Lake Superior girl’s message in a bottle returned decades later

Amy Benson of Marquette is seen with the bottle she put a message in as a child. The bottle, which washed up thousands of miles away, was recently returned to her by the finder. (Photo courtesy of Amy Benson)

MARQUETTE — More than 20 years ago, a young girl in the Upper Peninsula tossed a message in a bottle into AuTrain Bay on Lake Superior, never expecting to see it again.

Today, that bottle — which traveled more than 1,000 miles and washed ashore in the Outer Banks of North Carolina some years ago — has finally been returned to its sender, now an adult living in Marquette.

“I remember writing the note and throwing the bottle into Lake Superior as a child,” said Amy Benson, then Amy Kuivanen. “To be reunited with it after all these years feels like a little miracle.”

The bottle’s jou