What will I miss about DE?

[Grace]

But you did move, Gretchen! (The Great Lakes are not the Atlantic.)

Pat, who also moved from New England to Michigan and still misses N.E.

That I did - when I was young and stupid

Have you ever seen Lake Superior? You stand and look out and can't see land - sort of like looking out at the Atlantic. The water is colder and not salty, but it is a huge expanse of blue.

[pomtzu]

Have you ever seen Lake Superior? You stand and look out and can't see land - sort of like looking out at the Atlantic. The water is colder and not salty, but it is a huge expanse of blue.

I made it to Lake Michigan many moons ago when I was just a kid. Holy mackerel - talk about cold..........

Every time I think about any of the Great Lakes - the song "Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald" pops into my head. Am I weird - or what?????

Oh no - now that will be stuck in my head all day. Thanks Gretchen and Pat!

[phesina]

Ahhh, "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"... thank you, Ellie, and thank you, Gordon Lightfoot! Now this has been stuck in my head all day too!

I've been to Lake Superior once.. When I was about 15 or 16, my family took a vacation trip to the Upper Peninsula. This was not long after the Mackinac Bridge linking Michigan's Lower and Upper Peninsulas had been built and opened to the public, and it was a big deal then to take the 5-mile stretch of it. (Still is for many, and I'm sure myself if I ever get up that way again.) We were quite thrilled driving across.

(Historical note: I was born in Detroit, grew up in Dearborn [Detroit suburb], in the southeastern corner of the state. I moved to Boston in 1969 and lived in the Boston area and then Providence until 2002. In many ways, that area became home to me in ways that Michigan never had been and still isn't really. But after some serious medical and other problems I moved back here, to Ann Arbor where my sister and her partner live, to be near my remaining family.)

The first night, we stayed in a motel in St. Ignace, just over the bridge on the U.P. We were treated to a display of Northern Lights that night! Not the colored kind, but beautiful shimmering layers of white light hanging in the sky.. still, not something you ever see around Detroit.

The next day we traveled along the northern coast of the U.P., which was my one visit to Lake Superior. I do not recall if we actually stopped and took a dip in the lake. It is the largest of the Great Lakes and the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area, with a volume of roughly 3-quadrillion gallons (see http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/superior/facts). I've heard that the Lake Superior water is MUCH colder than that of Lake Michigan!

We also visited Sault Ste. Marie* and watched the Soo Locks in operation, raising or lowering the water level of the St. Marys River between Lake Superior and Lake Huron, so that a ship can pass through from one lake to the other. The locks bypass the rapids of the river, where the water falls 21 feet (7 m) !!!

It was a delightful trip all around!


------------->
*Interesting factlet I just learned about Sault Ste. Marie: While there are two of them, across the St. Marys River from each other, one in Michigan and one in Ontario, they were originally ONE PLACE!!!...

"Sault Ste. Marie is a cross-border region in Canada and the United States. Formerly a single settlement from 1668 to 1817, it was subsequently divided by the establishment of the Canada–US border in the area." -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sault_Ste_Marie

[pomtzu]

Thanks for that tour, Pat - that was really interesting. I never got to tour any of that area as an adult, but have always been fascinated by the area and some of the history surrounding it.
I only visited in IL once - Chicago vicinity - and that was when I got to go to Lake Michigan. I was only about 9 or 10 years old, so that's the only real memory I have of it. The family had taken a trip out there to visit my brother. He and his first wife were living in the Des Plaines/Crystal Lake (?) area - or somewhere in that vicinity. I did go out to Michigan as an adult, but it was more as a babysitter - to keep my friend's small kids occupied, as they had to make arrangements and attend the funeral of a family member.

And I've been going around the house all day, humming Gordon Lightfoot songs. I sure did like him and other folk singers of that era - and definitely miss those oldies.

Woo-Hoo - I just dug out my CD of GL's Greatest hits. I'll have to put it on tomorrow while I sit on the floor - trying to brush and trim up Myndi. Then she's headed for a bath. She will not be a happy camper..........