Growing up in Michigan, the natural feature dominating my life has been the Great Lakes. One of the first things a Michigan child learns in school is HOMES, the acronym for remembering the names of all the Great Lakes, (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior). Lake Superior was the biggest, the coldest and by its name, of course, the best. Lake Michigan was where you went if you wanted sand dunes, big waves and warm water. Lake Huron's shore was quieter, its water colder and that's where you went to watch the sunrise. Lake Ontario was somewhere off in Canada, and then there was Lake Erie. The smallest and shallowest of the Great Lakes, the one with the creepy name, Lake Erie got no respect.
As a kid I always thought of Lake Erie as the place where the bodies of people who had drowned in Lake St. Clair or the Detroit River would eventually resurface.
Recently, my opinion of Lake Erie has changed. After leaving Stratford, Ontario, I camped at Lake Erie State Park, in Brocton, New York. The campground was on a high bluff above a beautiful crescent shaped beach. The sandy beach had large rocks which provided perfect spots for viewing the water. As a former Michigan kid, what I was viewing was totally mind-blowing. I was watching the sun "set" into Lake Erie...a Michigan impossibility!
The sunset was beautiful and a lively wind created some nice sized waves. After a while a friendly dog showed up to play in the waves providing me with my evening's entertainment. That night as I was drifting off to sleep I was left with two thoughts: 1. I hope the owners of that wet, sandy dog weren't sharing a tent with him, and, 2. Just where do those dead bodies resurface?
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