Roadtrippin' II

Actually they are pretty unbelievably great for a guy like me. I lived close to the sea most of my life, the North and the Baltic sea are basically my home and usually there isn't a single day in my life when I don't see either of them.

The first of the Great Lakes I hit was Lake Erie in Toledo, eventhough my plane originally landed in Chicago and therefore I was way closer to Lake Michigan. I decided to save that one for later and rather start by heading out of Illinois and into Ohio.

Upon first sight Lake Erie disguised itself, as you can see in the picture above. Sadly I don't know anymore where exactly I took this picture, but it was somewhere in the Toledo area and it is some sort of bay, because you can see land all around the water. When I stopped to see Lake Erie for the second time, this time in Pennsylvania, in the city of Erie itself, it was different. There wasn't land all around and it took a while until I realized that this actually was a lake, not the sea. It mainly was the salt-water vs. fresh-water thing and the fact that it was very shallow that let me realize that this was in fact a lake, a huge one.

Ready for the next lake, I left Pennsylvania and entered New York, Rochester to be precise.



Above pictured Lake Ontario and the orange horse that accompanied me on my whole roadtrip. Even though Lake Ontario is smaller than Lake Erie, the way Lake Ontario opened up in front of me when I approached it left me speechless. If I hadn't realized it before - just then it was obvious why they were called the Great Lakes.

After my visit to Lake Ontario the next thing I saw, water wise, was the North Atlantic Ocean. It wasn't until I was on my way back to Chicago that I decided to stop by Sarnia, Canada in order to take a look at Lake Huron.



After I parked my car I took a small path down to the water, accompanied by a group of three or even more squirrels running right next to me I approached Lake Huron. The view over Lake Huron on this sunny and hot day was absolutely magnificent. I have to admit that I am not really smiling on that picture, then again I did drive for many hours and as said it was very warm that day. The view nevertheless was absolutely breathtaking. Unbelievable and unforgettable.

The last lake I managed to see was Lake Michigan prior my departure to fly back home. The pictures I took of it didn't turn out very well - but I have to admit after seeing Lake Huron, Lake Michigan didn't manage to sweep me off my feet. As it turns out I was getting used to those huge lakes, and I really liked it. Believe it or not there were many stops I made throughout my trip at which I couldn't help but be reminded of home, both weather and nature wise. Boston even reminded me of home culture wise - but that is a whole different story...