Why The Great Lakes Are Great

I saw the below video shared on social media this week and it did a decent job of summing up why the Great Lakes are so great. Growing up in Michigan, I can remember studying HOMES (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior) back in elementary school geography lessons and how the glaciers formed the Great Lakes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBRcOLcEwF0

It seemed like every year around Michigan Week (does anyone remember Michigan Week?) we would focus on Michigan history and geography which inevitably lead to studying the Great Lakes. I believe it was in the 4th grade when we watched this 1968 film (yes, it was on a film reel!). Funny, how the image of the man in the midst of the polluted waters has stuck with me all these years later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afs_A_Lz2w4

Just watched this again for the first time in over 30 years and it was a real nostalgic treat. Amidst the schmaltzy music and humor you do get a good overview of how The Great Lakes formed.

Probably around this same time period in elementary school, we also watched this Canadian classic - Paddle to the Sea. The possibility that you could send a little boat down a stream in the woods and it would flow all the way through the Great Lakes to the ocean always intrigued me as a child.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olXmGz4iCxM

Does anyone else remember watching these films back in the day? How about Michigan Week?

Video of huge waterspout on Lake Michigan

This brief video shows a huge waterspout that formed over Lake Michigan on Saturday. Evidently atmospheric conditions were perfect for generating waterspouts. "An unstable mix of cool autumn air and warm lake waters spawned dozens of tornadic funnel clouds" per this Rueters article.

Crazy.

Which Great Lake is your favorite for swimming?

With the temperature in the 90s the next two days it got me thinking about going to the beach. Specifically any beach along Lake Michigan since it's the Great Lake that is closest to us. Then I started to wonder if people had a favorite Great Lake and that brings us to a new poll question! My personal favorite is Lake Michigan mainly because of its proximity and sandy bottom along west Michigan's shoreline. I have never attempted a swim in Lake Superior - I dipped my toe in and that was enough. The only time I was over at Lake Erie was before it started to get cleaned up and there was no way I was swimming in that. I've never been to Lake Ontario and the one time I was at Lake Huron it wasn't warm enough for swimming.

So, how about you?

[poll id="48"]

The Free Press has a neat video series on the Great Lakes

At Freep.com you can view a neat video series on the Great Lakes put together by columnist Mike Wendland. There are currently two videos up - Lake Superior and Lake Michigan. The Lake Superior video begins with the Soo Locks. Other highlights of this video are - Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, a commercial Whitefish (yum! visit ScalawagsWhitefish.com for a location near you) operation, and the U.P. Pasty.

View the Lake Superior video

The Lake Michigan video features - Petoskey stones (official state stone), trillium (official state flower), Sleeping Bear Dunes, and ends with one of Lake Michigan's famous sunsets.

View the Lake Michigan video