Both Thursday and Friday night I went out to the lakefront in my hometown of Racine, Wis. to reacquaint myself with my old stomping grounds.  The light was a mixed bag both evenings, but the temperatures were mild and it was nice to see the lake that I grew up with.  It’s funny how much I grew to expect to have a significant body of water nearby, even though I didn’t grow up with boats.

When I was in school at Grinnell College, and when I moved to Columbia, Mo. for graduate school, the thing that drove me crazy was how landlocked those places were.  I don’t care if I get out onto the water–I’m not even that fond of swimming–but the Great Lakes (an ocean would do in a pinch, too) are to me what mountains are to some, and rivers are to others: the physical features that make us feel that we belong.

Funny that all of these examples are actually quite lethal environments.  The water wants us in it no more than the mountains want us atop them, and many people die every year in these beautiful places!  In any event, it’s good to be back for a little while as work on my master’s project.

More pictures after the jump!