8 states, 5 lakes and 1 province

Phew! We're headed home now after a three-week odyssey around the great lakes. What a fabulous trip! We have visited eight states and one province: Maryland (of course), Pennsylvania, New York, Ontario, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, and Ohio. We've seen all five of the great lakes, swum in one (Huron) and waded in another (Superior). The water is uncharacteristically warm this year due to the unusually warm weather we have all been experiencing. In contrast, I can remember wading in Lake Superior over 50 years ago when my feet turned numb almost immediately! I love the lakes. They are so majestic, so beautiful and so familiar. You don't think about it when you grow up, but the smell of the water, the cottonwood trees, the distinctive sand (different from the sand of Atlantic beaches, for example) all remind me of my days growing up on Lake Erie. When you swim even the taste of the water is familiar.