offer, right? I just got back from spending a few days in southern California in San Diego, where the weather is usually sunny and around 70 degrees. How boring is that?!?

But here in the North Star State, we're knocking on the door of one of the best seasons of the year: summer. Sure, it's still technically spring (Time and Date says summer won't officially start in Minnesota until 3:50 pm on June 20th), but there are some signs summer isn't too far away.

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And by signs, I actually mean smells. There are just some things that, when you smell them, you're instantly transported right back to a classic summer day at the pool or up north at the lake here in the Gopher State.

Why is that? Here's the science, according to the fragrance site, Corpus:

As a scent enters the nose, it is first processed by the olfactory bulb, part of the limbic system-- the emotional center of the brain. Within this emotional center, lives the amygdala, which plays a role in emotional memories and the hippocampus, which is critical to developing memories.

 

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When scents pass through this area of the brain, emotions, memory, and scent become intertwined. This is why smell, more than any other sense, is so successful at triggering emotions and memories, Corpus noted.

So, check out these five incredibly evocative smells that definitely take you right back to summer here in Minnesota:

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