I Grew Up in a Winter Wonderland.

A typical scene in the winter. This was the road that led to my grandma's resort.

My parents grew up in a small town in northern Michigan and wanted to raise their children in this area. We had four seasons but winter always seemed like the longest. I will have to be honest and say that winter is not my favorite season but I do have a lot of memories of those cold, snowy winters.

In the first few years, we didn't have heat in every room of our house. We only had a fuel oil furnace in our living room. When we got up in the morning we all headed to stand by the furnace to warm up. We learned to layer our clothes so we wouldn't be as cold when we went outside.  In the 50's the lowest temperature was -31 degrees. In the 60's the lowest temperature was -24 degrees. So needless to say we understood cold temperatures!

I walked to school and would meet up with my girlfriend who lived about two blocks from me. Then we would dodge snowballs that a boy that lived down the street would throw at us. I would get so upset with his antics but got more upset when a friend told me the reason he threw snowballs at me was that he liked me!

In 1950-51 we had 257 inches of snow and in 1964-65 we had 268 inches of snow. I had already moved to the south by 1978-79 but they had a record snowfall that year of 325 inches. There was a whole lot of shoveling going on in those record snow accumulation years!



Snow almost to the rooftop at my grandma's house.

Beautiful winter wonderland at Eagle Point

Two more of my grandma's cabins.

After we had a snowstorm by brother and his friends down the street would build snow forts beside the road. When the snowplows would start down our street my mom would look around to see where my brother was. She would tell him and his friends that someday they were going to get buried alive in those snow forts. Thank goodness they never did! Another thing our parents told my brothers was to never eat the icicles but they did anyway and are still here to tell about it! 

 I am standing outside my grandma's house and the snow is almost up to the windows and look at those icicles!

Probably one of my favorite winter activities was going ice fishing with my grandma. We would set up the tip-ups all around the fish shanty and then we would go inside the shanty and start the fire and set our lunch aside for later. Then my grandma would open up the trap door where a large hole had been cut in the ice. We would sit on the bench and watch for a large fish to swim by that she could spear. Often we would sit there in total silence enjoying each other's company and the peace and quiet. Other times she would tell me things about her life. She was the type of person who was always busy, so when she sat still in that shanty and told me stories about her life, I was all ears. There were times she told me to leave the warm shanty and go see if the tip-ups had caught any fish.

This is a tip-up used in ice fishing, when the flag goes up you have a fish on the line!

The ice on the lake had to be 4 inches thick for people to walk on it, 6 inches thick for a snowmobile, and 8-12 inches thick for a car to drive on it. But there were also some scary times when the ice groaned under the weight of a car and you would hear it cracking under the tires. (When I watched Ice Road Truckers it brought back those memories of our ice fishing days.) Once my grandma fell in a fish shanty hole but got out - us grandchildren loved to hear her tell that scary story!

This is my grandma Lillie Mae Wheeler with her spear in hand!

This is the 18 1/2 lb pike she speared in the 1950s

My uncle Ted outside grandma's fish shanty

My sister and two brothers ice fishing and they drove their car on the ice!

I remember my dad who was a caretaker for some families who had cabins on the river, shoveling snow off the roofs so they wouldn't cave in. There were times he had to snowshoe in as the snow was so deep he couldn't get his car all the way to the cabins.

My brother helping my dad shovel snow off roofs.

We had a winter sports park in our town that drew people from all over Michigan and surrounding states. My dad and brother worked out there so sometimes I would go see them and watch the skiers. I tried skiing but didn't seem to get the hang of it, plus I would rather stay in somewhere warm and drink hot chocolate than get out on the cold slopes.

Each year our town had a winter sports event and would have some gorgeous snow sculptures. My aunt Naomi was a winter sports queen in 1938.

My beautiful Aunt Naomi - Winter Sports Queen in 1938.

Even though I have many memories of those sub-zero temperatures and lots of snow, I have to say that I don't really miss it. I love living in the south where I can enjoy the four seasons and if we get a little snow it warms up quickly, the sun comes out and melts the snow. Even though I grew up in a winter wonderland, I think I am a southern girl at heart!

It was beautiful after a fresh snowfall but I think it was too cold for me!