Ship Graveyard visit. Day 49, August 9, 2017

Yes, we are camped in Alpena, Michigan, located along Thunder Bay which turns out to be a massive shipwreck area.  We visited the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary where there was no admission charged (gave them a donation) and we learned quite a bit out the ships and people that have passed this way over the years beginning with the Indians, trappers and explorers who were searching for a water way to Asia.  They didn't find that but they found a way to access and move natural resources from the rest of our country to the consumers in the east and Europe.  On these waterways grain, iron, copper and furs were delivered to customers.

We learned that hundreds of ships traversed these waterways regularly during the summer months -- so many that we could imagine a traffic jam.  In fact there were many instances of collisions between ships. some of which took the ships and their crews to the bottom of the lake.  Other ships met their demise here also due to weather or errors in judgement (some started too late in the season as in the case of one ship who left Milwaukee, WI on November 25th headed to Cleveland, OH and was lost in a storm -- never to be found).

All in all, this was a very interesting and well done museum, right down to a piece of a to scale model ship that we could board so that we got an idea what it was to exist on one.  Wow, the beds in the berths were pretty cramped.

Before visiting the museum, we took an hour bike ride along a nice bikeway trail called the Norway Ridge Pathway.  Russ, Ceilidh and I got a good workout.  The path was well marked and had options for all skill levels.  Made a stop at the Marine Meat Market in Alpena and picked up some garlic bologna which we shared for lunch along with apples and cheese.  5:30pm and we are still emitting garlic.  It's good though.

Tomorrow we press on to the west coast of Michigan.  I am going to meet up with 3 of my high school girlfriends for a two day reunion.  Hope the weather holds!!

Our Selfie with Ceilidh

One tuckered out doggie


Nice Bike Path

Here comes Kappy!

Here are the views of from our campground -- this is the Thunder River.



Our Campground Street





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