Grand Beach 2015

The Birthday Club's annual Grand Beach trip was scheduled for this weekend. We had to cancel the trip last year because of the snow and it almost happened again. There was a winter storm warning for last night through tonight, calling for 14-18 inches of snow with near blizzard conditions developing later on this afternoon (which also happens to be Super Bowl Sunday). But yesterday morning it was a bright sunny day and the roads were clear and dry, so we carried on with a close eye on the weather. 

The three carloads of ladies all arrived at Carol's lake house around 10:30am. We broke into Pam's bags of candy, had a champagne toast, then took a group shot with the selfie stick (my new favorite toy apparently!). There is such a positive energy and lots of noise when 11 women gather. 

We had our traditional lunch at Casey's in New Buffalo. Again, lots of dB (decibels) and laughs. In the early years, we would often browse the neighboring shops. Now we just head back to the house for a walk and to rest up for our marathon night of food, drink and laughter. This year we even had a very enlightening lesson on bonds, prepared and delivered by Carol. The lesson also involved shots of Fireball. That's how we roll. 

We woke up around 7am to snow and figured we should just get on the road. Good thing. It was a slow and steady ride home. I rode with Sheila who is an exceptional driver with lots of experience with snowy conditions. We made it home safely, with a little glitch when Sheila's Tahoe got stuck turning on to our street. Luckily there were some helpful guys with a plow and shovels and they remedied the situation quickly.

Thankful for fun friends and safe travels!