Soo Locks, Part 2

This beautiful old building is made of cut rock, over a million of them.  It houses numerous turbines, powered by the the St Mary's River.  At water line, note the small boats.  Good place to fish.

The structure is just south of one of the southern up-bound lock on the US side, pix taken from the tour boat.

Approaching the lock, big freighter in next lock to the right.

Wave, smile, take pictures!

The viewing side of the platform pictured in my prior post.

Our tour boat is now in the lock, which will raise the boat 21', to the level of Lake Superior. 

Steel mill on Canadian side has been operating for 100+ years.

This Canadian cruise ship sailed past our campground before parking here.  It's probably headed into Lake Superior and stopping in Duluth.

Admiral Trish.  Aye aye, ma'am.  Our tour boat is sitting in one of the up locks, freighter in up lock behind the Admiral.  Some ships get mail, laundry, food, etc while in the Locks area.

Soo Locks

These pix were take at the Soo Locks visitor center and grounds.  Visitors can call a hotline to get ETAs of ships 'locking' up or down.  Viewing station, below, is loaded with people when ships arrive.

Flower child.

Screwed.

Edmund Fitzgerald

   
A scale model of 'Big Fitz', the biggest, baddest ore freighter ever, when launched in 1958.  It was 728' long, carried a cargo of 26,000 tons.  It sunk on November 10,1975, and all 29 crew members were lost.

The model and the original ship's bell are on display at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point, MI.  The museum also has an excellent film about the disaster.

The bell was recovered by a joint US/Canadian task force on July 4, 1995.  A ceremony was then held with the survivors (family members) stepping up and ringing the bell 29 times.  A replacement memorial bell, engraved with the names of all crew members, was lowered to the site.  No attempt was made to recover the bodies of the crew members.

Big Fitz broke in half when it sunk in 530' of water.  There are many theories about the actual cause, none ever confirmed.  Suffice to say, the violent storm did the job: gusts up to 80 MPH and waves up to 35' high.  Numerous safety requirements were put in place as a result of the disaster.

Gordon Lightfoot recorded his hit song about the wreck in 1976, best ballad ever written in my opinion.  The song is played in the museum and is also in the video.

Below, a huge wooden rudder recovered from an old wreck.  It's huge, about 12' high and 10' thick, held together with large iron spikes.

The Museum provides details, pix and artifacts of several old wrecks, some going back to the first days of Great Lakes transportation.  6,000 ships have sunk in the Great Lakes, 30,000 lives lost.

Mackinac Island

We were in the Mackinac area 8 years ago.  Trish visited the Island then but I didn't; this time we both went, Artie too.

The Grand Hotel was built in 93 days in 1887, no labor laws then.  It boasts the longest covered porch in the world, has a full golf course.  Several famous people stayed here, including movie stars, on the Island to do what they do - act in movies.

The carriage house, above and below, dozens of carriages and sleighs with names and history.

Motorized vehicles aren't allowed on the Island.  Cycle, walk, rent a horse or take a horse-drawn conveyance.  The one below is the second one we boarded, doing the Island tour - which, if you enjoy history, is excellent.

Artie, patiently waiting for his burger and fries to arrive, napkin tucked into his collar.  Trish washed hers down with a margarita while I had an IPA.  After lunch, we took the ferry back to St Ignace.

Big Mac

We're talking bridges not burgers.  Big Mac is how the locals refer to Mackinac Bridge.  It marks the dividing line between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.

Mackinac Bridge is a real doozy.  Total length is 26,372' and the towers are 552 high.  In case you're curious, the Golden Gate Bridge is only 8,981 long.  No contest.

It takes 5 years to paint the huge mutha and they're finishing the job this summer.  The top 1/3 of the south tower is draped with drop cloths - BIG drop cloths - and people are up there with their brushes, rollers, spray cans, or whatever they use.  Elevators inside the towers go up to the second crossbar, after that it's a ladder.

These pix were taken from the St Ignace-Mackinac Island ferry.  When weather permits, the ferry drivers include the bridge in their route, briefly stopping directly under it.

"That's Too bad."

Tiki RV Park, St Ignace, MI.  Trish reserved a electric/water site here months ago, was told to check back to see if a full hookup site became available. 

She called 3 days ago.  "Who?  Our computer is down, can't help you now."

She called again 2 days ago.  "Who?  Oh yeah, Roberts.  Yes, we do have a full hookup drive-thru site you can have.

Pulled into the park, entered the office, old dingbat behind the counter, "Who?" 

Trish said, "I was told there was a full hookup drive-thru site for us." 

Dingbat: "That's too bad.  You're going to be in site 55.  It's a back-in"

So, here we are in site 55.  It's okay, has full hook.

RVers always prefer drive-thru sites because maneuvering into a back-in can be a bitch: trees, posts, rocks, other vehicles and RVs frequently make backing in a real challenge.

Some businesses succeed in spite of themselves - including this one.  If there were good alternatives to Tiki, I'd have told them in no uncertain terms where to shove their 'that's too bad' attitude.

Kitch-iti-Kipi

No, that's not a typo.  It's the Indian name for Big Spring, a freshwater spring that gushes out of the pool bottom at 10,000 gallons a minute.  It's in Palms Book State Park, near Manistique, MI.

This raft takes people out to where the water boils up at the bottom of the pond.  It's propelled by a 4' wheel you turn by hand, takes about 10 minutes to get above the outflow location.  Trish and I were the only ones on it, the folks in this shot were the next bunch.

Looking straight down at the outflows through 40' of clear water.  The fish are trout, huge buggers.

The lighter colored areas on the bottom mark where the water flows up through the sand. 

They resemble large pots of boiling, sandy water.

Our idyllic campground at Indian Lake State Park.