A Michigan Girl

Growing up in the Sault, I used to tell my classmates that I was from Ohio. It made sense to me--my parents were from Ohio and all my relatives still lived there, and we traveled back regularly. I wanted to draw a firm line between myself and what I considered the local kids, the ones whose relatives all lived within an hour's drive, who went to school with their cousins (or, in some cases, their aunts and uncles). I was even born in Ohio, which helped my credibility, but I'd only spent my first year there before being whisked off to the Upper Peninsula. So really, looking back now, my claim was a little thin.

I may choose not to live in Michigan anymore but I can't deny the twenty years of my life spent there, and when I come back to these cool blue lakes and piney forests, it sure feels like home. I get a little thrown off guard by how friendly and straightforward so many of the people here are. Not that everyone in L.A. is a savage, but it seems like the bigger the city, the more guarded and short-tempered its population, and when that's your norm, Midwestern friendliness can make you almost suspicious! Yikes. So here I'll share a few shots of where I'm from. I may seem like an ocean-loving, road-raging Angeleno, but at my core I'm a Michigan girl.

The world famous Soo Locks!

This is how you trap tourists: FUDGE

Lots of nature here in the U.P.

Tahquamenon River

Tahquamenon Falls

Whitefish Point and icy Lake Superior

Mmmmm pan-fried lake perch...

Setting up for a bonfire on a balmy September day

Pumpkin season!