As a young child and even today, I find great joy and comfort when I can sit and look out on Lake Michigan in Sturgeon Bay Wis. Since 1948, I have enjoyed this wonderful opportunity. My children and grandchild also have been blessed to enjoy this lake. As a child we would put our bathing suits on in the morning and swim and sun all day! I have so many wonderful memories about our mother, the lake, as we call Lake Michigan, that I hope we are able keep the Lake a place of fun, and enjoyment for future generations.

~Diane Reynolds, Palos Heights, IL

In the summer of 2005 my wife and I cruised Lake Michigan for six days. I had no idea how big the Lake was, how powerful the waves and water were, or how beautiful it is. We experienced the Lake at sunrise and sunset and loved each moment of each day. I believe the best way to experience Lake Michigan is to be on the Lake.

~Bruce Menzies, Springfield, MO

What do the Great Lakes mean to you? What's your fondest memory of time spent on the Great Lakes, and its shores and streams - in its wetlands, prairies and forests? How have the Great Lakes changed in your lifetime - what's different about your favorite fishing hole, pier, beach or wetland? Click on the "New Topic" button below to share your story.

If you have a photo to accompany your story, please send an electronic copy separately to Brenna Wanous, Great Lakes Town Hall Manager, at brenna@greatlakestownhall.org (please include your name and email in the message).

Lake Superior Day is held every year in July! Lissa Radke (Ashland, WI)   Lake Superior Day is held around the world's largest lake on the third Sunday in July. Lake Superior Day was started in the early 1990s as a way to highlight the importance of this great water body to the environment and economy of this basin. Since then many events have been held to educate or entertain people about lake issues, special places, and recreational opportunities. The Lake Superior Binational Forum is promoting this basin-wide event to highlight the personal, environmental, economic, spiritual connections people have to this unique world treasure. You can get more information at our web site: http://www.superiorforum.info The Lake Superior Binational Forum encourages the other four Great Lake communities to also hold a day for their lakes on the third Sunday in July!

11:16 am 06/14/2007

Five Great Lakes In One Great Day Tom Page (Rockford, Michigan)   On a sunny day in August 2006, twenty nine adventurous Michiganders visited and/or swam in all five Great Lakes in one day! Eight kids and eleven adults arrived at Crescent Beach on Lake Erie near Fort Erie, Ontario at sunrise. Although a high bacteria warning forbid swimming, the group splashed our feet in the water and moved on to Charles Daley Park in Lincoln, Ontario for a dip in Lake Ontario. Crossing the Blue Water Bridge at Sarnia/Port Huron a lunchtime swim in Lake Huron preceeded the long drive to Mackinaw City and a swim in Lake Michigan before a sunset dip in Lake Superior at Pointe Iroquois Lighthouse near Brimley, MI. It was a great day for all. Kids vs. Adults competitions at each lake and quizzes about the great lakes during the drives were included. We are wondering if anyone has ever done this before? Are we destined for "Ripley's Believe It Or Not?" or the "Guinness Book of World Records"? Tom Page, Rockford, MI

07:16 pm 11/07/2006

Manistee River Eric Baerren (Mt. Pleasant, Michigan)   This isn't quite a lake memory, but I'm hoping that Michigan's unique geographic position makes all of it in-bounds regarding stories. A couple years ago, I was sitting along the Manistee River between M-55 and Mesick one morning, reading a book and sipping some coffee. I looked up -- the acclimation to the Great Outdoors sometimes does that for reasons you don't really understand -- and saw a Great Blue Heron across the river (maybe 25 feet at that point) wading down the river, occasionally darting its beak into the water. It just walked slowly downstream, seemingly oblivious to me (I bet if I moved fast, I'd have learned it was keeping a careful watch). It reached the place where a small stream trickled into the river, and disappeared into the shrub cover.

12:08 pm 01/01/2006

Pictured Rocks Eric Baerren (Mt. Pleasant, Michigan)   Geez, every time I've been near the lakes seems to have left a cherished memory etched in my mind -- Petoskey in the dead of winter, the way my son bawled for 15 minutes after dipping his feet in Lake Michigan for the first time, backpacking on North Manitou -- but the one that stands out most clearly was while hiking in Pictured Rocks. It was the end of May, and no one else was around (weather wasn't too bad, so I was surprised). Twice a day I'd go to Lake Superior to pump some water through my filter, twice a day I'd have to wade into the surf because of the wave action, and twice a day I'd walk onto the beach with shins numbed by the cold. I'd like to say that I learned something deep and significant from it, but I didn't. What I did learn was that -- after a long, hot day of hiking up and down the shore -- when I went into the lake for a quick dip to clean off, not to stay too long or go too far out.

12:00 pm 01/01/2006

Point Pelee, Ontario Dave Dempsey (St. Paul, MN)   This story comes from a friend who is one of many bird lovers who appreciates the flyways of the Great Lakes. For many years Barbara Stanton was an outstanding editorial writer for the Detroit Free Press and this post shows why -- she passionately cares about and profoundly understands the majesty of nature. ?Because Pelee sticks out so far into Lake Erie, it?s the first landfall migrating birds come to after their flight across the lake. It helps that there is a refuge at Crane Creek on the Ohio shore, and a string of islands, from the Bass Islands on the United States side to Pelee Island in Canadian waters, leading like stepping stones across the lake. The birds need a green place to come down in, and they like to have the reassurance of a greenbelt below them as they travel. Many species migrate at night. So they come down on Pelee exhausted and hungry and at the first light of morning, the birders arrive to scout them out. ?I was in my late 30s when I discovered birding and went over to Pelee first with Detroit Audubon, later on my own or with a friend. To catch a wave of warblers in those first years was incredible, like standing there in some sort of mythic rain of riches. The trees were alive with warblers, trembling with warblers. It was like walking into a jewel box, or an Aladdin?s cave. There?d be dozens of them, Blackburnians, redstarts, yellows, Cape Mays, myrtles, orange-crowned, Nashvilles, parulas, magnolias, black-throated blues, black-throated greens, yellow-throated, Wilson?s, Canadas?It was glorious. You?d feel your heart lift from the beauty of it.? Barbara Stanton

08:28 pm 12/12/2005