For me, my favorite memories of childhood are around those lakes. Fishing in a small row boat with my father near the break-water into Lake Superior, for examp

For me, my favorite memories of childhood are around those lakes. Fishing in a small row boat with my father near the break-water into Lake Superior, for example. My dad had to row furiously because we had drifted too close. It was a nervous couple of minutes as we inched away from rough water back to the inner lake. You don't take a rowboat out onto Lake Superior, Lake Superior takes your rowboat, and you. I recall the stone beaches in Copper Harbor... No sand, just large rounded stones, smoothed by the constant beating of Lake Superior's icy water. In the summer, my sister and I would wade out on the stones and see what we could find in the water. It was freezing cold! But it was so cool to walk on stone instead of sand. The sandy mini-peninsulas on the Northern tip of Michigan's lower peninsula also hold fond memories. Sleeping Bear Dunes, looking out across Lake Michigan. Clean air, seagulls hanging in the sky... Lots of stories that remain like impressionist paintings and leave that taste of happy childhood memories behind. Yes, the Great Lakes are pretty great.