UP 200 Dog Sled Race

Amy’s friends from Pennsylvania came up this weekend for the UP 200 Dog Sled Race!!! It is a qualifying race for the Iditarod.

Friday after I was out of work I busted home, quickly changed, and ran (yes, ran, literally) to the Landmark where I joined Amy and her home gang for dinner in the VIP area! I had quite the appetite after rushing over…it is not easy running in boots with fur in the snow! Then we walked downtown and watched some of the teams run by and then we went down to the start to see a few depart the gates! Run doggies run!!! Video above is from the start. Please be kind to the camerawoman (me), I took it with my digital camera and was being elbowed by cheering people I weaseled in-between to get in the front. It was an extremely unique experience watching dog sled races. Awesome.

Saturday I went skiing with Dany and then we headed to the Up Front to listen to the reggae band and hang with the peeps from Penn. before calling it a night.

Sunday I set my alarm because I was told the dog sled teams should return between 10 and 11am. I get there around 10.30 after walking from my house over a mile without sidewalks in the -15 degrees to find out they don’t expect anyone before noon. Then it was 2.30pm. long story short Mariah and I met up and made it to the finish line before the first team. We waited about an hour because they hit white-out conditions a town away and were slowed way down. After finishing, it was refreshing to hear how every single rider stated that the priority was to finish with healthy dogs and gave the dogs all the credit and took care of them like they were their kids. Picture below is me at the finish line all bundled up!

Michigan High School Golf Coaches Hall of Fame = My DAD!

(Picture to come shortly)

I took Friday off of work so I could drive down and attend a banquet where my dad was being honored. I drove down to Mike’s on Thursday night, met my mom at the outlet mall where we ditched a car and drove to Grand Rapids together. Just prior to going down to the banquet, my younger brother decided it would be a perfect time to tell our parents he broke his thumb skiing (of course I knew earlier).

Down to the main floor of the hotel was where the banquet was held for the Michigan High School Golf Coaches Hall of Famers. Yes, my pops was inducted into the Michigan High School Golf Coaches Hall of Fame!!! It was wonderful being able to make it down and support him for all he has accomplished in the world of high school golf!!! I drove back to Owosso to spend the rest of the weekend with Mike.
It was wonderful because we had the house to ourselves all weekend. Unfortunately, I got a minor case of food poisoning from breakfast and wasn’t feeling to hot for all of Saturday. Mike made an amazing dinner Saturday night (tenderloin with portabella mushrooms…mmmmmm). I took leftovers home and ate for dinner on Sunday in Marquette because my stomach was in no shape for it on Saturday night which was not fun. But we got to spend time together which is what matters most!

Drive back in Sunday was uneventful…whew!

Crooks Sledding Hill

Disclaimer: I did the same thing last weekend and this weekend so I decided to merge the enteries into one.

When I first moved up here, one of the first items I was told I had to put on my Marquette/UP Things To Do poster was to go sledding down the ice luge at Crooks Hill. This is a family run activity that a father created for his sons 15+ years ago to keep his young boys busy in the winter. Now, the popularity of it I know throughout the UP, and spreads by word of mouth. When someone mentioned to them that they should run an article, they all opposed. A local TV station once ran a story on it and the wait was well over an hour to take one ride, and the line was over 600 cars long down the street. Colby, Mariah and I went last weekend and this weekend Amy joined us. This weekend we were the last ones to leave and got to hang out with the locals for a bit. Have you seen Escanaba in da Moonlight? That is what it was…honest!!! Drunk men (young and old) hanging around a 25-square-foot bonfire with couches on 3 sides, and stories flying around. It was surreal. The picture above is me going down the hill this weekend. Last weekend we were unable to time the flash of the picture with my lightning speed down the hill!