Friday, June 13, 2008

Friday Five: Life's a Beach

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This week's Friday Five is on "beachfront property":

1. Ocean rocks, lake limps? Vice versa? Or "it's all beautiful in its own way"?
Being a native Michiganian, and having very little exposure to ocean beaches, I have to vote for lakeshore life. Although I'm sure that all of you who live near the ocean love your beaches too.

2. Year-round beach living: Heaven...or the Other Place?
Oh, it's definitely God's country, even in the wintertime. Although I've never taken much of a shine to ice fishing -- too cold on the feet.

3. Any beach plans for this summer?
Well, we already had our annual springtime Leelanau Peninsula excursion, which included some lovely sightseeing along Lake Michigan (those of you contemplating a visit to these shores will want to visit the old fishing village of Glen Haven, north of Empire, which is now an historical site -- you can visit an old cannery-turned-boat garage/museum where the Park Service and friends restore old lake ships, buy tourist gewgaws at a restored general store, picnic on the grounds and take a lovely stroll through the dune grass and along the beach.

4. Best beach memory ever?
When I was a kid I loved going still fishing with my dad on the shores of our community's many small lakes. One of my fondest recent memories is of FT and my first trip up to northwest Michigan -- back before we were calling our outings "dates." We visited the Lake Michigan beach at Frankfort, then went up M-22 to Empire and checked out the lakeshore there.


5. Fantasy beach trip?
Believe it or not, I enjoy the idea of rocky northern beaches to warm southern ones. We want to visit Prince Edward Island and Maine one of these years, and will definitely be walking the beaches there.

Bonus Points: Art/Music/etc. that speaks to your experience of beaches:
Even though it's a ways inland, the snippet of Howard Hanson's "Symphony No. 2" with which the Interlochen Arts Academy ends each of its concerts says "Lake Country" to me.

6 comments:

Processing Counselor said...

Really beautiful picture! Get well to FT.

Sally said...

Like you I prefer the wild and rocky rather than the demosticated and tamer beaches, though catching a few rays never hurts.

Great play :-)

Auntie Knickers said...

If you and FT come to Maine, you're welcome to stay with us! We don't live on the shore, but it's only a few miles away. And it's plenty rocky.
I can certainly understand your love for the Michigan lakes too. When we lived in the Midwest and drove to Maine, one of my favorite parts of the trip was up around Escanaba and Manistique ... and along Lake Huron on the Canadian shore.

Jan said...

I can see your point about liking lakes by growing up near them. I never have, so I prefer oceans. Nice memories, too.

Anonymous said...

One of these days... I would LOVE to go to Maine... and see the rocky seashore. I can't imagine being at the beach... with rocks... and during the summer it still being somewhat cooler than our area!

LoieJ said...

I just got back home from the "ancestral place" near the shore of Lake Michigan. I actually didn't walk to or on the shore this trip -- there was lots of family stuff I had to do and sometimes there were storms. But I drove down to the shore one day and it smelled of fish, without the car windows open.

When I drive the 10 miles from the house to the nursing home, I take the Lake Shore Drive. What beauty! Much of it is close to the edge of the cliff. One of the delights of the area is that the relatively cool summers and the dampness cause wonderful growing conditions for the trees and they are so lush.

I also have a love for the smaller inland lakes because they have a more intimate sense one can't get from the ocean or a "Great Lake."