So what... just a little snow and people freak out???
Ok, so 10 inches ain't a little bit, I don't blame ANYONE for deciding to call off the trip with this kind of weather so NO worries
It was snowing when I left Whitmore Lake at 11am, and it was snowing enough to create a few icy spot on 23 north, but it wasn't really piling up. About 10-15 south of Frankenmuth the snow quit and everything around Birch Run/Frankenmuth was a-ok.
That obviously wasn't the same for the west MI/Indiana folks.
23 south of Ann Arbor was closed for awhile yesterday afternoon due to a wreck. Alex and Brian made the trip from Grand Rapids (both of them on freakin SUMMER high performance rubber no less!) and said they had quite a bit of ice. So yeah, I don't have any problems understanding cancellations yesterday.
We still ended up with 9 folks and we absolutely gorged ourselves on chicken. I think I had something like 9 pieces total, plus a couple helpings of mashed potatoes, a bunch of stuffing and a 22 oz house beer. Figure in the chicken noodle soup, the cranberries, the cole slaw and the ice cream for dessert and it's a wonder I made it out of the restaurant at all. Jim came along with Michelle and I as we strolled through the newer shops just south of the Bavarian Inn... that really helped take a bit of the edge off dinner so for the ride home I was actually pretty comfortable, if not a little gassy
Other observations:
I guess the winter storm warning kept people from traveling, because the huge outlet mall just off 23/I75 at the Frankenmuth exit was positively DEAD. With less than 2 weeks to Christmas that place is usually shoulder room only, but I could literally drive around the whole mall without incident (and you need to, this place has like 6 or 7 different sections) and literally park right in front of any store I wanted to go into. Downtown Frankenmuth was also less busy than last year; there was still a lot of people but I was able to park right in front of the Cheese Haus and blow a hole in my bank account on such delicacies as strawberry cheese spread and garlic cheese chunks. Bronners was less busy as well, but not by much. I went in the store for 15 minutes and that was all I could take. Cool place to see, but I just wasn't in the mood for crowds.
Fortunately, the main thrust of snow held off until later in the evening. Had I went straight home I would've had clear roads all the way to Ann Arbor, but we went back to the outlet mall after dinner, then made a couple other stops closer to home. It was 9pm when I finally made it back, and the snow was starting to come down pretty hard; the roads were covered and getting a little slick.
Compare that to 7am this morning when I took Michelle to work. Holy $#@%... even the highway had piles of snow on it. Glad I have tall tires with killer all-season tread, these things bite nearly as good as snow tires
I want to thank everyone who braved the conditions to enjoy yet another holiday feast. There was talk of returning next year for a "Christmas in July" extravaganza, we'll just have to wait and see.
John, PM me your address... got something I want to send you that I was going to give ya last night.
