You're Moving Where?

Sometimes, well all the time, life is funny. Funny in the way that a southern, heat loving girl ends up moving to northern Michigan and maybe is falling in love with it. I already use my hand way too much to talk to people about where places are.

Snowshoeing through old growth white pine at Hartwick Pines State Park
(trees almost as big and tall as the redwoods in California!).

It's cold and I own an ice scraper/snow brush but the snow is beautiful and I've figured out the perfect layering for when I cross country ski. I even was super annoyed two weeks ago when we had a warm front (i.e. temperatures in the 30s) because the snow was slushy and gross; never in a million years would I have thought I'd be wishing for temperatures in the teens and the pretty snow to be back.

Fitz (far left) is thriving in the cold!
He keeps me from slipping and sliding on the reg.

I'm up here for at least ten months (well nine now that I've made it through January) serving with AmeriCorps at a non-profit called Huron Pines. Huron Pines' mission is to protect the Great Lakes through conserving the forests, lakes and streams of Northeast Michigan. I'm working with school and community outreach programs to establish more place-based education programming in the region. The staff are all wonderful and the other two AmeriCorps members in my office are great. I'm really excited for what the year holds!

Sled dogs at a nearby ski resort!

My roommate is another AmeriCorps member serving with the county conservation district. She likes beer, NPR and adventuring as much as I do so we'll be just fine for the year. We've got a great (and cheap) place right in town and are mostly settled (thank goodness for free furniture!). There's a cross country ski trail right down the road from us and the drive to service is less than ten minutes for both of us. I can go 5 miles in 5 minutes not an hour!

We stood on a frozen lake (Otsego Lake) so are real Michiganders now!

 The town I live in is relatively small town but we have a Walmart, Meijer (grocery, similar to Kroger), and a myriad of other chain businesses. It's the biggest village (aka city/town, Michigan lingo) in the area so people come from the smaller (and I mean small small) villages to shop and the such. Our downtown has a brewery that does a great IPA and good choice of local restaurants that have live music all the time. So basically, I'm adjusting just fine and not too homesick (I do miss my ATL lovies though!).

Hiking through snow isn't easy so cross country skiing is my new weekend (and after work) activity!

I'm going to try and get back in the swing of keeping this blog updated on my adventures (and misadventures) in the Snowbelt so sign up for the email updates!