michigan lake rentals

Michigan Lake Rentals

Why not take a vacation in the great in the great region of Lake Michigan. It can be a super place to have vacation. There is some great coastline of the lake. There are beaches and some great cities and towns to see on the coastlines. You might want go boating on the lake. You might just want to view the lake or use the lake for entertainment or it might just be one of the towns and the surrounding area that has attracted your for work or for a vacation.

Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America, and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is bounded, from west to east, by the US states of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. The word "Michigan" was originally used to refer to the lake itself, and is believed to come from the Ojibwa Indian word mishigami, meaning "great water." The lake is slightly larger than the country of Croatia.

Lake Michigan is the only one of the Great Lakes wholly within the borders of the United States; the others are shared with Canada. It has a surface area of 22,400 square miles, making it the largest lake entirely within one country by surface area ( Lake Baikal, in Russia, is larger by water volume ), and the fifth largest lake in the world. It is 307 miles long by 118 miles wide with a shoreline 1,640 miles long. The lake's average depth is 279 feet, while its greatest depth is 923 feet. It contains a volume of 1,180 cubic miles of water. Its surface averages 577 feet above sea level, the same as Lake Huron, to which it is connected through the Straits of Mackinac.

Lighthouses ; Illinois lighthouses, Indiana lighthouses, Michigan lighthouses, Wisconsin lighthouses

Islands ; Beaver Island, North Manitou Island, South Manitou Island, Washington Island, Rock Island

Lake Michigan beaches, especially those in Michigan and Northern Indiana, are known for their beauty. The region is often referred to as the " Third Coast " of the United States, after those of the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. The sand is soft and off white, known as "singing sands" because of the squeaking noise (caused by high quartz content) made when one walks across it. There are often high sand dunes covered in green beach grass and sand cherries, and the water is usually clear and cold, even in late summer. However, because prevailing westerly winds tend to move the surface water toward the east, there is a flow of warmer water to the Michigan shore in the summer. Lake Michigan beaches in Northern Michigan are the only place in the world, aside from a few inland lakes in that region, where one can find Petoskey stones, the state stone.

The beaches of the western coast and the northernmost part of the east coast are rocky, while the southern and eastern beaches are sandy and dune-covered. This is partly because of the prevailing winds from the west which also cause thick layers of ice to build up on the eastern shore in winter.

Contrary to recent reports, Chicago annually imports fresh sand to replenish its popular city beaches (similar to Key West) but much of the city waterfront is parks, stone revetments, marinas or residential developments in the north or industrial sites in the south.

Some environmental problems still plague the lake. Steel mills are visible along the Indiana shoreline, and the pollution caused by these mills is believed to contribute to the color of sunsets. Also, the Chicago Tribune reported that BP is a major polluter, dumping thousands of pounds of ammonia and raw sludge into Lake Michigan every day from its Whiting, Indiana, oil refinery.

The Chicago skyline can be seen from the Indiana shore and lower Michigan (on a clear day), but when standing on the beaches in Wisconsin & Illinois it is impossible to see across the lake, providing a view similar to that of the ocean.

Cities

Twelve million people live along Lake Michigan's shores. Many small cities in Northern Michigan are centered on a tourist base that takes advantage of the beauty and recreational opportunities offered by Lake Michigan. These cities have large seasonal populations that arrive from nearby urban areas such as the Chicago, Milwaukee and Detroit areas, as well as from humid southern states such as Florida and Texas. Some seasonal residents have summer homes along the lake shore, and return home for the winter. The southern tip of the lake is heavily industrialized. Cities on the shores of Lake Michigan include: