Last day to order for the week!

Shop from our Virtual Market where you’ll find some microgreens and Swiss chard still available to snag for this week!

Last weekend my family headed north to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, to a small town on Lake Superior, to watch the sled dog races. It’s a whole different world up there, especially during winter. Everybody looks prepared for the weather, and the few tourists that have never experienced this event stand out with their hoodless coats and slim-fitting pants and boots. Most people wear snow pants and you see a lot of fur hats and even mittens made out of coyote fur. Snow drifts are as high as one-story houses.

As we drove up north, we watched the temperature reading on the car drop degree by degree. The Straits of Mackinac were frozen all the way across, which was a sight to see. As we drove over the bridge we could see where an ice breaker had gone through, presumably to make a path for cargo liners.

And ice-fishing! Some fishermen even have tents and fires surrounding their fishing holes in the town bay. How is feet and feet of snow and ice cozy? I don’t know, but it is.

It’s also a huge hub for snowmobiling in this part of the U.P. I could do without the incessant vroom of all them in town, but boy are they fun! A quieter, electric snowmobile would be ideal, since one of the magical qualities of all that snow is the cushioned silence that envelops you.

And then of course, watching the races! It’s fun to see and listen to the mushers as they talk to their teams. We stay at a friend’s house as our place isn’t winterized (although my sister and her husband braved it, melting snow to flush the toilet…), and the teams come down a hill and into town right in front of her house. There are three races over the weekend, with names that sound as fun as being up there: the UP200, Jack Pine 30, and Midnight Run…and that’s a little glimpse into a different world for you!

Erin

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