<p>Have spent much more time at lakes - large lakes versus inland lakes. Being a born Michigander, have to go with the great lakes - Erie, memories of growing up. Lake Michigan, a gorgeous trip all the way up the west coast of the state (notebook that trip for your bucket list!!!), Ontario and Toronto vacation memories. And my personal favorite, Lake Huron - the Canada side where our cottage is and 30 years of “another day in paradise” as we like to call it. :)</p>
<p>I love the things to do near Lake Erie. A summer without a trip to Sandusky and the Bass Islands was not a summer! But the lake itself is kinda yucky in my opinion. Its shallowness makes it choppy and muddy-looking, and the beach (Crane Creek) always had black gunk all over the shoreline.</p>
<p>My wife says Lake Superior is dark and scary, and she never wants to go back. She said she felt like it was going to swallow her up. Me, I love that feeling. I think that would make it a great place to have a cottage on the shore where I’d write my great novel whilst snowed in for a long winter.</p>
<p>We just returned from a week in Michigan. We stayed several days in my husband’s aunt’s beach house in Ludington and it was absolutely gorgeous. We hiked the state park and we walked the beach numerous times. I had no idea how beautiful and BIG Lake Michigan is. I had never equated Michigan with a “beach trip” but I would absolutely love to go back and spend a lot more time there. As far as the ocean, we loved Half Moon Cay (Bahamas), but there are several other places I love, too. It’s hard to peg an absolute favorite.</p>
<p>Acadia National Park - you can enjoy ponds, lakes, and the ocean. 40 miles of carriage roads built by John Rockefeller are hard to beat for biking, running, and hiking.</p>
<p>When we visited Chicago, and then Milwaukee, a few summers ago, we had the pleasure of seeing Lake Michigan. Just gorgeous. Someone aptly called it the lake that acts like an ocean. So true. </p>
<p>There was actually a high speed ferry in Milwaukee that cross Lake Michigan. One day, I’d love to go back there and ride that ferry, just for the experience.</p>
<p>Montegut, I was happy to see your vote for Ol’ Man River. Many years ago my DH took a gap year and canoed from Montreal to the Gulf. His letters and the photographs from tht trip gave me a great appreciation for the mighty Mississippi.</p>
<p>One of my DSs is living two or three blocks from Lake Michigan, right by Oak Street Beach, this summer. If I were he, I’d be down there every evening.</p>
I think that would make it a great place to have a cottage on the shore where I’d write my great novel whilst snowed in for a long winter.</p>