Making the most of the winter weather

Years ago (B.K. (before kids)), Tom and I had snowmobiles and we would take 5 or 6 trips “up north” every winter to go snowmobiling.  It was a lot of fun and we have great memories of blasting down snow-covered trails all over Michigan and Canada. 

Starting a family took the place of our snowmobiling hobby, so we sold our sleds, thinking we’d just buy different ones someday if we got back into it.  We never did, though, and the boys have been wanting to try it out for awhile now.  We decided to make the most of our (hopefully) last winter here in Michigan, so as part of our Christmas vacation we made a reservation to rent snowmobiles for an afternoon.

Mountainside Mark hooked us up with some sleds, and loaded them up and took them to the trail, just a few miles from the Boyne Mountain Resort.  With paperwork complete, we were ready to head out!

Some friends from home were in the area, too, so we met up with them and spent the afternoon riding through the scenic Jordan River Valley.

We hadn’t gotten much new snow this week, but surprisingly the trails were in pretty good shape.  Michigan requires a trail permit on all snowmobiles, with the funds going to help with the upkeep of the trail system – it seems to be working, and we had a great day of riding!

Keith was our “guide” and took us on an adventure through twisting trails,

open fields,

and to the top of “Deadman’s Hill”.

It was a perfect day for riding, and we all had a blast – I had forgotten how much fun snowmobiling is!  We were really glad to have our friends along with us,

because riding is always more fun in a group, and they took us on an adventure that was much better than the standard trail ride that the rental place recommended.

A great way to spend a winter day in northern Michigan!