Michigan Cabins

I remember when I was a kid, we used to stay in Michigan cabins up north every year. We would go to Traverse City or Charlevoix, and find a lovely cabin for rent in Michigan, right outside that area. I remember one of my favorite of the Michigan cabins that I stayed in as a youngster. It was right on the shore of lake Michigan, and had a stream flowing down right nearby, emptying into the great lake. I used to love to try to dam that stream as a child. I was pretty resourceful, and loved to build projects, and would spend hours just sitting in that warm water, playing with rocks and pieces of wood, constructing meticulous dams to halt the flow of water so that I could make a nice, mellow, warm pool to spend time in.

There were other Michigan cabins which we stayed in as well. One of the cabins in Michigan was nowhere near as nice as that one. It was actually a bit towards the western side of the northern tip of the state, and I don't know if it was the location or what, but the weather was terrible the whole time we stayed in it. Unlike other Michigan cabins my family usually rented, this one furnished practically no protection from the elements. The wind would whistle through the cracks between the logs, and would chill us to the bone as we sat there, trying to keep warm. As the storm worsened, it even began to drip through the ceiling, and we needed to put a constant series of bowls under the wet spot to stop it from soaking the floor. Most Michigan cabins are modern affairs, but that one seemed to be made of nothing but logs and bad planning.

Of course, there were the few times that we rented huge Michigan cabins with our aunts, uncles, and cousins. I remember going to one when I was ten, looking up, and seeing a fortress. This, I thought, was by far the most impressive of all Michigan cabins. It even had a widow's walk in the roof, from which you could see for miles around. I remember that summer, how much time I spent up there just watching the ships go in and out, sailing and racing around the bay, while cargo freighters slowly slipped by in the open waters a few miles out.