cedar lodge

I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions. I find that if I get an idea in my head, I have the same amount of resolve no matter the date and don’t need the fancy title and added pressure of declaring before my fellow man my intentions. But I do believe in setting goals. And writing them down at a certain time of the year to revisit later. Shoving as much knowledge about photography into my head as possible is one of my goals for 2009. Along with running a 5K. And starting a photography blog.

I’m happy to say that I have now accomplished one of my goals for the year. And, in the spirit of the new year, here are some of the photos from our trip to Cedar Lodge in beautiful Bellaire, Michigan to ring in 2009. Eight of us spent four days in the snowy woods of the area and had a blast relaxing, getting outside a bunch, and toasting s’mores by the fireplace. It was a great time!

The weather was great the whole time we were there. We headed out on New Year’s Day to Shanty Creek for a short snowshoe hike:

This was the dock behind our cabin. A short boardwalk leads from the house to the water. Gorgeous.:

This stand of trees just made me plain happy. The snow was up to my knees but the views were too good to pass up!:

This pile of wood in a neighbor’s driveway was just waiting to heat someone up!:

From the time we arrived to the time we left, I’m not sure that the snow ever stopped coming down. It was steady and calm – like a snow globe.:

I love anything miniature so this little tree just made me smile. I also thought it had a certain Charlie Brown feel to it and everybody likes Charlie Brown!:

Everywhere I looked, I felt more and more like I was in a dream…:

I loved the way the branches were hanging off of the trees here. They reminded me of a line of dancers on a stage introducing the main event with their arms extended…:

Mike disappeared outside for a couple of hours on New Year’s Eve while the rest of us were inside playing cards. When he came back, he presented us with four marshmallow toasting sticks, complete with special white cord to aid in gripping. Since I take s’mores and the toasting of marshmallows very seriously, this made my day!:

The special toasting sticks and our lovely fire. A belated happy 2009 to all!: