It is amazing how, as a student, I get the summer, Thanksgiving week, three weeks for Christmas, and spring break off, but I never really take a vacation. That’s what this week is about.

I was contacted by a troll (someone from Lower Michigan – under da bridge, the Mackinac Bridge ) who is coming up for the week for work. He wants a snowshoe guide. I decided that this would be a great opportunity, or excuse, to come down to Marquette to hang out with my friend Sandee.

Sandee’s place is the ultimate vacation spot. Life is simply different, here. Sure Copper Harbor is one of my favorite places in the world, but I do have goals, expectations, and responsibilities to tend to while I am there. I guess you can say that I create my own work. Even when I don’t have trail work, races, or other events to help with, I still manage to simply wear myself out. I really enjoy all of that, but while I’m in Marquette, I am sort of forced to enter a completely different world.

This may come as a shocker to many, but my life in Marquette is much slower than my life in Copper Harbor. It really is kind of strange because Copper Harbor is the end of the earth and has a handful of businesses – two handfuls of businesses – and Marquette is growing like an invasive plant species. Marquette has managed to adopt the very lifestyle and culture that I sought to escape from Lower Michigan. I came here for friendships and blurred socioeconomic lines. I get that in the Keweenaw, but those damn socioeconomic lines are held so dearly to many in the Marquette area. It is a shame because everyone has something to offer and occupation and income are poor measures of an individual’s worth.

Sandee’s house, or what we’ve referred to as my second home over the years, is located in a rural snow belt. There are horses, chickens, two beagles, and when I’m here, two dachshunds. There are also two cats: girlfriend kitty (she also has a real name), who has taken a liking to me and sleeps with me every night, and boyfriend kitty, or Picasso, because that’s what he reminded me of when Sandee first got him. I’d get a picture of him if he weren’t such a goofball, but you would totally see the Picasso reference. Kitty français – oh là là! He is truly what one would call a fraidy cat.