Guide to Lake Superior

Note: See my exchange article at Wandering Educators about best books to read for Nova Scotia.

[amazon_image id="0942235746" link="true" target="_blank" size="medium" ]A View of the Lake[/amazon_image]Destination: Minnesota, Lake Superior

Book: A View of the Lake: Living the Dream on Lake Superior by Beryl Singleton Bissell

A GUEST POST from Jessie Voigts of Wandering Educators.com Regular partner, Jessie Voigts, has let us use a snippet from her review of this book. To read the entire review, quotations from the book and the author interview, go to Wandering Educators. 

One of my very favorite authors has done it again – written a book so compelling and readable that you feel like you are right there with her, experiencing life, love, and nature on the North Shore of Lake Superior.

A View of the Lake

Beryl Singleton Bissell‘s new book,[amazon_link id="0942235746" target="_blank" ] A View of the Lake: Living the Dream on Lake Superior[/amazon_link], is one that you absolutely must have because the stories Beryl shares, of walks, hikes, bears, birds, family, and incredible people, will pull you in and take you there. You might tear through it all at once, as I did (on the porch looking out at our lake, during a rainstorm, mug of hot tea in hand), or take it slowly (well, who could do this? But I imagine someone might be able to slow themselves down and dole out the goodness).

Beryl and her husband fell in love with the North Shore, as Minnesotans call the north shore of Lake Superior, geographically north of Duluth, running up past Grand Marais to Cananda.  And what did Beryl and Bill do with this great love of place? They elected to move there. While some travelers do just that (just look at the expat communities worldwide), it is unusual enough in your own state.

And what a move. From the Twin Cities, with arts and culture galore, to the tiny town of Schroeder (pop. 180). From a city to wide open spaces, where nature rules.

It’s fascinating, this land she loves. Beryl has broken the book up into four seasons of learning, and then small, enticing chapters. Each chapter teaches us about something of life on the North shore. I love the chapters on people and community, where Beryl learns to fit in by giving. I love the chapters on wildlife and nature, what she sees on her walks, hikes, skiing, in storms. But I love most what she learns, from being in a new place and adapting. Life is in the small moments, and Beryl captures these exquisitely.

[NOTE: You can find several quotes from the book at Wandering Educators. Here is just one that struck A Traveler's Library.] On a night of shooting stars… Small, vulnerable and intensely alive at the moment, I gave thanks for the incredible universe that sustains and enlivens all creatures. I was no longer sipping from the cup of life, I’d become one with it.

[Please click on over to Wandering Educatorsto see what the author, Beryl Singleton Bissell has to say about her life on the lake and her book.]

My friend, Donna L Hull recently wrote about a place that spoke to her the way that Lake Superior spoke to this author. You can see her article at My Itchy Travel Feet.

The book title is linked to Amazon for your convenience. If you click through to Amazon and purchase anything at all, I get a few cents which helps support A Traveler’s Library. Thanks.

Do you have such a place in your life? Did you ever pick up and move to a place you had visited on vacation? Remember, your comments not only make you part of the conversation, but they also enter your name in our 25-Book Giveaway.

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Tags: BlogSherpa, great-lakes, guest post, Jessie Voigts, Lake Superior, Minnesota, North America, North Shore, travel memoir, USA