[Music] hi Scholars Michigan has several nicknames like Great Lake State Mitten State and my favorite water Wonderland but why is water Wonderland such a great nickname for Michigan well we know that Michigan is famous for its five Great Lakes but did you know that Michigan also has more than 62,700 in Lakes which are lakes that are completely surrounded by land additionally Michigan has 300 named rivers and when you add that to other rivers in the state their total length is approximately 51,4 38 mil that's about twice the circumference or distance around the Earth at the equator together all all of these bodies of water have helped Michigan become known as water Wonderland I'm Mrs mask and today we're going to learn about one of those bodies of water the Grand River and the Lancing River Trail alongside it when we're done with our learning I'm sure you'll want to go see them yourself since you'll need a ride you'll have to convince someone to make the trip with you but how will you do that well we can take notes of the most important and interesting things we learned from our reading and research and we can use them to write a quick pitch or speech so that we can persuade someone to be our travel partner let's start with learning about where the Grand River is located the Grand River is the longest river in Michigan and is over 250 miles in fact I wonder if it flows through where near you live the Grand River starts in Hillsdale County and flows Northwest through some major cities in Michigan Jackson Ionia Grand Rapids and Grand Haven where it empties into Lake Michigan the Grand River is known for its variety of fish for Anglers that's people who like to fish and is also a great place for boating and water sports along the Grand River throughout Michigan you'll find many different Trails but since I live in Lancing I'm going to share all about the Lancing River Trail the Lancing River Trail is just one of the many trails in the Lancing area in total the pave Trail is over 20 miles long and goes through or near a number of remarkable sights in Lancing let me tell you about four of them adada Riverfront Park is one of the largest parks in downtown Lany it has a playground and festivals and concerts are held there throughout the year Kingo Park is one of the newest parks and Lancing there's a small lake with a kayak lift and boardwalks pass along the beach Hawke Island County Park is a family park with a swimming beach picnic area sand volleyball horseshoes walkways and fishing dock the brinky fish ladder was built to help fish like salmon swimming Upstream through the Grand River without injury a peaceful setting on the Lancing Grand River in lansing's Charming Oldtown neighborhood the fish ladder is a great place to go fishing walking or taking a concert along the laning River Trail now that you've heard all about some of the amazing sites along the river trail you're ready to create a pitch let's think back to the most important points we heard and combine them into one big list over 20 M long three parts playgrounds walking path swimming kayaking picnic area fish ladder fishing now I'm going to use those notes to practice the pitch when giving a pitch It's very effective when you just speak without looking at notes and cover all the most important Point listen carefully and let me know how I do the Lancing River Trail is a great place to visit and spend the day it's over 20 M long through the city and there are lots of great things to see and do there are three parks where you can spend time swimming kaying fishing enjoying the playground or having a picnic my favorite place to visit in the fall is the brinky fish ladder I love to watch the fish climbing the ladder to get Upstream I can't wait for us to visit it's going to be a great day when can we go so what do you think about my pitch would you join me on the lanting river trail to check out the granden river hopefully you'll find someone to take this amazing trip with you let's have fun