Last week I spent five days on the North Shore of Lake Superior with most of my family, a vacation I had been looking forward to for a long time. It was a time to fish, hike, and just hang out on the rocks right in front of our rented vacation home.

Vacationing on the North Shore is something Sue and I—and later our family—have done almost annually for as long as we have been together. We even spent our honeymoon at a resort on the lake.

Over the years, we have been lucky enough to spend extended time along Lake Superior during all four seasons, even in the coldest, sub-zero days of winter.

This year, due to the fires and the unhealthy air, we were confined to the cabin and to what little of the lake we could see from the windows. We did no fishing, no hiking, no sightseeing, and no shopping. We read, played games, watched movies and the World Cup, and just enjoyed each other’s company.

It was not the vacation any of us had imagined. But for me, anyway, it was the vacation I needed: a time to rest, reflect, and rediscover. And isn’t that what vacation is supposed to be all about?