A Cold Blast From the Past

While reading a post in one of my yahoo groups, I was reminded of a winter experience. I had spent the week in the UP [Upper Peninsula of Michigan; definitely snow country] with a school-affiliated work trip [I'll have to blog about this trip sometime, definitely a cool experience]. Since we had worked all week [during "spring" break in March with many feet of snow still on the ground], we got to spend late Friday afternoon through Saturday at a 'resort' sort of place, owned by Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monahan, on small Drummond Island .

After dinner, we were out toboganning, playing on the ice rink, etc before heading out to the outdoor hot tub to relax. Someone had mentioned how some people, in other northern winter climates, sit in hot tubs or saunas for awhile before making a dive into the snow. Of course, someone dared us to do likewise. So of course, I took the bait [and have a photo to prove it]. Of course, I didn't stay in the snow bank for long but I remember the 'tingling' sensation after climbing back into the tub. It was definitely something that everyone should try at least once. :-) Just don't go daring me to go polar swimming; that is one dare that I will definitely pass on.

I recall another hot tubbing evening... It was later in the evening on New Year's Eve. There were maybe 6-7 of us sitting in the outdoor tub [with our drinks], watching the steam rising into the dark sky while the big wet snowflakes were drifting down. I guess I do have some fond cold winter memories. :-)