Take a Peaceful ASMR Christmas Walk on Mackinac Island [Video]
The holidays look remarkably different on Mackinac Island as the hustle and bustle of rush hour is replaced by the sounds of footsteps on fresh snow.
Michiganders know a voyage to Mackinac Island is like a trip to a different world. This is even more true in the winter. Few make the trip across the icy Straits of Mackinac this time of year, and some days the ferry doesn't even leave the dock. Locals are the only ones left on the island for the winter months, and most wouldn't have it any other way. Now, you can see what this ultimate Michigan tourist destination looks like in the off-season.
As the video begins with a walk down the hill from Fort Mackinac, the first thing you can hear is the silence. No traffic, no ambient city noise, just the near-silent night. The crisp crunch of footsteps on fresh snow is the reason the video is labeled ASMR.
Coined in 2010, ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) is a relaxing, often sedative sensation that begins on the scalp and moves down the body. Also known as "brain massage," it's triggered by placid sights and sounds such as whispers, accents, and crackles.
You know that feeling you get when someone plays with your hair or just barely touches your skin? ASMR tickles your brain just like that.
The hike turns onto the main thorofare at Doud's Market, the oldest family-owned grocery store in America. Mackinac Island is full of history and unique facts, like having the only highway in the country where cars are illegal. M-185 is also called Lake Shore Drive and, as it becomes Main Street, you can see the abandoned harbor. The streets are nearly abandoned too. While most of our bicycles are hibernating in garages for the winter, many are still in use on Mackinac Island, and you can see them parked next to snowmobiles. In the lower peninsula, most of the time we see snowmobiles, it is a flash of color as they are speeding down a trail at 70 mph. Here, they are idling down the main street.
Watch as this peaceful walk wanders through much of the business district of Mackinac Island and although you'll notice the Christmas decorations seem to be inversely proportionate to the number of fudge shops, there's no denying the magic of Christmas is amplified by the silence.