TWA:NE (4) Comparing the Incomparable Great Lakes

I’ve spent most of my life in Michigan and grew up luxuriating in the beauty of the Great Lakes, but in case you’ve not had the pleasure of getting to know them, let me tell you just a little bit!

Alan enjoying a Lake Superior Sunset with our two youngest

They’re one of North America’s most unique treasures and a benefit to the entire world.

Lake Superior Winter Sunrise

Why? Because they’re the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth (by surface area; they’re second by volume). They are also crucial because the five inter-connected Great Lakes—Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario— contain 21% of the world’s fresh water and 84% of North America’s fresh water. Beyond the critical importance of providing fresh drinking water, the area also supports some 50 million jobs.

The Great Lakes as seen from outer space on April 24, 2000 (Public Domain)

Four of the Great Lakes are jointly owned by Canada and the United States, but Lake Michigan is entirely within America’s borders.

Winter Sunset over Lake Michigan at Grand Haven, Michigan

In fact, Lake Michigan holds the title of the largest freshwater lake in the world that is fully within the borders of one country.

View of Lake Superior from Sugarloaf Mt.

However, it is Lake Superior that holds the world title for the lake with the largest surface area (unless you want to count the Caspian Sea, which is inland but not fresh water).

Lake Superior Sunset taken in the Upper Peninsula

Lake Superior is so deep that by volume it contains more water than the other four Great Lakes combined!

Our family lives in the state of Michigan, which is basically two huge sandbars (Upper and Lower Peninsulas) surrounded by four of the Great lakes. We live closest to Lake Michigan and have loved the benefit of the lake’s pristine shoreline of sugar sand beaches that seem to run endlessly up our entire west coast. As I understand it, Michigan has the longest “shoreline” of any state in America (3,288 miles of freshwater), although Alaska has the longest “coastline” (along the ocean; 6,640 miles).

Lake Huron (and the Straits of Mackinac) as seen from Mackinac Island

However fascinating facts and figures are, the bottom line for me is that the Great Lakes are life-giving and gorgeous, and I’ve loved living in the middle of these paradisial lakes!

Coastal Lake Huron on Michigan’s eastern side

So, on our tour of America’s Northeast, it was natural for us to want to spend a little time visiting Lake Erie and Lake Ontario too.

Bluffs along Lake Ontario at Fair Haven Beach State Park in Upstate New York

After visiting Lake Erie State Park, our next destination was Fair Haven Beach State Park on Lake Ontario.

Sterling Pond in Fair Haven Beach State Park

Included in this park is a wonderful area for viewing water birds such as swans, geese, ducks, blue herons, etc. called Sterling Pond.

Boardwalk at Fair Haven Beach State Park

Although in summer I’m sure this park is bustling with swimmers, it was almost deserted on the rainy autumn day we visited, but it was no less enticing for us!

Little Sodus Bay on Lake Ontario

Wouldn’t you love to be able to run outside any time and hike along a beautiful, sandy shoreline? To me, water symbolizes life. My mom, who grew up on the western prairies, used to sigh with contentment when we got close to her childhood home and the horizon opened up to endless wheatfields and unfettered skies. I’m just the opposite. I sigh with contentment when I’m surrounded by trees and water. How about you?

Lake Huron. Tawas, Michigan

I guess both water and wheat are needed to survive, so I’m glad we have both in America, and I hope you have both in your life too!

Lake Huron and the Georgian Bay, as seen on a return flight from Europe

By the way, I hope you also have a plentiful supply of both food and drink spiritually as well. If your spirit is feeling hungry or thirsty, please start meditating on the Bible, where you can find an unending supply of food for the soul. As God invites us:

“Come, everyone who thirsts,
    come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
    come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
    without money and without price.
² Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
    and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
    and delight yourselves in rich food.
³ Incline your ear, and come to me;
    hear, that your soul may live . . .” (Isaiah 55:1-3, English Standard Version)

P.S.Another highlight of Lake Erie that we missed by not going through Ontario this time was Point Pelee National Park, which is the southernmost point of the Canadian mainland. It’s located on a peninsula extending into Lake Erie and is well worth a visit!

Point Pelee National Park, Ontario, Canada

Canada’s Balmy Point Pelee National Park

Learning to Treasure Manna

“There’s no use telling my kids Bible stories again. They’ve heard them so often they know them by heart.”

Really?? I don’t think so.

Sambo and the Tiger

As a little girl, I can remember begging my mother to tell me “one more time” about how Sambo outsmarted the hungry tigers or how the silly princess could feel a pea under all those layers of mattresses. I never tired of hearing Pooh Bear’s adventures in the Hundred Acre Woods or about the elephant’s child with his ‘satiable curiosity.

How the Elephant Got His Trunk, in Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories

As a homeschooling mom, one of my (many) mistakes was in failing to reinforce learning enough, specifically in not forcing my children to solve simple math problems over and over again or practice their multiplication and division tables ad nauseum. I hated math as a kid because it was so “BORING!,” so as soon as my children could rattle off their equations, I let them move on to the next step in mathematical education. Big mistake! As adults, some of my kids who didn’t pursue higher mathematics in college no longer have the times tables as part of their muscle memory.

There are some things we all need to have instilled in us as muscle memory. You may think we no longer need to know mathematical principles with calculators at our fingertips, but what about how to make wise choices when confronted with moral decisions? The Bible is filled with true examples of the good and bad choices people made and how those decisions affected their futures. I didn’t grow up in a Christian home, but I would love to have had ingrained in my heart the courageous response of Daniel to idolatry or how Esther was willing to chance losing her life in order to save her people.

The Bible is called “The Word of God” and likened to bread—manna for our souls. “What is it?” Nothing less than that which feeds our spirits and helps us to grow spiritually. It wasn’t that manna didn’t taste good; it tasted like “wafers made with honey” (Exodus 16:31). Plain and simple as it was, manna was given miraculously day by day, could not be freeze-dried for future reference, and was (also miraculously) the perfect food to sustain the children of Israel as they wandered through the desert! This is a perfect picture of how we need to imbibe the Bible for spiritual sustenance as we journey through the arid wilderness of this world! However, just as the children of Israel tired of manna, many people (young and old) tire of meditating on their “daily bread,” the Word of God.

Please don’t stop feeding yourself or your children! The Bible is full of milk (1 Peter 2:2) and meat (Hebrews 5:12-14). God’s words are sweeter than honey (Psalm 119:103), but they also make us strong (Proverbs 10:29). “Give us this day our daily bread” is our prayer to our heavenly father, but it is also the need of our earthly children . . . both physically and spiritually! It was the basis on which Jesus was able to resist temptation: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God” (Luke 4:4). We all need physical and spiritual food every day in order to be healthy and strong. The Bible is one book but filled with sixty-six books including history, poetry, songs, letters, wise sayings, prophecies, and more! It’s like food. We all need “food,” but there are many classes of food, such as vegetables, fruits, grains, dairy, and more! Let’s keep feeding ourselves and our children every day—spiritually as well as physically.

“Come, everyone who thirsts,
    come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
    come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
    without money and without price.
² Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
    and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
    and delight yourselves in rich food.
³ Incline your ear, and come to me;
    hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant” (Isaiah 55:1-3).

Where to Eat and Where to Stay on Mackinac Island

Over the fifty years of our visiting Mackinac Island,  Alan and I have tried most of the restaurants and many different hotels. When the kids were little, we often camped in St. Ignace or Mackinaw City
and just took the boat over for the day, packing picnic lunches and mega snacks.  In fact, for years I would make my own fudge,
and sometimes Alan would haul over all our bikes too.  There’s no way of making a trip to the island “cheap,”  but these options definitely keep the costs down a little.  In the last ten years, since the kids have grown up, Alan and I have been exploring more, and I want to share a few of our favorite finds,  although to be honest, we keep trying new places, because the variety is fun,  and there seem to be so many great options.  Concerning food, our all-time favorite lunch spot is the Village Inn.  The food is always delicious.  It’s not quite as casual as a hotdog out on the boardwalk (also very fun),  or as gourmet as a dinner at the Grand Hotel (which is superb),  but every meal is consistently excellent,  and we almost always end up eating there at least once while we’re on the island.

When we still had several kids at home, we stayed at “La Chance” Cottage  (lovely; pictured above) and ate at “Brian’s BBQ” (great food and good prices). They’re under new ownership now, so I’m not sure how that’s affected prices.Since those “good, old days,” we’ve been “found” via social media, and I tend to look for special package deals and online offers.

Among our favorite “package deals” so far are the Island House,  which is one of the (many) beautiful, old historic hotels built back in the 1800’s, and Mission Point Resort,  which is another great place to stay.  They have excellent dining and a vast lawn for relaxing! Of course, the Grand Hotel is the quintessential lodging experience. My parents used to stay every year either early or late in the season, when they typically run special deals, although Alan and I have only stayed there once… during a medical meeting, with reduced, corporate rates. One of the perks for staying there is getting a carriage ride up to the hotel, but everything is top flight. It would make a great honeymoon spot!  For “every day special,” the main street is full of hotels. Here is my list of “Let’s try these someday.”
(If you’ve tried any of them, please let me know what you think, will you?) Cloghaun Bed and Breakfast Metivier Inn Lake View Hotel (on Main Street) Lilac Tree Hotel  The Inn on Mackinac If you’ve stayed somewhere and loved it, will you let the rest of us know? Thanks!

Every time we visit Mackinac Island, Alan says it feels like a little piece of heaven on earth, because it’s so remote, peaceful, and beautiful.      Like heaven, you can’t really get there on your own! (Some probably try.)Jesus is like the boat that ferries us to this place of beauty and joy: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6). Like Mackinac Island, there will be wonderful food in heaven, but unlike Mackinac Island, you won’t have to be rich to afford it!  “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price” (Isaiah 55:1)“Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness” (Isaiah 55:2).Like Mackinac Island (and even better!), there will be many beautiful places to stay: “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). However, like Mackinac Island, heaven is a “private residence,” and we can’t stay there without permission! Thankfully, Jesus has invited us all to come: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). To go to Mackinac Island, you have to have time and money, but to get to heaven, all you have to do is have desire and faith: “Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you” (Isaiah 55:3). What is the covenant? Salvation by believing in Jesus and and surrendering your life to him. As Jesus taught, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matthew 11:29).You may never get to Mackinac Island, but you can always get to heaven if you want, because Jesus promised: “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:37).* (*This last beautiful photo is another gift used by permission of Robert Hardee.)