By Lucas Rasmussen

Out of all the places I’ve been that have inspired me in the past, there is always one that jumps out from the others. This place is definitely Southern Michigan. This is a state that me and my family travel to every year traveling six hundred miles to get there and to get back which takes us about twelve hours on the road. This is a very interesting state filled with many things to do and many places to visit. The best part of being in this state is all about visiting my relatives. My mom is one of ten kids in her family so you can imagine how many cousins I have on my moms’ side of the family.

When we enter Michigan we usually first stop at the food market in down town Lawton. Every year we usually rent a cabin by a lake from the same people every year. Our main hobbies we have at the cabin are going fishing or swimming in lake. The dock extends to about eighteen feet outward with the water being about four feet deep at that point. I have spent a lot of my life vacationing to Michigan which has definitely turned me into the person I am today by teaching me to be very kind and generous because the people there are very sympathetic.

I have seven aunts and three uncles that live in the southern Michigan area. I have about twenty-five cousins and about five of them are headed of to college this year. My favorite part of being in this state is visiting Kalamazoo where my grandma and grandpa live. My grandpa usually takes me golfing to one of the thirty golf courses in this big city. And my grandma usually takes me to all of the historical features in Kalamazoo such as the winery where all of the grapes are picked and eventually made into wine.

If I could chose one place throughout southern Michigan to go to, I would have to pick Lake Michigan. For one thing, the food there is extraordinary with many choices to chose from. My favorite part of it is definitely the Pier. This is where you can walk out beyond the coast about sixty yards and watch the large waves splash at the corner of the Pier. It also has many different colorful fish such as different types of trout and fish large like this. The only downside of this lake is the coldness of the water.

One of my other favorite places to go to is the Y. This contains many activities to do such as playing basketball on an extremely nice court, a fairly large pool with a hot tub and a sauna, a work out center, and finally a gift shop. My favorite part of this is playing basketball with my uncle who has influenced me and definitely taught me everything he knows. Every once in a while he bring his basketball league team to come and play with us and have a five on five competition which is always fun. Michigan has definitely had a big impact on my life. And as you can see, it’s still a part of me no matter how far away it is. These are all of things that I do in Michigan and how they have influenced me and changed me into the person I am today.