Pine, Parties and Poker Runs

It’s the perfect weekend for some festive Mackinac activities!

This weekend was the annual winter festival on Mackinac Island. Being the overworked secretary/teacher/candymaker that I am, I completely skipped out on Saturday’s activities, but heard that the kids all had an amazing time playing games at Turtle Park. I did, however, spend some time with Chelsea Berkshire planting boxes for her scavenger hunt. The kids had to figure out clues to find the hidden boxes at different checkpoints around the island that included Skull Cave, Fort Holmes, and Point Lookout, among other places. We had a fun time planting them all and almost stayed out there with them when Chelsea’s snowmobile wouldn’t start back up! Fortunately a dray went by and helped us out. I love the friendliness of this place…

Instead of going to the park on Saturday, I decided to take care of some loose ends downtown, and also had time to shoot some photos as I was driving around, most of which I see on my commute to work.

My day usually consists of me driving to Ste. Anne’s church for work in the morning, then heading through town to get to the school in the afternoon, and if need be, stopping by at May’s Fudge Shops in between to send out orders. Some days I stop by the school first, or maybe I’ll stop by the fudge shop first, but any way that I go, I know the commute will always be an interesting sight!

On Saturday night, there were festivities going on at the school for kids of all ages, and I spent some time there setting up the sound system for them. Once all was finished, I was heading out the door when I received an invitation to a bon fire just at the end of the boardwalk… and I certainly wasn’t one to turn down an invitation to some heat! The fire was big, and sitting on just the right side made my face hotter than hot. It was the first time all weekend that I really felt the warmth of Mackinac.

There were even islanders there cooking up food on skewers and passing around for everyone to eat. I was offered a chair and quite possibly the best seat in the house, that is, until several men decided to throw a pine tree into the fire…

We quickly realized that the pine tree wasn’t the best of moves, and, even though it smelled fantastic, at least half of us left for a warmer venue.

The next day, I decided to make my way over to the Sunday brunch at school (which was delicious!), and look around at all the auction items and bake sale. There was so much offered and I really thought that I could win some of the silent auction items that were out, but instead I volunteered to help a friend run the last half of the poker run table so that she could catch one of the first planes off the island for the day. Being a poker player myself, I didn’t think it would be that difficult to keep track of everyone’s hands, and the game seemed like a lot of fun. Contestants started off by choosing one blue card from the table, then had to drive around Mackinac Island at 4 different checkpoints to pick up 4 other cards. At the very end of their trip, they would have to come back to pick up their last red card from the table, and whatever hand they could make out of their 6 cards would be counted.

There ended up being quite a few full house hands which were the highest of the day, and 4 prizes were given out. It was fun seeing everyone come in and choose their cards. But I suppose if I would’ve had the chance to play, no one would stand a chance…