Heather Oysti returns home for the annual family and friends trip to Baraga State Park, where nostalgia reigns and life resets.
My childhood memories appear in a place where snow days are chronic, the lakes are Great and November 15 is practically a holiday. I am an authentic Yooper, born and raised in Ishpeming Township and three-quarters Finnish. I am proud to be from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, so much so that my slips back into the native dialect simply remind me that I am a transplant in Chicagoland. I write now, days before a trip home, in anxious anticipation. This Yooper is going camping and I am ready for a reset.
