Copper Harbor
- By: Devan Allard
- Created on: 09/29/2009
- Rated By 0 Users
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Copper Harbor happens to be on the very tip of Michigan’s northern wilderness. This small town is home to three restaurants, plenty of locally owned motels, a gift shop on every corner and locals who will treat anyone as if they were their neighbor. My family and I have always stayed at the campground located right next to Fort Wilkins. To experience a place so far north, you have to be close to nature. And for eleven years this tiny bowl of hospitality has been the prime location for many summers of unforgettable fun.
Although this tiny little town is only about a four hour drive from my home, my senses feel different in this mystical place. The air I breathe seeps into my lungs and cottons out my dark thoughts and foreboding about my future. The abundant greenery with the sharp contrast of a lake that touches our Canadian neighbor is a sight my eyes could never forget. The thimbleberries grow here as wildly as mold forms on old bread. And although this tart fruit is found throughout the Upper Peninsula I will always associate the bittersweet taste with the Copper Country. And then there is the buoy bell. This may be the most spectacular sound I will ever hear in my life. I can close my eyes in the heat of a stressful situation and hear it. It is a sound that I group with the gentle waves of a breezy night. That clang is all I need to hear to bring back powerful memories of calm days spent enjoying the sun and freedom of summer. This sound is the words I would use to attempt a description at such an indescribable place.
If Copper Harbor has taught me one thing it would have to be the ability to let go of my choking feelings. It may sound silly to say that a location was able to teach me a lesson, but it is true. And this is one virtue that I am glad to say I possess. While sitting on a water worn, larger than life, rock I was able to let all of my feelings seep into this one inanimate object. And with the loss of my feelings I was also able to let go of my connecting fears and worries. All that was left was a calm; the kind that you would get while lulling off to sleep. It possessed me and I immediately became addicted to this feeling. It was wonderful. I am now able to recall how to put myself in this state. And in today’s modern, busy world, it is something I find myself doing often.
Eleven years is a long time to be doing something. I have religiously been making the voyage to this unforgettable place and I haven’t regretted one trip. I have never been to somewhere that is so simple. And yet it is powerful in a way that keeps drawing me back there year after year. It is my dream to live in this place one day. I will become a local who will be the envy of every city girl who is just a country mouse at heart. I will sit on my porch at night to watch the sun sink into the sky, bleeding colors across the remaining clouds. And I will know that it was another spectacular day that did not have me feeling one regret.
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