A Travel Post- Visiting Michigan

(I came across an old entry into a “travel journal” that I keep. This particular one was about a trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I thought I would share…)

What I’ll remember most about Michigan is the surprise. I felt as if I were on a trip to an actual coastal town, some small stop in South Carolina or coastal Georgia perhaps. I could have sworn I tasted a hint of salt, both in the water and in the air.

I walked in Lake Superior for the first time. I swam in Lake Michigan and felt a touch of danger, like I was in the Atlantic Ocean, like the old days. I write this while sitting on something I am becoming more willing to call a beach. I sit with my wife, and other family, and feel almost at home.

I realize the torrential snows will come soon, but you wouldn’t consider that fact today. At the very least, you block it from your mind.

(next day) The mosquitoes absolutely obliterated my body. As I write this, my arms and back swell with the poisons passed to me by the world’s number one killer. Slightly fewer than a hundred bites adorn my body. Coming from such a swampy area, Central Florida, I didn’t expect to be caught off guard. It almost made me respect this location just a touch more.

We hiked through a swarm of killers and I take just a bit of pride in that. I will be recovering for a small window of time, but the window that was opened up to me by this experience was well worth the trouble and irritation.

-Houston Bailey