As we were planning the itinerary for the "there and back again" portion of the expedition, CRH informed me that he had a secondary goal besides paddling the Boundary Waters: visiting every Great Lake during our travels. As Lake Superior was really the only one we were guaranteed to see on the way to northern Minnesota, this took some thought and map-staring. As luck would have it, we are both reasonably thoughtful people who like staring at maps, so this task really was tailor-made for us.
The only real stretch, in terms of going from DC to Minnesota and back, was getting to Lake Ontario, but that allowed us to travel the land of my people and end up in Ithaca where a number of our friends live and a number of my family rest.
All of that is covered elsewhere in the series, but for now, here is the order in which we visited each Great Lake:
- Michigan/Huron. This was essentially a tie as we saw them pretty much simultaneously when we stopped in Mackinaw City. Extremely technically speaking we actually circumnavigated Lake Michigan in our travels but did so without ever glimpsing its eastern or western shores.
Michigan on left, Huron on right, high skinny bridge in center - Superior. Our pretty much constant companion on the drive between Grand Marais and Duluth.
I like big lakes and I cannot lie - Erie
What am I going to do, NOT read it?! - Ontario (don't even joke about this). Gordon Lightfoot's "and the rest"-equivalent body of water is the one I know best, having grown up south of its shore. Pro tip for travelers: the Sodus Point public bathrooms on the beach close after Labor Day; plan accordingly.
There's a whimbrel in there somewhere 
Bonus lighthouse pic (sorry Erie)
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