Being an avid angler, I find it ironic that I spent time at the fifth largest fresh water lake in the world and did not go fishing once!
I swam in it, paddled a kayak across it, rode a ferry over it, and eat fish someone else caught in it. I probably drank the water too.
It was excited to fish Lake Michigan, as I did the last time we visited. But life, with its’ mysterious way, had a different plan for me. It took me on a fishing trip across the water that I would never have imagined. It showed me the lake of the past that now lay buried beneath the rolling farm fields and quint tourist towns.
One morning I went for a walk and came upon a quarry. In the middle of it was a multitude of birds flying over a pool of water that had collected at the bottom of this vast hole in the ground. I walked into the quarry to see what type of birds there were. The piles of rocks beside the road caught my attention too. On closer inspection I realized these piles were full of fossilized remains of the lake’s aquatic life. It seemed like every other stone had the impression of something that lived in those waters millions of years ago.
At first I was disappointed that these relics had been turned into gravel and used to make countless driveways. Each fossil was like a page in a family photo albums of the lake’s past. These were old memories too, mounted in that album before people were even around. In that hole, I saw the present carelessly feeding off the sacred heritage of the past.
Then I wondered how big this field of fossils was? The hole was as large as two football fields place end to end. It was twice as deep as my three story house. When I looked at the rolling landscape, beyond the rim of the quarry, I realized that these layers of the past could extend out in all directions for miles.
I also thought about all those gravel driveways with happy little kids pedaling their bike’s up and down the white stones or running through the sprinkler on a hot summer day. My disappointment faded away and I happily gathered up as many fossils as I could hold.
Here are a few I found that morning. Pretty amazing for a twenty minute morning ramble!
I made a desk sculpture out of one by mounting it on an a paving stone of contrasting color.
I would have enjoyed fishing for small mouth bass, but my unintended change of plans was just as enjoyable. There are awesome experiences to be had wherever we go and whatever we do.
Happy Vacationing!
Prairie Beacon 