The Lakes of My Life

Despite living in Michigan, I didn't really grow up on a lake. My home is located not too far from some residential lakes, but I have never lived on one. Growing up, my family had a blue and white fishing boat. Every spring, my parents, sister, and I would pull the boat into our front yard and beginning prepping it for use. We would pull off its winter cover and start by removing the fall leaves that had somehow managed to slip their way under the cover along with presents left by our neighbor's cats. While my dad hooked up the motor to the hose and made sure it was in working order, my mom, sister, and I would scrub off the outside, making it look good for a whole summer's use. Even though I loved taking the boat out to the nearest public lake (about ten minutes away), it always seemed a very stressful task to get it in and out of the water. But, once we were in, we were able to cruise around. If my whole family was on the boat, we would explore the channels and just enjoy the lake. My favorite channel had tree roots growing down into the water on one side while the other side had houses lining the bank. One of the people living there had placed fake (yet surprisingly realistic looking) alligators along the roots of the trees. I've seen people get startled over them more than once. If it was just my dad and me in the boat, that meant we were going fishing. I was never patient enough to cast my line far out and wait. Whenever my dad wasn't looking, I would dip my hooked worm into the schools of tiny blue gills swirling around out boat "Look, I caught one!" Some years passed when we wouldn't take the boat out at all and eventually, my dad sold it.

The Great Lake that I have spent the most time on is Lake Huron. My cousin's grandparents have a beach front cottage in a town known as Caseville (most well-known for their Cheeseburger in Paradise festival). When people ask me where it is, I just point to the tip of my thumb. Every time I go there and walk along the beach, I feel like I'm walking along an ocean. The soft waves are wonderful to fall asleep to and the soft sand is perfect for taking strolls. When I came to Grand Valley, everyone seemed to know so much about Lake Michigan. But, my Great Lake is Huron.