For our last day in Michigan we decided to take a drive over to Munising to take a ride on a glass bottom boat.
First stop was at the Glass Bottom Boat Shipwreck Tours to pick up our tickets I had purchased online. We had a couple of hours before our scheduled trip so we decided to drive on in to town for lunch. The folks at the tour place suggested we try Dogpatch Restaurant and even gave us a coupon for a 5% discount there. Although it was after 11:00 AM they were still servin
g breakfast. On our way to eat we spotted, right in the middle of town, a lighthouse. This is one that I had not previously found online. Turned out to be Munising Range Rear Light. After a great meal, with way too much food, it was time to set sail. The boat, MV Fireball, first took us out to Grand Island just off the coast. Their website had mentioned there would be a possibility, if 
we looked close, of seeing wildlife on the island. The eagle was perched in a tree top right on the edge of the island. Another sight we were looking forward to was the East Channel Lighthouse on the south end of the island. The actual light has been removed from this lighthouse and it is now privately owned. (Only a small portion of the island is privately owned with a few seasonal cabins. Most of the island is owned by the U.S. Forestry Service.) The folks who now own this lighthouse are working to completely refurbish it to it's original glory.
The next stop was a white buoy marking the wreck of the Bermuda. The ships are all wooden vessels that foundered either due to we
ather or being over laden. The second ship was a scow schooner that was way too small to operate on the lakes. It also was the oldest of the ships we saw today and had been down there several hundred years. The last ship was the Herman H. Hettler. The picture to the right, taken through the bottom of the boat, is the anchor from the Hettler. These ships are very well preserved due to the very cold waters of the lake. The total tour took just over two hours and was very interesting. The young people who made up the crew, from the Captain on down to the deck hands, were absolutely fantastic. The young lady telling us about the wrecks was very knowledgeable of the wrecks in the lake.
On our drive back to Ishpeming we stopped at a place called Lakenland. This is a free, family friendly park that has been built by a guy named Tom. He has built many pieces of "junk art" and has them displayed on a trail/road back through the woods. This guy has a tremendous imagination and a lot more time on his hands than most people. Up by the entrance is a small band shell and today they had some live music going on. We heard a l
ittle of the music while stopped to take pictures. It was obviously a local band and they really were not very good. Oh well, it was free and you get what you pay for. The road/trail was set up to be seen by car or on foot. After we found how long this trail was we were glad we decided to drive through. Every few feet he had another junk art sculpture. I have no idea how many were there but would guess it was close to 100.
We have had a pretty good week here in the Michigan U.P., even though we did waste a bunch of time sitting around the coach waiting to get our necessary repairs completed. Tomorrow morning it is back on the road for our next adventure.
2 comments:
In those wrecked ships, they'll likely have lost all the crew, won't they? I bet the wrecks were really interesting, but sad as well.
Love the 'junk' art! I think it's great when people find things to do with materials that would otherwise be wasted... and it looks like a great place for kids to play. Might even inspire some of their own creative ideas.
Shelly: Actually, these wrecks were fairly close in so the crews were either rescued or were able to swim to shore. One of the ships had actually run aground so the crew walked ashore. It had become a navigational hazard so the Coast Guard had pulled it out a ways and blown it up.
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