We've spent a summer week at Crooked Lake Resort, Watersmeet, MI for the last 25 years. Located in the Sylvania Recreation Area (part of the Ottawa National Forest) the resort is one of a few privately-owned parcels unfortunately located within a large Federally-designated wilderness area. I say 'unfortunately' because the Feds have now taken action to ban all motors from the lake, right down to the smallest fishing motors and, in so doing, have forced the resort's owner out of business.

Now, I don't fish (though my family does.) I don't use a motor at all, preferring a canoe, kayak or swimming as my mode of lakebound transportation. But it's a shame the bureaucracy couldn't have found a way to preserve two northwoods traditions: fishing and wilderness solitude...and a small business's right to survive.

Our earliest stays at CLR were pre-kids. Even today, though our kids are nearly adults, it's still their favorite vacation destination, a place they grew up loving. There's nothing to do, really, except fish, swim, read, walk in the woods, watch the eagles and otters, listen to wolves and loons, star-gaze and relax. No TV, no theme-parks, no fast-food outlets, no malls. Just the peace and quiet of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The wilderness is still there but our little piece of it - and the chance to add to 25 years of memories - is all gone.

Sucks.