Nine a.m. The sun shines through my window and illuminates the paintings of wolves and deer on the walls. The light oak walls shine in the morning light. I awoke startled by the morning glow. It’s early, and no one else is awake yet. I set out of my room and headed to the balcony. As I step outside, the summer air smells of pine and cedar. The cool morning wind kisses my arms, passing through my tank top. I gaze out into the sunrise, and just past a couple of trees lies a still lake, untouched by the early fishermen who have yet to rise. Two piers lay on either side of a dock. Two fishing boats stand in the lake, bobbing up and down with small ripples. The lake reflects the sun like glass, shimmering in the golden light. What a morning this is, in Eagle River, Wisconsin.

An escape. That’s what this place was to me. A cabin on the lake, surrounded by what seemed like an endless forest biome and a crystal clear body of water. A calm breeze and warm summer sun. A place to escape from everything else — nothing else mattered. Being a teenager in the 21st century is filled to the brim with distractions and convoluting struggles of everyday life that leave no time to stop and look at the life around you. Animals fill the landscape. Deer graze in the open fields. Bass and perch fill the lake, swimming without a care in the world. Loons drift on the water’s surface, their calls echoing in the quiet. One might wish they could wake up to this every day.

Sometimes my family and I would travel into the cities and towns of Eagle River, Minocqua, and Boulder Junction. We would browse bait shops and gift shops. We would eat at restaurants, then come back to the cabin and roast marshmallows over an open fire after a long day of walking around. One of my favorite shops to visit was All Things Jerky in Eagle River. They had the best beef jerky ever! My family would always make a trip there and get some beef sticks, and I would always get my own beef jerky to go back to the cabin. They had these giant slices of jerky that my dad, brother, and I would always get to eat while fishing. I’m quite sad that the Eagle River location has closed and that there is not one closer to where I live, but the small jerky shop has a special place in my heart.

My cabin in Eagle River truly explains why I love Wisconsin so much. The landscapes, the lakes and streams, and the deep woods and forests. A desolate oasis in the middle of nowhere. Wisconsin is known for its outdoor culture traditions like boating, fishing, and hunting, and these landscapes can entrance you into forgetting the outside world, locking in a sense of zen that you cannot find anywhere else in the country.