<– Day 6 – Thurs. May 9th: Rain Rain Go Away | Trip Overview | Day 8 – Sat. May 11th: Fire Engines, 16,000 Toys and A Destroyer –>
Whitefish Point Lighthouse and the Shipwreck Museum on Lake Superior
Well it worked. I wished the rain away and we didn’t see any all day. However, I forgot to wish the cold away. But, I’ll take the cool temperatures over the rain.
Today, Friday May 10th, our first goal was to drive to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point near Paradise, MI, where a light saving beacon has been maintained in one form or another since 1849.
On Friday May 10th we drove from Iron Mountain to Mackinaw City.
On our way to the museum, we encountered a couple different jeeps. One was in the form of a wooden jeep at a Big Boy Burger restaurant in Manistique, MI. This one included a slide. Ann tried real hard to get a shot of me on the slide. Unfortunately, our memory card lost the pictures I took of the front of the wood jeep (time for new memory card).
The next jeep we saw at an old motel near Tahquamenon Falls State Park in Michigan. There was a dog near the jeep that wasn’t too happy to see me taking photos, so I kept my distance. It looks like someone took the time to fabricate a custom hardtop.
We finally reached Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point around 2pm. It was later than I expected to be there, by at least one hour, because we crossed into another pesky time zone. I always thought Michigan was in the Central Time Zone. It turns out only a small portion of it is (to be fair, this is my first visit to the great state of Michigan).
The museum costs $13/per adult. However, if you have an active military ID, you and a friend can get in free. However, they don’t advertise that fact, so you’ll have to ask about it. We had a nice time looking around the exhibits.
There are plenty of harrowing stories of sailors freezing, drowning, and dying. To be fair, many people were saved by life-saving crews as well. If you are in the area, it’s worth dropping by to see. The fact that of the 550 known major shipwrecks lying on the bottom of the lake, at least 200 of them are in the vicinity of Whitefish Point, underscores the importance of alerting sailors to the dangers of the area.
Here we are at Lake Superior. You can just see Canada behind us in the distance.
Ann snapped this inside the museum.
Here I am getting artsy, while Ann sneakily takes my picture.
Check out how much sand has blown over the walkway. I’m guessing they have to de-sand that pretty often.
After Whitefish Point, we drove south to Mackinaw City, MI. We’d hoped to go down to Traverse City, MI, and meet with a reader named Rich, but we decided we’d save that trip for another time when the weather was warmer and we had more time.
Here’s the “Big Mac” bridge from the UP to Mackinaw City. It is the longest suspension bridge between anchorages in the western hemisphere. Cool bridge!
We decided to spent the evening in Mackinaw City. Tomorrow we head south through Michigan.
<– Day 6 – Thurs. May 9th: Rain Rain Go Away | Trip Overview | Day 8 – Sat. May 11th: Fire Engines, 16,000 Toys and A Destroyer –>