Going North for the Winter.

Snowbirds.

There is an entire culture, mostly retired people, who go south for the winter. Getting too old to shovel the driveway or go to the market in sub-zero temperatures, or drive on slick roads they go to Florida ... or Arizona from December to April.

I have lived in Virginia for a quarter century. Virginia has an “in between” climate: it’s winters are not terribly cold – last Christmas we got a magnificent (if unusual) layer of snow.

But mostly our winters are in the 40s with a mixture of sun, partly cloudy … to rain. For someone who grew up in Michigan, the winters in Virginia lacks conviction.

For over a decade my wife spent the first few months of the year that the Virginia legislature’s in session in Richmond.

On my own for about 10 weeks, I decide that I wanted the kind of winters that I remembered as a kid growing up on the shores of Lake Michigan. So I trekked to my home town to enjoy the snow in an inn that is mostly deserted in winter, except for the few couples spending the weekend away from the kids.

There could not be a more peaceful way to unwind than to sit by a fireplace reading a book while outside the snow if falling. Or going outside to walk to a coffee shop through several inches of snow.

   Or to see ducks paddling around in open stretches of water in an ice choked river.

Or driving out to the Lake Michigan shore to see the icebergs building up, and see no-one else around.

It’s the solitude as much as anything. Most people head south for the winter. If you want to be alone with your thoughts and your memories, you head north.

It also helps to have family close.