My family, friends, and I have been up on Lake Glenville in North Carolina. We all seem to enter a type of dream state up there. I don't know if it's the cool weather (highs mostly in the 70's), the lake view, the crisp lake water, the remote location (relatively speaking), something else, or all those things put together, but it feels like we're a million miles from the world of worries.

Perhaps it's the lack of a daily paper, or cell phone calls, or the constant drum beat of typically negative news on television that keeps the spirits high. Yes, we'll get a USA Today or put on the news occasionally, but the serious sections of the paper are normally left unread and the news checking is, at least for me, brief and just a way to make sure nothing big has happened. "Big" means actual, substantial news, not some celebrity getting out of jail or politics as usual.

I love seeing the kids in this setting -- they are outdoors so much (difficult in Florida in the middle of summer), putting aside the GameBoys in favor of playing in the water, exploring the creek, playing kickball, or just inventing an activity on the spot. Of course, as a family we do other outdoor activities like going on hikes, visiting waterfalls, and going on boat rides.

Oh sure, there will be a bump or scrape, a meltdown (rarer each year, thankfully), or some boredom on a rainy day, but those things are overcome, and the dream state settles back in. Summers on a lake are wonderful.