JANUARY

@ Artist Retreat

We haven't yet experienced January at Artist Retreat, but can say a few things below based upon available information. Photos and other info below show you what to expect if you visit in January.

January 2011 @ Artist Retreat - Snow fun and skiing at Cloudmont. Other events are recorded on the Events page at MentoneArts.org.

January 2012 @ Artist Retreat - We had to take a quick run up to Mentone for the weekend in early January, so now I have some words to say about what goes on there in the Winter.

Below is weather at the cabin during the first 2 weeks of January 2012. Notice the high was 65 and low was 19. Quite a range! We were there from the 4th through the 9th, so had pretty fair weather the whole time. We don't go out much in the early morning or late evening, so didn't actually see much of the 19-degree or 28-degree weather. Click graphic for more weather.

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So who says there's nothing to do in Mentone in Winter? We enjoyed our week in January there and bumped into several old friends. I checked on Cloudmont, but they said it was still too warm for their ski slope. They'd created snow early last week, but it melted. Will probably try again later this week.

Call them at 256-634-4344 for information.

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CALENDAR

Friendly Fireplaces of Mentone

One thing we did find to do in Mentone in January was to enjoy the fireplaces. See below.

This is the electric fireplace in the corner of our cabin. If you're renting the cabin and don't feel like getting out, there's plenty to see on the satellite channels. You can operate the fireplace with or without heat on. The movie showing there is Secretariat - great movie!

If you get tired of movies or it's time for lunch, you might want to head down to the Moonlight Bistro and enjoyed their fireplace - with a Fried Green Tomato Sandwich and some Fried Oreos for dessert.

After lunch, there's plenty to see wandering around the Log Cabin Village by the Bistro. You can spend several hours going through all of the shops they have in the village and their prices are great.

Then you can go across the road to the Mentone Springs Hotel to see if they have the big fireplace going. In the lobby, there's a large fireplace with 4 openings to each side of the room. They also have one in every guest room. The white fireplace on the right is in one of the hotel rooms. After wandering around the hotel, you might want to spend some time next door at the White Elephant or behind the hotel at the Forge Gallery. Both have some unique items at good prices and are open daily in the winter. Visit MyMentone.com to see more about them and their winter hours.

For the evening meal, we often go to the Wildflower Cafe. Joyce enjoys their Salmon Wellington and I usually order the Prime Rib.

They've converted their large fireplace into a stage for the evening entertainment, with the amplifiers and other equipment hidden in the fireplace. The photo here shows the singer on January 8th.