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With the 4th of July coming up, my thoughts can�t help but turn to home. As you all know by now, I grew up living way up north in Michigan, on the northern shore of Lake Michigan. My hometown, Petoskey, lies on the south shore of Little Traverse Bay, with another town, Harbor Springs (and I hate to say it, but a quainter, cuter town) lying on its northern shore. Every year, the two town mayors compete in something (be it a game of Monopoly, Scrabble, Croquet, Bocce Ball) for the privilege of launching the first fireworks. Isn�t that adorable? Whatever city�s mayor wins the competition gets to launch their fireworks first. What�s great about the area is that you always get two sets of fireworks for the price of one. This year they bowled, and the Harbor Springs mayor won.

When I was a kid, we would always go to a friend of the family�s house for the fireworks, who lives basically on the top of a cliff in Petoskey, and from there, you�d get a great view of both town�s shows. Living so far up north (above the 45th parallel, which means we�re closer to the North Pole than to the Equator) the sun doesn�t go down until after 10pm, so we�d always be exhausted by the time it was actually dark enough to fire them off, but man did we have fun. Great small town parades with the local marching band and fire trucks and people throwing candy to the kids and genuine (and splendidly, especially in this day and age, non-jingoistic) good ole American patriotism.

When I first moved to California, I would always travel back home for the 4th no matter what. If I had to put myself in credit card debt, if I had to fake call in sick for a few days because I couldn�t get the time off, I would ALWAYS find a way to make it back. These last couple of years though, I haven�t been able to go�usually because a friend was getting married later in the summer and I�d need to save my money and my vacation time for a flight up there about a month later. I have to say though, missing Independence Day up north has always kind of bummed me out.

This year has proven to be more of the same. No wedding this summer, thank goodness, but money and vacation time have once again conspired against me. It�s a bummer, because I�ve been dying to get Chip up there to go to the parades, which I know he�d find adorable, the fireworks which I know he�d find both uplifting and quaint, and to enjoy a day that seems to last forever.

Though I am still disappointed, I have been lucky enough to find this amazing website (Michigan In Pictures) that is dedicated to displaying great pictures of Michigan. The editor is a photographer who always picks pictures of great artistic quality, almost always takes the time to give a little background on either the picture or the area where the picture was taken, and most importantly, seems to genuinely share the love that Michiganders and Expats alike hold for their home state.

Even if you�re not from the Great Lake State, check out the site�maybe it�ll give you a better idea of both the respect and affection we from there share for Michigan, and at least a hundred split second glimpses of why we do.