June
11 – Today’s plan was to spend part of the day touristing and part doing
chores. Ugh!
 |
| Captain Bill at the helm |
We left for Alpena where
our first stop was the Great
Lake Maritime
Heritage Center. It’s a free museum and the exhibits were
excellent. It’s mostly about the huge
number of sunken ships in Lake Huron. With the depth of the lake and the super cold
water, the ships are very well preserved and people are continually doing dives
and bringing up items. The Center has
staff that restores/cleans the items and they are logged and a lot are on
display throughout the Center. There is
a ship’s deck built in the Center that you can go in and see how they lived and
even pretend you’re steering rough waters.
We were also able to get some information on lighthouses we had on the
list for today.
 |
| Little Red |
In
the Alpena Harbor
we found Alpena’s Little Red, which an unusual lighthouse. It’s a skeletal steel style and of course
it’s painted red. We really didn’t think
it was a lighthouse but took a photo anyway and had it confirmed. We backtracked a bit to the only Wal-mart for
miles and picked up a few grocery items, vitamins and a battery operated leaf
blower to keep the slides and toppers free of debris.
Once
we finished shopping we had lunch at Culver’s.
I tried their summer strawberry chicken salad and Bill had his
usual: burger, fries and soda. We passed on dessert as much as it pained me!
Next
stop: Presque Isle where we started at
the Old Presque Isle
 |
| Old Presque |
Lighthouse.
The
keeper’s quarters were totally rebuilt and a lot roomier than you would
think.
Upstairs had 2 bedrooms and a 3
rd
downstairs with the kitchen and living room.
The light house itself was not terribly tall; I guess that’s why they
built a new one!
Built in 1840 it was in
use until 1871 after the new one opened.
It’s only 30 feet tall so climbing it was no issue.
Although the narrow stone steps were a bit
treacherous, and the opening to the catwalk was tiny, I managed!
 |
| New Presque |
A
mile up the road is the New Presque Isle Lighthouse which is 109 feet and 130
spiral metal steps up. It was a bit more
work on my part and the wind was pretty strong once I stepped out on the
catwalk. Bill was tiny down below. The grounds there are huge and beautiful and
I could see a freighter way out on the lake.
There are 2 keeper homes, one attached to the lighthouse and a larger
house built later. At one time 3
families lived in the first house.
One
the way back we were able to see one of the 2 Presque Isle
 |
| Presque Range Light |
Front Range lights. One is on private property and one I right on the road. It’s tiny but the way range lights worked was
not quite the same as regular lighthouses.
They were spaced a part and the lights played off of each other. This one was built in 1870 and was maintained
by one of the few female keepers. There’s
a nice statue tribute to her.
 |
| 40 Mile Point |
A
little further up the road is Rogers
City, where 40 Mile Point
Lighthouse is. It was closed by the time
we got there. We took some photos and
looked around and saw a trail to the beach and up about 250 feet to where the
remains of the SS Joseph Fay lies. 130
feet of the starboard side has lain along the
 |
| Bill with remains of the Fay |
beach since 1905. It was built in 1871.
Time
to head back to the campground, where Bill washed the front of the RV and the
truck. I did a load of laundry and
finally fixed my schnitzels with noodles, brown gravy and fresh green
beans. It was pretty good. Bill did the dishes!
I
did some journaling and posted a few days.
We watched some TV and I took some photos of the lake. It’s very pretty and peaceful here.
No comments:
Post a Comment