{"id":255,"date":"2018-05-21T12:30:53","date_gmt":"2018-05-21T16:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/abcexplorers.com\/?p=255"},"modified":"2018-05-21T12:30:53","modified_gmt":"2018-05-21T16:30:53","slug":"aonach-mor-moonlight-dinner-celebrating-our-30th-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abcexplorers.com\/index.php\/2018\/05\/21\/aonach-mor-moonlight-dinner-celebrating-our-30th-anniversary\/","title":{"rendered":"“A” is for “Anniversary at Aonach Mor”!-Harbor Springs, Michigan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AonachMorMoonlightDinner\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Thirty years is a long time to be married.\u00a0 We wanted to do something different for this special anniversary.\u00a0 Since our wedding date falls on January 8th, we are often at a loss for how to celebrate during the peak of Michigan’s winter weather.\u00a0 We had booked a beautiful room in Harbor Springs, Michigan<\/span><\/a> for the weekend.\u00a0 As part of our Anniversary package, we were given $150 resort credit, to be used at any of the nearby Boyne Resorts.\u00a0 I scanned the opportunities.\u00a0 There was skiing, tubing, dog sled pulls, horse drawn sleigh rides and something called the Aonach Mor Moonlight Dinner.\u00a0 Since we were on an “A” themed adventure, this caught my eye.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The advertisement stated that we would be taken from the Slopeside Lounge and transported up the ski hill to the North Peak Lodge.\u00a0 Here we would join 38 other people for a meal\u00a0of french onion soup, followed by roast beef, garlic mashed potatoes and sauteed vegetables, served by candlelight. This had us salivating.\u00a0 It sounded romantic and unique.\u00a0 Alan and I booked our seats.\u00a0\u00a0 At nearly $75 per person, it would be the perfect use of our hotel credit.<\/p>\n

Hoping to enjoy a glass of wine before our dinner, we arrived at Boyne Mountain<\/span><\/span><\/a> an hour in advance.\u00a0\u00a0We were surprised that we couldn’t find the lounge to meet our fellow guests in.\u00a0 Finally someone said that we were at the wrong resort!\u00a0 The sister company of Boyne Highlands<\/span><\/span><\/a> was where this event takes place!\u00a0 It was a 40 minute drive from our current location.\u00a0 We were now scheduled to depart with the group in just 30 minutes!\u00a0\u00a0Realizing \u00a0we would arrive late, I was near tears as anxiety soared.\u00a0 This was not how either of us had visualized our evening.\u00a0 It must be a common mistake though.\u00a0 The attendant who had assisted us, phoned the other lodge to say that we were on our way.\u00a0 We were assured that we would be met and taken up to the lodge.\u00a0 Now rushing, it was a stressful drive through dark and unmarked roads, over to the other resort.<\/p>\n

As expected, the sleigh had already left by the time we arrived.\u00a0 Waiting for us, with helmets and blankets in hand, was a member of the ski patrol.\u00a0 It appeared that we would be riding up the mountain on a rescue vehicle!\u00a0 Not\u00a0the \u00a0sleigh ride like we had hoped, but we now\u00a0felt very pampered as we were attended to by our\u00a0personal driver.\u00a0 It was pretty exciting to zoom along the ski trails with\u00a0snow flying everywhere.\u00a0 Our driver assured us that we were not far behind the last group that had departed and that we would still arrive in time for dinner.\u00a0 He was right.\u00a0 We pulled in, just as the last person was exiting the sleigh.<\/p>\n

North Peak Lodge was bathed in a soft\u00a0glow cast by\u00a0little white lights decorating the outside of the knotty pine building.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A large fire burned outside, filling the air with\u00a0the scent of\u00a0recently cut wood.\u00a0 We hurried to join the others.\u00a0 Entering the large open space, romance quickly filled the air. This was the ambience<\/span><\/span><\/a> we needed.\u00a0 Long rows of pine tables had been covered with fresh, white linens. The only light inside the building, was being cast from tiny candles set near each place setting.\u00a0 \u00a0Our appetites<\/span><\/a> quickly grew as the aroma,\u00a0of dinner\u00a0combined with\u00a0the rosemary and thyme sprigs,\u00a0set at\u00a0each elegant place setting, wafted towards us.\u00a0\u00a0Floor to ceiling windows looked out over the Mackinaw Bridge, which was now lit for the evening.<\/p>\n

\"P1018807\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We soon had our glass of wine in hand.\u00a0\u00a0Our meal was served family style, on large platters heaped with meat and bowls were piled high\u00a0by the accompanying side dishes.\u00a0 \u00a0Music filled the air as the strolling musician, Nelson Olestrom,\u00a0\u00a0took requests to serenade us with his accoustic guitar.\u00a0 He was excellent\u00a0as he\u00a0performed\u00a0popular oldies\u00a0from the likes of Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens and John Denver.\u00a0 His talent seemed boundless\u00a0when he sang\u00a0a current tune by one\u00a0of my favorite\u00a0musicians, Jason Mraz!\u00a0 All too soon our evening was ending.\u00a0 We completed our meal with a chocolate fondue.\u00a0 A few minutes remained to enjoy the bonfire and s’mores on the outside deck, before our departure.<\/p>\n

\"P1018826\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Not quite ready to return to reality, Alan and I\u00a0then piled into the back of the huge sleigh which was being\u00a0pulled by a snow groomer.\u00a0\u00a0 Tucked beneath wool blankets, our ride back to the\u00a0resort\u00a0was full of laughter as we sang show tunes, while traveling slowly down the now closed ski hill.\u00a0 It\u00a0had been\u00a0the perfect Anniversary celebration.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thirty years is a long time to be married.\u00a0 We wanted to do something different for this special anniversary.\u00a0 Since our wedding date falls on January 8th, we are often at a loss for how to celebrate during the peak of Michigan’s winter weather.\u00a0 We had booked a beautiful room in Harbor Springs, Michigan for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,11],"tags":[95,113,191,205,252,337,339,343],"class_list":["post-255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventures","category-relationships-spouse","tag-a","tag-anniversary","tag-food-drinks","tag-harbor-springs","tag-michigan","tag-tours","tag-towns","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abcexplorers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abcexplorers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abcexplorers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abcexplorers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abcexplorers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/abcexplorers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abcexplorers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abcexplorers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abcexplorers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}