# Paradise



## ClosetWriter (Sep 11, 2012)

*W*e hadn’t been camping in years; in fact, I didn’t think my wife would ever agree to camp again. We decided to give it another try. It was perfect – it was Paradise.

The Tahquamenon River starts its journey to Lake Superior approximately 70 miles south of Whitefish bay. The river starts very modestly in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Only a small stream at first, but it quickly grows as it is fed by 800 square miles of watershed. Bear, elk, deer, wolves, and moose are some of the wonders of the animal kingdom that can be seen throughout the pristine-untouched land. The river, along its journey, has several drops that create breathtaking waterfalls. The state of Michigan has recognized the importance of preserving the natural beauty of the Tahquamenon Falls, and has created one of the most amazing park systems I have ever seen.

The area has historical significance as well. Whitefish Point, which is just a few miles from the falls, is a key ship navigation point on the great lakes. Numerous ships have met their demise while traveling through this area of Lake Superior. In fact most of you are probably familiar with one wreck which was immortalized in a song written by Gordon Lightfoot called “The Wreck of The Edmond Fitzgerald.”  The ship went down before it was able to reach the safety of Whitefish Harbor during gale-force wind November of 1975.  Lake Superior is the largest freshwater body of water in the world. Deep and very cold – the lake is unforgiving. For me the beauty of it is best enjoyed from shore. One of the lines in Gordon Lightfoot’s song says: “Superior – they say – never gives up its dead when the gales of November turn gloomy.” I, having tried swimming in Lake Superior, can attest to the fact that it is so cold that it takes your breath away. No one can survive more than a few minutes in the unforgiving waters.

I have lived in Michigan all of my life, and for some reason have never visited the area until last weekend. We camped in a tent at the lower falls campground. Our site was at the very back of the campground. The first night was magical. The air was as fresh as air could possibly be. As I stretched out in the tent I was thinking about how excited I was to start shooting some photographs in the morning. At that moment it dawned on me that the sound that I had been hearing down in the valley behind us was that of the falls roaring below. I took another deep breath, and tried to think of words that could accurately describe what I was feeling at that moment. The best I could come up with is that, to me, the Tahquamenon Falls has to be like that which the bible describes as The Garden of Eden. I continued to think of the falls as Eden, and then a light went off in my head. The small town that we were near was called Paradise. This is the Garden of Eden, and I ‘am’ in Paradise.
*​
*


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## Cran (Sep 16, 2012)

OK. This one needs a bit of work; easy repairs first. 


ClosetWriter said:


> *W*e hadn’t been camping in years; in fact, I didn’t think my wife would ever agree to camp again. We decided to give it another try. It was perfect – it was Paradise.
> 
> The Tahquamenon River starts its journey to Lake Superior approximately 70 miles south of Whitefish bay. The river starts very modestly in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Only a small stream at first, but it quickly grows as it is fed by 800 square miles of watershed. *Bear, elk, deer, wolves, and moose* (list) are some of the *wonders of the animal kingdom* (cliche) that can be seen throughout the *pristine-untouched* (tautology) land. The river, along its journey, has several drops that create breathtaking waterfalls. The state of Michigan has recognized the importance of preserving the natural beauty of the Tahquamenon Falls, and has created one of the most amazing park systems I have ever seen.
> 
> ...


Beyond that, it depends what you want to do with it; ie, personal blog post, amateur club page, tourism article, something else?.


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## cwmartz (Sep 24, 2012)

Cran  - I was born and raised in Detroit, in the city itself as I suspect you are aware, and I only made it to the U.P. once. I now live in Australia so the chances of me getting there again are remote. I have spent a lot of time up north however, Gaylord, Mackinac island, Traverse city. How wonderful it is. 

I enjoyed reading your tale, but would like to suggest that you've missed an opportunity to really nail Northern Michigan when when you say "The air was as fresh as air could possibly be." As I'm sure you're aware, the air is much more than fresh - it is cleansing, it is delightful, the act of breathing is as refreshing and welcome as a cup of mint tea. I remember well we would leave Detroit and go to Houghton Lake and after the car ride the first thing I would do is go to the lake and just breathe. We would usually arrive at night and to stand by lake under the stars just breathing, just enjoying the air remains an almost mystical experience to me. I've traveled extensively, and I cannot recall ever coming across air like that of Northern Michigan.
cwm


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## Cran (Sep 24, 2012)

Not my tale, *cwmartz*, and I don't recall knowing you were ever in Detroit. 

It's *ClosetWriter* in Northern Michigan to whom you want to address your comments.


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## ClosetWriter (Sep 24, 2012)

cwmartz said:


> Cran  - I was born and raised in Detroit, in the city itself as I suspect you are aware, and I only made it to the U.P. once. I now live in Australia so the chances of me getting there again are remote. I have spent a lot of time up north however, Gaylord, Mackinac island, Traverse city. How wonderful it is.
> 
> I enjoyed reading your tale, but would like to suggest that you've missed an opportunity to really nail Northern Michigan when when you say "The air was as fresh as air could possibly be." As I'm sure you're aware, the air is much more than fresh - it is cleansing, it is delightful, the act of breathing is as refreshing and welcome as a cup of mint tea. I remember well we would leave Detroit and go to Houghton Lake and after the car ride the first thing I would do is go to the lake and just breathe. We would usually arrive at night and to stand by lake under the stars just breathing, just enjoying the air remains an almost mystical experience to me. I've traveled extensively, and I cannot recall ever coming across air like that of Northern Michigan.
> cwm



It was I who was the original poster of this, and I, admittedly, failed at describing the true beauty of the area. I think I tried to describe things instead of simply conveying my feelings about it. I will do better next time -- I promise.


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## cwmartz (Sep 24, 2012)

Sorry about the name mix up


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## Kevin (Sep 24, 2012)

"the U.P.", different place than the northern Michigan. Most Americans don't know it exists... CloWr, if you could take some more pictures that would be nice, too. The last bunch were great.

cwm.- Detroit to Australia must've been like moving to the moon (no offence, just so different)


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## cwmartz (Sep 25, 2012)

Ha ha -- It was more like moving from the moon to earth. Detroit has become a barren and cratered landscape of half burned, boarded up houses and weed ridden lots of hulking abandoned autos.


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## Desertrose (Oct 7, 2012)

Sounds like a beautiful place. We are a family of avid campers ourselves (here in Australia.)
I'm intrigued by cwmartz's comments about the air. I'd like to experience that. Can't say I have, yet.
I think you did a good job of describing the place (took me there visually) but you could have taken me there even more emotionally had you of embellished it a bit more with how being in such a place makes one "feel". 
And...isn't that the reason we pack up and venture out into the great outdoors?


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## qwertyportne (Oct 10, 2012)

The story of your camping trip appealed to me very much. Thanks for posting it. I love the outdoors and can't wait to get out their in the wilderness again to let my own wildness, well, run wild. Civilization has us all on such a short leash!

Most of us are tired of hearing somebody say "Show, don't tell!"  Actually, I believe in showing AND telling, but I think you had a little more telling than showing. 
If a Martian asked me "What is a tree?" I could probably tell him ABOUT a tree but it would much better to just point to one and say "There it IS." As writers, however, we only have words with which to point. And words are only handles to carry the idea of something to our readers -- not the thing itself. So pointing with words is actually painting pictures and the best way to evoke an image in your reader's mind is to use concrete images of sight, sound, smell, touch and taste.

My first encounter with the difference between show and tell took place in a workshop where the leader told us to compare _"I'm so sad I wish I were dead."_ with _"She stood on the edge of the cliff, weeping, watching the waves crashing on the jagged rocks below." _That really woke me up. Then she challenged us to paint a word picture of Gene Kelly dancing in the rain. Wow!

You have a great picture posted with your story. You might play around with trying to show and tell what you see, smell, feel and so forth looking at that picture. You've done some of that already but I'm guessing you could go alot farther and be more concrete.

Please excuse the long rambling post. It probably did me good to go back over this stuff myself. At the very least I hope you find some of it useful.

--Bill


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## ClosetWriter (Oct 11, 2012)

qwertyportne said:


> The story of your camping trip appealed to me very much. Thanks for posting it. I love the outdoors and can't wait to get out their in the wilderness again to let my own wildness, well, run wild. Civilization has us all on such a short leash!
> 
> Most of us are tired of hearing somebody say "Show, don't tell!"  Actually, I believe in showing AND telling, but I think you had a little more telling than showing.
> If a Martian asked me "What is a tree?" I could probably tell him ABOUT a tree but it would much better to just point to one and say "There it IS." As writers, however, we only have words with which to point. And words are only handles to carry the idea of something to our readers -- not the thing itself. So pointing with words is actually painting pictures and the best way to evoke an image in your reader's mind is to use concrete images of sight, sound, smell, touch and taste.
> ...



I understand what you are saying. I wasn't real happy with this because it wasn't what I had hoped for when I wrote it. My wife and I recently went back to this area and camped on our new property. When I get the chance, I hope to post about our return visit. Thanks for your input.


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