Upper Peninsula III

Spent our last few days in Michigan on the western side of the Upper Peninsula.  Had a nice campsite fronting a lake, very peaceful; good base to explore what we had not seen.  The locals, called "Da Yoopers", were very friendly, seemed to be good, hard working folks.  Definitely beginning to feel like the heartland.

 

 

 Went up to the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula, on the western edge, bordering Lake Superior.  As you can see from the above, Lake Superior is the largest and deepest of the Great Lakes, all of which were formed after the last Ice Age, when a warming climate 10,000-20,000 years produced a receding glacier, which carved out the lakes.  Lake Superior is really cold, even in high season in the Summer; nevertheless, we saw a number of people wading/swimming in the waters on our way up to the point.  Also interesting, due to tectonic plate rifting, some of the oldest igneous rocks in Earth's existence (estimated to be approximately 1 billion years old) became exposed to the surface during the glacial retreat. 

 

 While the northwestern part of the peninsula is famous for its copper, further south was the discovery of  vast amounts of iron ore, among three main formations, that produced quite the mining rush starting in the 1840s.  We visited the Michigan Iron Industry Museum, learned about the booms and busts of the iron mining business.  Much labor turnover due to the terrible Winters and the flies/mosquitos in the Spring/Summer.  Many of those who hung in there to do the tough work, hungry immigrants, mostly from Scandinavia, looking for a better life.  America's greatness was built on the promise that draws immigrants from all over the world; I think we have forgotten that (no apologies to Trump)

 

Finally, we kept seeing signs like "Suzy's Pasties" and "We have the best pasties".  I thought they were talking about strip clubs.  Turns out that pasties are a food, kind of like a meat turnover, with potatoes and onions.  Introduced to the area by Cornish miners.  I had one; not bad.

Upper Peninsula II

At the Northeast corner of the UP is Sault Ste. Marie, "the Soo".  Gateway to Ontario, it's canal locks connect Lake Superior to the 21' foot lower Lake Huron.  It is a busy passageway, 1000' freighters are common; it is the world's busiest/largest canal, in terms of tonnage.

Took a tour of the "Soo" locks; above the lock closing at Lake Superior level;

then, 20 minutes later, 21' lower to Lake Huron level.

Visited the interesting shipwreck museum in Whitefish Point, Paradise; so many stories of ships sinking in the lakes.  Most famous, the Edmund Fitzgerald, once the largest freighter of it's kind, sank in November, 1975.  Matter of fact, many of the disasters came in Novembers.  Gordon Lightfoot made a great vocal on the Edmund Fitzgerald; there is a Youtube video with the music and words; I know all of you would remember it.  I would have included a shortcut here, but, once again, I couldn't figure out how to do it.

Saw this on one of the tours; a Gumbee Suit, designed to help crew members after the Fitzgerald sinking.

Upper Peninsula I

Upper Peninsula

Spending some time in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  We have wanted to come up here for some time, but with their winters so cold, the peninsula doesn't really warm up too quickly; middle of July was perfect.

The UP is surrounded by Lake Superior to the North, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron to the South and East, and Wisconsin to the West. First Europeans greeting the natives were Frenchman looking for a shortcut to the Far East.  Eventually, the French gave up rights to the UP after the French Indian War, then to the US in 1783. It wasn't always part of Michigan.  It was awarded to Michigan when Michigan agreed to give up their rights to the "Toledo Strip" to Ohio in 1836.  At the time, Ohio appeared to have the better deal.  However, when copper and iron ore mines were discovered on the UP, things changed.  The mines eventually produced more wealth than the gold rush in California.  The mines are closed now, but the area still produces timber logging and borders the freight traffic that navigates on the Great Lakes.

We stayed in the little town of St. Ignace (SE tip of the peninsula); must say the area is not very crowded for peak of the summer.   We did discover that Winter can be busy; they had ice 4 foot thick Lake Huron this past winter.  This was perfect for their famous Pond Hockey Tournament (215 teams), one of the largest in the country.

One exception to the rather modest number of tourists was the delightful Mackinac Island; reachable by ferry (no autos allowed).  The island has a colorful history, including Ft.Macinac, built by the British, taken over by America in 1783, then back to the British during the first battle of the War of 1812, then back to America in a later treaty.  The fort has been fully renovated, sits up on commanding hill, the preservation society gives many tours and soldier demonstrations in period costumes, great fun.  The place was packed with people, horse/carriages, bicycles and some nice places to eat; we had a great time.

 

 

View of the town on the way up the ramp to the Fort. 

 

 

 

Street scene next to the water; lots of people, beautiful day

 

,

Picture of the famous Ft. Mackinac.; nice hike up there

Grand Rapids

Grand Rapids is the second largest city in Michigan, located about 30 miles east of Lake Michigan. Dubbed the "furniture city" in the late 19th century because of all the furniture manufacturers that were located here, it lost that honor to High Point, NC; Grand Rapids still has numerous office furniture companies here, including Steelcase.  In 1945 the city was the first in the nation to introduce fluoride into their drinking water.  

 

As manufacturers moved overseas, Grand Rapids lost many companies and jobs.  In 2011 Newsweek called Grand Rapids a dying city.  The city took umbrage and produced a music video in protest, called the Grand Rapids LipDub; which Roger Ebert called he greatest social music video ever, and, has since, entertained some 5.3 million viewers.  It is on you tube; I tried to copy a shortcut onto the blog, but I just can't figure out how to do it.  If you are interested in watching, just google it; it's easy to find.  5000 people participated in the production, a true community effort.

 

We found the city very nice.  As in many cities, benefactors contributed greatly to the public spaces/buildings.  That's what we need in Hilton Head, some generous benefactors.  Of note in Grand Rapids: Frederick Meijer, developed 190 Meijer hypermarkets (think super Walmarts).  He became a multi-billionaire and contributed greatly to the city including the world class Meijer botanical  and sculpture gardens.  Also, Jay Van Andel and Rich DeVos, two very entrepreneurial college dropouts who started Amway in their basement; they also became multi-billionaires and their philanthropy is evident all throughout the city.  

 

 Gerald Ford was from Grand Rapids; excelled in football in college, passed up a chance to play in the pros and instead went to Yale law school.  President for just a short time, nevertheless, his experience in defense related affairs helped complete the Salt II talks with Breznev, finalize our exit from VietNam and bring closure to the Nixon era with his controversial pardon.  Pilloried as a bumbling, naïve caretaker (especially on Saturday Night Live), he was widely regarded for his integrity and his ability to get things done; his most ardent supporter, Henry Kissinger.  Kissinger's comments  at Ford's funeral were eloquent and moving; he said Ford was one of the great men of his time.  I think Ford's reputation as a President has been getting better over time.

 Sculpture of a lineman at the museum

 Meijer's sculptures include ones by Henry More and Rodin; here a fun one called "Broken Nose Carrying a Bottle".  Zoom in on the picture; see if you can see the broken nose.

 This one is called "Listening to History" by Bill Woodrow.

 Marlene, obviously having a great time at dinner at Tabor Hill winery.

 Tennis with Wayne Brenneman, who visits HH each winter

Dinner with Wayne and Nancy Brenneman; what a wonderful day we had

Tennis

Got to hit the tennis ball occasionally.

On the way to Michigan, got to play some tennis with Hilton Head bud (moving back to South Bend) Jim Mansfield.  Won 1, lost 1, on newly surfaced Notre Dame hard courts.

Practice field for the Irish football team, right across the street from the tennis courts.  Haviland, this one's for you.

Chicago VI

Final days in Chicago; nice visit.

Did a Architectural Foundation cruise on the Chicago River.  Excellent docent; above another Chicago special, the "Aqua" building.  82 story designed by Jeanne Gang, built 2009; largest building design every awarded to firm headed by a woman.  Undulating appearance of irregular concrete slabs because she couldn't make up her mind; no, strike that, sorry.  It was to maximize solar benefits; building is very environmental (LEED certified).  Voted skyscraper of the year in 2009. First skyscraper in Chicago to combine hotel, condos and apartments.

Took in a Saturday performance of "Best of 2nd City TV"; freakin hilarious, followed by nice dinner at Adobo Grill downstairs, where they make fresh guacamole at your table.  Thanks, Tim.

Went to the Navy pier, nice time, although major construction.  Should be finished by 2016; we'll see.