Watched that game with an old friend in a bar outside of Elk Rapids Michigan while taking a break from ice fishing and generally hiding from the world. May have been the only 2 people in town besides the bartender/cook/owner/mayor. Was more shocked we found a place that got ESPN than I was who took and made the game-winning shot.

(02-14-2012 01:14 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  Watched that game with an old friend in a bar outside of Elk Rapids Michigan while taking a break from ice fishing and generally hiding from the world. May have been the only 2 people in town besides the bartender/cook/owner/mayor. Was more shocked we found a place that got ESPN than I was who took and made the game-winning shot.

OT

The Traverse City / Sleeping Bear Dune area is one of my favorites places. Lot's of cool towns up there on US 31...I work with someone (originally from Dayton) who lives up top in Cheboygan.

Not a whole lot of ice fishing this year up in the Irish Hills...last year there was 12+ inches out on the lake...right now there is 5 inches shoreline, you get out past where we keep a swim raft and you're looking at only 3-4 inches. Two weeks ago a 15 year old kid went through the ice on a 4 wheeler...he ran halfway across the lake in his undies...3 days later the parts he ran across were open water. Got d*mn lucky, he was riding on thin ice over 40 ft deep water...just because the lake has a couple inches of snow over the ice doesn't make it safe

The 4 wheeler was being help up by the tires floating between the ice until it was rescued this past weekend.

(02-14-2012 02:12 PM)SeniorBearcat Wrote:  

(02-14-2012 01:14 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  Watched that game with an old friend in a bar outside of Elk Rapids Michigan while taking a break from ice fishing and generally hiding from the world. May have been the only 2 people in town besides the bartender/cook/owner/mayor. Was more shocked we found a place that got ESPN than I was who took and made the game-winning shot.

OT

The Traverse City / Sleeping Bear Dune area is one of my favorites places. Lot's of cool towns up there on US 31...I work with someone (originally from Dayton) who lives up top in Cheboygan.

Not a whole lot of ice fishing this year up in the Irish Hills...last year there was 12+ inches out on the lake...right now there is 5 inches shoreline, you get out past where we keep a swim raft and you're looking at only 3-4 inches. Two weeks ago a 15 year old kid went through the ice on a 4 wheeler...he ran halfway across the lake in his undies...3 days later the parts he ran across were open water. Got d*mn lucky, he was riding on thin ice over 40 ft deep water...just because the lake has a couple inches of snow over the ice doesn't make it safe

The 4 wheeler was being help up by the tires floating between the ice until it was rescued this past weekend.

Love the cherry festival in Traverse City... have only seen the dunes from about 50 feet AGL in a UH-60 at 100 kts... would love to go back on the ground and see them.

You can ski, tube or sled down the backside of the Big Bear Dunes during winter. They stake out a course. Greatest tube run ever. Loooong walk from where you park to the top, though.

(02-14-2012 02:26 PM)Crewdogz Wrote:  Love the cherry festival in Traverse City... have only seen the dunes from about 50 feet AGL in a UH-60 at 100 kts... would love to go back on the ground and see them.

That would have been a fun copter ride...you definitely do need to go back and see them from the ground level. Good Morning America had the public vote last year and the Sleeping Bear Dunes were voted as the Most Beautiful Place in America.