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The First Snow

We love firsts. Whether events, experiences, sights, sounds, or even feelings...firsts can be beautiful things to behold. They can warm us, cheer us, move us, and inspire us.

Take the first snow of the year, for example. It came quick and hard, perhaps foreshadowing what the rest of our Up North winter might look like. It even caught our inland lakes off-guard. As of this writing, many hadn't even had a chance to freeze over yet, making their sight against a snowy landscape that much more dramatic.


First November snow outside our family's condo on Burt Lake's King's Point.
But for every beginning, there also has to be an ending. For us Up North, it was the last kayak ride on Lake Leelanau as the sun was setting of a lazy Sunday afternoon-turned-evening, mere days before the first snow storm hit.


The last walk in the woods on a "warm" [mid-50's] sunny Sunday afternoon before the high winds of the first storm blew in that stripped the trees of their once colorful leaves within the space of a few overnight hours.

From a late fall Sunday afternoon walk on the Leelanau Trail.
The weather turned windy and dramatic later that night.

Or the last, long look at the lake before it was overtaken by a distant storm looming on the horizon.


Our youngest son, Hunter, sitting on the dock across from our home
looking out over Lake Leelanau at the approaching storm clouds.

A rare clear sunrise on Burt Lake's King's Point
in between the driving squalls of the first snow storm.


Snow squalls move across the open waters of Boardman Lake
behind the Traverse Area District Library in Traverse City.

Already with two feet of snow having fallen before Thanksgiving week, the Winter of 2014-15 appears to be here to stay. This season, why not take time to enjoy all the firsts our beautiful winter has to offer...Up North.