Holidays and Tree Bombs

Now that Christmas has passed, Copper Harbor business is in full swing.  All the winter restaurants are open full-time.  The snow is amazing (despite the little drizzle yesterday), and the air is fresh and crisp.  Come on up!

And here is a little holiday cheer for you, if you haven't seen it already.

A pan of the lights in the park

I like how the deer are swimming in the snow.  Nice job, Donny and crew!

Possibly by you as well, the temperature has dropped about 20 degrees, and the wind has picked up.  I would't want to be riding a chairlift today, but a snowshoe in the woods is nice!

So is the sunshine.  Though we don't see it often (because it's always snowing) I did capture some shots from Christmas Eve day. 

The sun behind some icicle trees

Icicle trees beside the blue sky harbor

Beautiful, isn't it?  It's so nice that this post can have a little color!  So treasure that while I take you to the dark side.

We don't have a tornado season.  We don't have hurricane season.  Or monsoons or earthquakes.  Knock on wood for all of that.  Right now, the conditions are perfect for tree bomb season.

Yes, tree bombs.

You can find them all over the woods, but they are mostly harmless there.  Know where they are deadly?  The Covered Stretch of Highway 41.

Those scenic branches creating the tunnel of trees have been collecting snow for weeks.  Oh yes, they are so nice to look at.  Picture perfect even.  Then the temperature warmed up just after Christmas, so the snow in the trees got denser.  Then we got a little drizzle, making those branches even heavier.  

This is what it's like driving that stretch with tree bombs.

The road is well-plowed, so you have traction for the most part.  Then boom, boom!  You just ran over bowling ball size gobs of snow that you couldn't avoid because it laid across the whole road like the branch it fell from minutes earlier.  Whew, at least it didn't fall on your car.  But, boomf, boomf!  There's another!  Lucky there was no tree branch in that one.  Oh!  Slow down!  Huge branch across the road!  Good thing a car wasn't coming in the other lane!  Oh, no.  See that snow falling on the right side up there???  That branch is about to let loose.  Go around!  Got around!  Smash!  Oh, boy.  That was the windshield.  Pull over.

So far I have escaped this war zone unscathed, but I have friends who haven't been so lucky.  I hope they all have good auto insurance.  Bless their hearts.

Lesson?  If you come up in the next few days, take M-26 to avoid this gauntlet.  Unless, of course you like to drive in a real life video game.  It reminds me of Super Mario Brothers.  Creatures pop out of nowhere to get you.  I hope you make it to the next level.

Other than that, life is simply marvelous.  I will see you next year.  You make it your best year yet, and I'll make it mine!