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!

Holiday Cheer

Merry belated Christmas!

As I have gotten older and wiser (or perhaps just more cynical), I have really come to shun Christmas. For reasons I will not get into, I just don't think it's necessary to make such a big fuss over. BUT, I do enjoy Christmas in da Harbor.

Every Christmas Eve, half the town gets together, bundled up wearing Santa hats and each carrying the words to several holiday songs. We go caroling to the other half of the town who waits patiently for our arrival to feed us snacks and warm drinks. It's truly a magical experience, where people who are far from their families can get together with their community family, and spread the spirit to those they (somewhere deep inside) love like brothers and sisters.

Also, since I've been back in da Keweenaw, I've attended five other holiday gatherings. To me, that's more what Christmas should be about -- getting together with everyone (even if it's over and over again!) for a "cheerful" reason. People around here just really like to gather over drinks and good food. It's quite refreshing.

So the Scrooge in me is slowly being replaced by a little elf who just wants to make people feel loved. I know this is one of my goals in daily life, but this time of year, I want to go that extra mile -- even if I'm already with a group of others.

I don't give presents. I just don't, and I really don't need to receive them just because it's Christmas time. So I want to thank all the people in Copper Harbor for reminding me about the spirit of Christmas. I know that if I lived in any other town, I surely would not want to join in any reindeer games.

I now leave you with a few pictures taken out by the lighthouse shore on Christmas Day.

These are some icicles on the side of a rock. The bottom part that looks like it's dripping is as big around as my thigh.

Below is a view from the lighthouse loading dock straight down to the lake. Notice the log stuck in there.

Here is the dock covered in ice from Lake Superior's waves. It gets like this every year (and changes everyday!).