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Topic: North (05/05/16)
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TITLE: Mystic Seas | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jeremy Kirby
05/11/16 -
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As a child I traveled to my grandmother’s house two or three times a year. I basked in the ghost stories that abounded in that house. I visited the church that sat on the land my great-grandfather donated. Artifacts from an Indian burial ground, still haunting the surrounding forest, captivated me. I have to say that the mystery of this place forever changed me.
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As an adult, I now return to a sleepy coastal town with my wife and children. We visit an old lighthouse that once shined brightly upon Thunder Bay. We are greeted by a lovely old woman who captures our attention. She stands by a warm fire and tells the story of a Captain, long deceased. He valiantly lit the lantern of the lighthouse, saving the crew of a ship about crash into the rocks of the shallow bay.
“You see, she said, the captain was a ghost and there was no lamp in the lighthouse!”
We meander along the coastline and watch a ship slowly pass by. The great lakes freighters are a sight to see, especially at night. They are lit up like a small floating city.
I feel another rush of excitement as I cross the Mighty Mac and emerge as a “troll” from under the bridge. Now, in the Upper Peninsula, the forest grows thick and remote. Towns are spaced farther apart and we have passed our last McDonald’s for quite some time. Rivers abound along the rocky land creating a multitude of majestic waterfalls. The wolves howl in the distance as the sun begins to set.
The darkening skies, sadly, steal our chances at seeing many more exquisite scenes. Soon we find the Inn where we will spend the evening. “Good night,” to the wolves and bear, the elk and the eagles!
“Good morning,” to a huge home cooked breakfast that you can only find here in this incredible place! We drive again, north up the peninsula, past ancient copper mines long abandoned. Soon the land squeezes into a narrow finger and small mountains jut upward. We are in Copper Harbor. Mist rises from the forest as warm air meets the cold breath of Lake Superior.
We catch a boat ride across the great "Gitchigoomie". It is a six-hour trip on rough waters to magnificent Isle Royale. Our largest lake is cold as ice and quick to anger. She tosses our little commuter boat side to side, up and down. I think its great fun, so I walk outside to the bow and proceed to spread my arms wide like Rose on Titanic! However, the lake doesn’t find this amusing and we drop into a trough and plow, headlong, into a massive wave. I get drenched and scamper back inside the cabin, shivering and humbled.
Finally, we dock at the northernmost island in Michigan. Here is where we push ourselves. We buy our hikers’ permits and strap on our backpacks, heading uphill into the roadless wild. The trail is rigid and rock-strewn but soon descends into lowland where soft dirt cushions our steps. I look out into a pond and see the first of many moose. I pull out my camera and she appears to pose for the picture.
“What a perfect place,” I think to myself.
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A week later, back at home amidst the cornfields, I look through the pictures of my trip. I laugh as I watch a video of my children standing at the “bottom” of Gravity Hill. They never did figure out how their ball rolled up the hill!
A smile dances at the edge of my lips as I marvel at a small island who peers back at me through a ghostly mist. I flip to another picture; it is of a great sleeping bear buried underneath huge sand dunes. I see her two Manitou or ghost cubs resting peacefully in the western waters of Lake Michigan. Ironically, an ancient forest called “Valley of the Giants” grows upon the back of the smallest cub.
Michigan is indeed a most remarkable place.
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Good job with this.
Blessings~
Colleen Coble, an inspirational author, has written several mystery books set in the U,P.
One is titled, "Thunder Bay".
I'll be very surprised if this entry is lacking a ribbon by the end of this week.
Blessings~