Ashbridges beach on Lake Ontario, one of the
Great Lakes. Often called inland oceans, they
really are huge. Here's some facts from a
website called great-lakes.net :

VOLUME

6 quadrillion gallons of fresh water; one-fifth of the world's fresh surface water (only the polar ice caps and Lake Baikal in Siberia contain more); 95 percent of the U.S. supply. Spread evenly across the continental U.S., the Great Lakes would submerge the country under about 9.5 feet of water.


TOTAL AREA

More than 94,000 square miles/244,000 square kilometres of water. (The area of Great Britain is 58,000 square miles)

About 295,000 square miles/767,000 square kilometres in the watershed (the area where all the rivers and streams drain into the lakes).


TOTAL COASTLINE

United States and Canada -- 10,900 mi/17,549 km (including connecting channels, mainland and islands). The Great Lakes shoreline is equal to almost 44 percent of the circumference of the earth, and Michigan's Great Lakes coast totals 3,288 mi/5,294 km.