Is there any way to avoid ice other than staying on the ground?

I cancelled a flight yesterday because on top of strong gusty winds there
was an Airmet Zulu for light to moderate mixed and rime ice, and on top of
that the destination was reporting layers at about 2,000 and 4,000 feet, a
freezing level of about 3,000 feet, with occassional ceilings of 800 feet
and rain. It seemed to me that I could probably fly between or above the
layers en-route, but I was worried about the possibility of having to
descend through two layers of wet (and possibly icy) clouds and maybe have
to do an approach to minimums in very gusty winds.

I know I did the right thing based on my low level of experience, but any
ice tips from the experts, especially up here in the Great Lakes area.

--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
An Emacs reference mug is what I want. It would hold ten gallons of coffee.
-- Steve VanDevender