HIGGINS LAKE, MICHIGAN circa 1965 & 2006

In the mid 1960's, my parents took our family on our first real vacation: real in the sense that it was out of state and overnight; real in the sense that we all got blue "Higgins Lake Michigan" sweatshirts as souvenirs.

The five of us stayed in a log cabin set off a main road. Being around 7, I don't recall where the cabin was located in relation to the lake. But the cabin itself was spacious and wild blueberries grew nearby. Mom and I picked them to put on our morning cornflakes.

Higgins Lake is a glacier lake. In the summer of 1965, it was pristine and cold. We swam one day. My brother, sister and dad went fishing on another. The narrow beach had a strip of rocks - some fossilized - right at the shoreline. I found my first fossil along the bank. I still have it.

In 2006, my husband and I visited the lake in mid-September. We rented a small, one-bedroom cottage named "The Brass Bell." The cottage, situated on the shoreline facing east, was one of many. In fact, it was like a small subdivision. A far cry from the secluded log cabin we had stayed in as children. There were also more boats than I remember. But the water was still crystal clear....some 40 years later!