It’s a crisp cold morning, but the coffee is on and the hospitality warm and inviting at the Portage Point Inn.

This historic luxury resort on a peninsula between Portage Lake and Lake Michigan, is a prime tourist destination in the summertime, but the masses are missing out on a beautiful time to visit this sleepy village.

There was two feet of snow on the ground until a warming trend last week.

Shedding the holiday stress means that several things have gone unfinished, but yielded time for some other important pursuits — playing backgammon with my youngest in front of the fire, preparing dinner for seven each evening, but always careful to make some extra for friends who may be around at suppertime.

I brought just a little work with me, which I finished before the sun began tinting the horizon with a pinkish cast.  Now I have the rest of the day to tend to the important things — my family.