Personal Note: Sunday was our last day on the island for Winter Festival, and we were scheduled to fly home on Monday. We had already had more fun and seen more snow than I could have ever imagined. The fairytale world of Mackinac in the winter lived up to all my expectations!
First Published February, 2010
Where Saturday’s activities were all held outside at Turtle Park, the majority of Sunday’s activities were inside at the school. Here is our group’s day in pictures and captions:
This is actually a photo from Saturday – or Friday (I can’t remember). Nikki, who lives on the island year-round, and I say hello at the Mustang.
Getting ready to go out Sunday morning – hand warmers and toasty toes!
Walking up Cadotte Avenue to the school, we passed the very lonely looking Gatehouse Restaurant. So strange to see it like this. In a few months, the tables will be out on the patio, the flowers will be blooming, and there will be happy people everywhere.
Dawn – posing on a snowmobile, under a “No Snowmobile” sign.
Barb, who is the school’s office manager, Dawn and I. We had just noticed that Barb’s cup matched her sweater.
Smi and I – Smi and his wife are our neighbors in the “village”.
As soon as we walked into the gym, 2 -3 tables full of home-baked goodies were sitting there tempting us to start munching. Whenever one little space was cleared, another baked good was brought straight from the kitchen. The island ladies must have been baking all night!
Sign-up tables on the left. Then table after table around the room filled with silent auction goodies – the majority homemade. I bid on several items, but it was the rag rug made from sheets that I really wanted – and it was the only one I was high bidder on. Ok – I admit it. I entered my last bid 2 seconds before the buzzer rang ending the auction, then defended that bid sheet like an all-star hockey goalie.
Dawn and I playing bingo.
Voting on 2012 Mackinac Island Recreation Department Calendar photographs. How to choose only 12!
Talk about Mackinac Island celebrities! Beside me is Jeannette Doud, who writes the Mackinac Island column in The Town Crier. Next to her is Margaret, who has been the Mayor of the island for the past 37 years.
One of several pairs of homemade mittens I bid on at the silent auction. They were all made from donated wool sweaters and the left hand mitten did not match the right hand mitten. So cute! I was not the high bidder on any of them. Darn!
After we left the school, we walked up Cadotte to our condo. Looking back over my shoulder, we could see the ice in the Straits.
Going through the snow fence to our condo back door.
Standing on the street in front of the condo. That’s the Carriage Museum in the background. Everything looks so different covered in snow!
The empty horse corral below our condo.
Starting back to town – down Turkey Hill, next to the Jewel Golf Course.
Where Turkey Hill Road blends into Fort Street, we met a couple attempting to get up the hill on cross country skies. They finally stopped, took them off, and walked up the hill until they hit snow again.
Mike – pretending that he is about to “take the plunge” into the icy water.
On our way to The Village Inn for dinner Sunday evening, we passed Cindy’s Livery Stables – locked, quiet, and dark for the winter.
On the other hand, the Village Inn was ablaze with lights. You can see in one corner of the restaurant the cross country skis available for rental.
Mike took this photo at the Village Inn Sunday night. I promise we did not plan our color scheme for the evening – it just worked out that way. The lady on my right is Mary, who with husband Ron, owns the Village Inn.
Thank goodness the supply closet was right next to our room. We had to “borrow” the vacuum cleaner Monday morning so Dawn could suck all the air out of the bag where she packed some bulky items. Those vacuum bags are amazing!
My blogging corner in our room at The Cottage Inn.
Personal Note: This should have been the last entry on our Winter Festival trip. We were set to get a good night’s sleep and fly off the island to St. Ignace early Monday morning. We still made that flight, but the tragic events that began shortly after the above pic of me in my pajamas was snapped will forever be linked in all of our minds to our trip north that winter. Because Mackinac in the winter is more beautiful than you can imagine, it is easy to forget that there is another side to all that beauty. We were all impacted by that other side throughout our last night on the island. Tomorrow – that story.
Bree's Mackinac Island Blog 