Discover St. Joseph

What better way to spend Valentine's weekend than at the Magical Ice Carving Festival in St. Joseph, Michigan! We had a wonderful weekend checking out the ice carvings and trying to photograph them. Unfortunately, we were unable to get into town in time to see the "fire and ice" opening ceremonies Friday evening. The organizers assembled several blocks of ice and lit a fire inside them. It was probably awesome to see. I was only able to grab a picture of it the day after. Maybe next year we'll be able to see it ablaze. We were lucky that the sun came out both Saturday and Sunday making for lovely pictures of the ice carvings. Just look at this beauty. Nature's spotlight makes it sparkle! And to add to the fun, there was a miniature golf course set up and competitions waged... Doesn't that look like fun?! My personal favorite was this ice carving... What a great castle! The ice carving that took the first place blue ribbon was... A fish! Very app...

Once the big snow was over, I expected the sun to come out and stay out for a while. I was waiting for an opportunity to get some pictures of the sun glistening off the snow and ice on Lake Michigan with blue skies and the deep marine blue lake water to set off the bright white lighthouses. I wanted that picture to hang above the fireplace in the condo. So I waited. Here's Silver Beach on January 2nd... We came over the weekend of January 9/10 but I didn't bother to take any pictures since it was still grey and gloomy. Here's Lake Michigan January 17th... And on January 18th...   I didn't bother to take pictures the weekend of January 23/24 because it was still cloudy. Finally, the sun came out on Saturday January 30th. According to the meteorologist on TV, it was the first time the sun had come out since that brief time the morning after the snow storm, January 2nd! Talk about a month of gloomy, grey weather! Anyway, I finally got my picture :-) Isn't i...

Here it is February 1st. As of today, we are basically 2/3 of the way through the winter season. This is the first winter I've experienced in St. Joseph and it has been interesting. December was pretty much what I'd expected, maybe a little less snow. But January more than made up for it. D and I experienced our first lake effect snow storm on New Year's Day. We'd heard the warnings for days in advance but we weren't all that concerned. We had plenty of food on hand and we were planning to stay in St Joe until January 3rd anyway. We figured we'd be able to get out by then and we did. But it sure was an interesting 3 days! We'd been watching the bowl games on TV New Year's Day and from time to time I'd look out the window to see if the forcasted snow had started yet. C and R had come over to stay with us for a couple days and were planning to head back to Detroit after spending the afternoon at the indoor water park in Watervliet. C called about 4...

I've taken quite a hiatus from writing on this blog, haven't I? I guess that's the winter doldrums for you. I haven't stopped having fun in St. Joseph, I just haven't been motivated to write about it. D and I have mostly been spending this month working on our condo. It actually feels good to be working on projects again (more so for me than for D ;-) And with all the grey, gloomy skies we've been having, indoor projects are just the thing to focus on until we see the sun and the mild temperatures beckon us outside once again. But enough about the winter greys. The big news in St Joseph this month has been the much anticipated grand opening of the Silver Beach Carousel and the Curious Kid's Discovery Zone . There was a New Year's Eve gala at the Shadowland Ballroom (also housed with the carousel and the museum) for those who were inclined to fork out the big bucks for a fancy evening. There was a time when D and I would have been one of those couples...

One of the things I've enjoyed most about having a place in St. Joseph has been the opportunity to explore other nearby areas. On Sunday, December 6, we took a drive to the town of Buchanan. Buchanan is about 25 miles south of St. Joseph and it took us just over a half hour to get there. Buchanan is a charming little town that appears to be going through something of a renaissance. D and I learned this as we strolled through the stores and chatted with some of the store owners. But I'm getting ahead of myself here. First off, we came into town hungry hoping to find some good eats. There aren't a lot of restaurants in downtown Buchanan. We only found one open on a Sunday afternoon and that was Marsooz Pub and Eatery. To our delight, the food was cooked to order and it was really tasty! I had the ground round steak. YUM! After lunch we wandered through town stopping in at the couple of stores that were open. Our first stop was Front . It's a home decor and accessories sho...