Pine Mountain Ski Resort

January, 2022

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday was a great reason to take a long weekend ski trip to Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  I had skied with my family in the UP growing up, so we wanted to try it out with our kids.  We went up to Iron Mountain, MI to Pine Mountain Ski Resort.  We booked a ski in/ski out condo a little last minute, and were going to make-do with one king sized bed and a pull out couch bed.  

We drove up Friday night after school/work and got up there really late on Friday night.  It was frigid, frigid cold - like 20 degrees below zero!!  I can't even describe to you how cold our condo was - the sliding door to the one bedroom was broken and outside air was just freely streaming into the bedroom.  It was so cold I can't even describe it.  The gas fireplace didn't work (it was "decorative") and the whole place was just terrible.  Claire went right from the car to get under the covers of the bed because she was cold, and we all just went to bed together in the one king sized bed and huddled for body warmth.  The pull out bed was not an option, it was terrible.  We decided it was too late to do anything about the condo unacceptable-ness, we'd have to talk to someone in the morning.  Matt tried to put up a blanket to block the cold air from streaming in, and that helped minimally.  Anyway, we didn't realize that Claire had gone the whole 4 hour drive and then gone right to bed without using the bathroom!  Anyway, she had an accident for the first time ever in her life when we all were in the same king sized bed in a freezing cold condo.  Go figure.  So we all wake up in the middle of the night, freezing cold, and the bed is all wet.  So we get her cleaned up and changed and then Matt just laid a bunch of towels over the bed and we all went back to bed.  So funny.  The next day we talked to the lodge and they were totally booked for the holiday weekend, but luckily (for us) a family had canceled bc of having COVID, so they moved us to the 2 bedroom unit upstairs for the same price and it was HEAVENLY!!  It was warm and cozy and newer and cleaner and just amazing in every way.  We really enjoyed the ski in/ski out aspect of the lodge, right next to the chair lift, and just had an amazing time.  We want to go back next year, making sure to get the same lodge, of course.  It was really cold skiing, too, but having the condo so accessible made it easy to go in and get warm and then go back out.  Fun times in the Midwest.

Pine Mountain is kind of famous for having this big ski jump - they have a competition there every year.

The "good" condo - just lovely

working fireplace!

Quirkel time!

breakfast

Loved the wood burning fireplaces and the ski-town vibe

Luke snowboarded one day and was so good at it!

I had just gotten new ski boots and they turned out to not be great for me.  I legit thought I had frostbite!  My feet would go numb in the first ski run.  The freezing temps didn't help, and I don't have great circulation in my hands and feet anyway.  I sucked it up and wore them all weekend, but it was not pleasant.  I ended up exchanging them for a different style that weren't as tight around the foot, I'm so grateful that the ski shop I got them from offered that to me.  My new ones are so amazing and my feet don't go numb!!

A stop to get a glimpse of Lambeau Field in Green Bay on the way home

Before drywall

After drywall - what a transformation!

Matt is doing these polar plunges in these crazy cold temps!  The lake is frozen!  He has to break the ice to get into it.  He has quite the community he does it with.  Amazing.