My in-laws built this cabin on Madeline Island in 1964. Our family is second-generation owners, and we look forward to passing the cabin down to our kids.

My wife spent her summers as a child at the cabin, and my kids did the same. Molly (our youngest) and now a sophomore in college, made her first trip at 10 days old and spent the balance of the summer at the cabin.

Most of the year, transportation to the island is provided by the Madeline Island Ferry service, and typically during the dead of winter we can drive the 2½ miles across the lake via an ice road. There are about 300 year-round residents, with that number swelling to about 2,500 summer residents. We love being on Lake Superior because it acts more like the ocean than a lake. Incredible storms pound our shoreline, and then she calms down do be just like glass. Bald eagles nest along the shore, black bears up on the deck empty the bird feeders, and fox and coyotes ramble through the woods.

Madeline is the largest of the Apostle Islands, and we spend many hours boating among them. As the ferry leaves the town dock in Bayfield and you start heading across the channel, all the stress is left behind as we prepare to enjoy this special slice of heaven.

Dan and Sarah Sheehan, Eden Prairie