You live where?

Evie Bloomfield here and I’ve come to Mackinac Island from Chicago. Some of my friends say that one place is just like another but they are so wrong. So I gave them instructions. This is how you know you are on Mackinac Island and you are so not in Chicago.

... if you have ever gotten frostbitten and sunburned in the same week. (though truth be told this could be Chicago too)

... if you can identify an Ohio accent.

…if you don’t need car insurance

…if a fender bender is a two-bike crash

... if you learned to pilot a boat before the training wheels were off your bike.

... if you point at the palm of your right hand when telling people where you live

... if "Down South" means Toledo.

... if a Big Mac is something you can drive across.

... if you have no problem spelling Mackinac Island.

... if you have as many Canadian coins in your pockets as American ones.

... if the trees in your backyard have spigots.

... if you know that a place called "Kalamazoo" really exists.

... if you bake with "soda" and drink "pop".

... if you know what a pastie is.

... if you know how to play Euchre.

... if fudge and bicycles remind you of  home sweet home.

... if you can name all 5 of the Great Lakes, and point to their locations around your left and right hands.

... if you know that Pontiac and Cadillac are cities.

... if you can actually pronounce Ypsilanti.

... if you own only three spices - salt, pepper and ketchup.

... if you design your Halloween costumes to fit over a snowsuit.

... if you keep track of the miles you put on your snow blower.

... if you think everyone from the city has an accent.

... if you think sexy lingerie is tube socks and a flannel nightie.

... if your snow blower gets stuck on the roof.

…if you save your Christmas tree to help mark the path across a frozen lake for the snow mobiles

... if summer takes place the second week of July

... if you find -20F a little chilly.

... if the kids drive to school in a snow mobile.

... if you know the 4 seasons: Winter, Still Winter, Almost Winter, and Yesterday was summer.

... if you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through 18 inches of ice and sitting there all day hoping that the food will swim by.

... you know the day the horses get off the ferry and return to the island

... if you have worn shorts and a coat at the same time.

... if you often switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day.

... if you see people wearing camouflage at social events (including weddings.)

... if down South to you means Ohio.

... if you go out to a fish fry every Friday.

…if the whole town is 500 people strong

... if you know what a Yooper is.

... if you know that UP is a place, not a direction.

This is how you know you’re from Mackinac Island. So, what defines someone from your neck of the woods? A special word? Food? Custom? Let me know and I’ll give away two  Geared for the Grave totes.

Come visit me on Mackinac Island in December and we’ll discover the place together.

Hugs, Evie

Geard for the Grave                                                                                                                                              

first book in the Cycle Path Mysteries

December 2, 2014