Friday, January 28, 2011

Michigan Winter Wonderland

Rundown: Back in the U.S. of A for a glorious Michigan winter.

Location: Northern Michigan


Here's a little video of some new winter activities seen on the lakes...




Back in Charlevoix for a few weeks over Christmas to see my family! There was a mass Gorkiewicz onslaught of the Detroit Metro airport as we all came in! Got to spend a little time with my sisters and Dave who came in from parts abroad.


Oop! That's not my sister! Here they are!


Sitting atop the big rock of Big Rock.


Playing with ice on the ice.





Tried to soak up as much of the winter as possible, since it had been two years since I'd been home for it. Naturally, kayaking in a snowstorm seemed a good place to start.


Road to the river buried under the snow! Gordie plowed it right out! A plow truck with a kayak in the bed raises some eyebrows around town.


Bald eagles followed us along the river as we scared up ducks. Don't know how they could fly in such heavy snow though!


The pine branches were heavy with snow and the river was soon filled with icy slush. Any a couple of odd ducks in kayaks.




Speaking of odd ducks, got to spend some time with my buddies Nick and Ian and hiked the Sleeping Bear Dunes.


The view from the top!


And of course slid down them! Ian's dog Tessie actually pulled him down the slope. Had a few rocks in our boots and a long way to climb up afterwards.


Spent some time at Ian's place. Nick entertained himself messing with the dog.



With the lake frozen over, tried my hand at snowkiting, a frigid offshoot of kiteboarding, done with a snowboard on a (hopefully) frozen lake.


My Caribbean born kite protested the cold and snow, but eventually she enjoyed flying in the cold, dense air.


The kite is pink, hence the 'she'. Hard to miss on the lake against all that white.


Eventually had some blue skies and good wind to pull a downwind run to East Jordan. Not a whole lot of other people out, so I had the place to myself aside from some ice shanties!




Also did a little winter camping at McKeever cabin. It had been quite a while! Great to have some time out in the middle of nowhere. Did some skiing and some snowshoeing. Super fun.




Gretta is a pretty old girl, but she was still pulling her own weight in the deep snow!



So there! That's a brief on the brief Michigan flyby! On to... Bolivia!