Theresa's Mixed Nuts: Ice Ice Baby!

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Ice Ice Baby!

I'm a beach bum and truly despise winter, but I do love how snow can beautify everything it touches. We live close to Lake Michigan, so we get that nasty lake effect snow. The crap that is heavy and wet and makes driving conditions almost unbearable. I normally keep my butt parked in my nice warm house until the season has passed, but this year I decided to take a little drive to St. Joe, Michigan once the temps took a drastic dip to scope out the lighthouses when they freeze over from the cold. I've shared a few glimpses on here and my Instagram, but today I'll give you a bigger picture of how amazing Mother Nature can be in the winter. Not that we are going to become besties any time soon, at least not until she returns my beloved beach weather to me, but I'll give her credit for turning an ordinary lighthouse into a work of art.

Frozen Lighthouse St. Joe Michigan

You can see here that once it gets super cold out, the water from the waves hits the lighthouse causing it to freeze over. Eventually, the entire catwalk freezes over as well, but I arrived too early in the season and only got snaps of the first frozen half.

Frozen Lighthouse St. Joe Michigan

Frozen Lighthouse St. Joe Michigan


With the crazy weather we get, you have to plan your visit just right or you'll miss seeing this beauty in person. I follow a local photographer on Facebook who snaps the area daily to get an idea of when the ice starts forming. You can see some of his amazing shots by searching Joshua Nowicki Photography on Facebook or take a glimpse of some of his work HERE. His photos are much better than mine ;)

Then there's this little gem across the way with its massive icicles.

Frozen Lighthouse St. Joe Michigan

Frozen Lighthouse St. Joe Michigan

Frozen Lighthouse St. Joe Michigan

Frozen Lighthouse St. Joe Michigan

The stairs leading up...


These little frozen stumps make for fun winter seating if you don't mind the cold.

Frozen Lighthouse St. Joe Michigan
 
The lighthouses aren't the only things that get covered in ice. The guardrails are a beautiful sight frozen over as well! In some areas they are just iced over and in other parts they are REALLY iced over.



Frozen Lighthouse St. Joe Michigan

I also decided to take a drive over to New Buffalo, Michigan to check out their lighthouse. The massive rocks are so fun to walk on in the summer months, but do look pretty covered in snow and ice.

Frozen Lighthouse

Frozen Lighthouse

Frozen Lighthouse

Even the branches don't stand a chance when it's this cold out!

Frozen Twigs

Frozen Twigs

No Swimming

If you find yourself around the lower part of Michigan in the winter, be sure to check out the frozen lighthouses. They look even more incredible in person! Be sure to follow me over on Instagram where I'll be sharing a few more of my favorite wintertime lighthouse snaps over the new few weeks.




39 comments:

  1. Are people allowed to come close? I'm guessing those icicles could easily kill a person! You could easily sell these photos to foreign press, deary, they'd sell like hot cakes, trust me!
    We've only seen light dusting here, but the rest of my country has been under blizzards for a week now, and it is minus ten to minus twenty degrees outside.
    Hope you managed to get safe from Chicago on frozen roads!

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    1. Yes, you can go right up to it but it's at your own risk. Jason was more concerned with sliding off the pier and falling into the freezing water. He did mention getting impaled by one of those icicles as one of his fears so we didn't stick around taking pictures up close for too long.
      It's been warmer here for the past week. All of the snow has melted and it's just rainy and gloomy. We were concerned about icy roads heading into Chicago yesterday, but it was smooth sailing. I ended up getting there 45 minutes early!

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  2. They sure do look grand indeed. About the only thing snow is good for. I'll keep my bum in the house most times though. Can't go freezing off my little rhyming umm fingers.

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    1. I agree. It is only good for putting a calm clean look on the earth, but other than that, it can bug off as far as I'm concerned.

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  3. That's incredible...I've never seen anything remotely that cold in person!!! I mean...it's January 12th and it's in the 70's here today (although we did stay in the upper 30's all this past weekend). It's supposed to be 78 on Friday. I won't complain. LOL! Although, it would be nice to see some snow for a change. We had a snow flurry on Saturday...it seriously lasted for all of 2 minutes. Haha!

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    1. Color me jealous! If I never saw snow again, I would be just fine. 70's in January sounds like pure heaven to me!

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    2. And I just noticed I'm a day ahead of myself...it's only Wednesday the 11th! Ha!

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    3. Wishful thinking wanting it to be a day closer to the weekend. I feel your pain hahaha!

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    4. Yes...for sure. It's been a very trying week at work - I love my job, but this week has been really rough. :(

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  4. It is seriously amazing what mother nature can do. Those lighthouses are ah-mazing.

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    1. I bet you get to see some cool iced covered things too in Boston!

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  5. I am so amazed by the power of mother nature. Who would think that simple water spray could turn into something so amazing and beautiful.

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    1. I agree! It's a simple concept but the results can be stunning!

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  6. Wow, those lighthouses are beautiful all frozen over like that. I don't know if I could handle the cold to go look at them though!

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    1. It was super cold that day even our face masks were forming ice crystals around the mouth area where we were breathing out!

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  7. That's amazing! So pretty!

    We had a place that looked like that downtown last year. It wasn't a good thing. It was a fire that started in our downtown historic area. Firefighters were doing all they could to save it. It was iced all over in the end. It was both pretty and tragic at the same time.

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    1. I remember your photos Alissa. It did seem like such a huge loss for your community!

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  8. Swimming there would be suicide

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  9. Wow! These shots are strikingly gorgeous. We don't get anything close to ice or snow here in Las Vegas.

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    1. As pretty as it is, I'd much prefer Vegas weather to Indiana weather!

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  10. Of all the seasons, Winter is my least favorite. After these photos however, I am finding it hard not to like the cold.

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    1. I'd say the beauty to the snow and ice is the only redeeming quality of winter. It's my least favorite too!

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  11. These photos are breathtaking! I find ice so beautiful, the way is freezes really is something.

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  12. Beautiful photos! Some of them made the structures look like alien monsters! I love the photo of the guard rail too. It may be freezing cold but indeed there is beauty in everything!

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    1. Aliens is a good way to put it. Some of those big icicles are scary!

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  13. Those pictures are just amazing! We are right on Lake Erie so I feel your pain with the cold :)

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    1. I bet you get a lot of cool things that freeze over too then. I've only been to Cedar Point area like twice in the winter, but we never really went to the lake to see if anything was frozen over. The park does look really pretty covered in snow though!

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  14. Those are some really cool pictures...literally! It looks like someone made a cake in the shape of a lighthouse. I think it is really pretty.

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  15. That is amazing - I've never seen anything like it! I guess I never considered that this naturally happens near the ocean too. Great photos!

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  16. Wow! How incredible are these photos. As much as I hate the snow and cold, I LOVE looking at photos like this. So pretty. - jeanine

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  17. These are some real pretty pictures!
    They really depict a winter wonderland.

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  18. Those are some awesome pictures. The first one is pretty enough to blow up and frame! Glad you got to do something fun outside in the winter!! This is a fantastic experience/sight!

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  19. Now that is exciting! I wonder how many times the ice has caused significant damage to these structures.

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  20. Wow your photos are amazing Theresa. They almost look like something out of a sci fi movie. I LOVE winter although we have had more than our fair share of cold days here.

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  21. Those were fantastic winter shots, Theresa. But better be careful with all those ices and icicles..

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  22. Wow!!
    cool pics in cold weather .
    taken amazingly and very artistically !!!

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  23. This is the epitome of Frozen! Wow i have never seen so much ice like that before!

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  24. Those pictures are very beautiful. You did a great job capturing all the majesty of ice. But, like you, I am so not a fan of the cold or snow or ice.

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