









From St. Ignace, it was a short trip up to Sault Ste Marie (soo-saint-marie), where we stayed in a campground with a view of the water and the huge ships that travel the Great Lakes.

As you can imagine, the whole town revolves around the locks. Downtown there is a beautiful park with a viewing area that puts visitors eye-level with ship’s crews, and there’s a phone line to hear the ship schedule.


We entered the locks, were tied up, and watched the gates behind us close and the water rise.




As we continued down the river and back to our dock, another freighter, this one a svelte 700’ was waiting it’s turn.



From Sault Ste Marie, we headed west to the interior of the Upper Peninsula for a stay near Curtis, a small town next to Manistique Lake. We were looking for a quiet place to relax for a few days and our stay here was worthwhile. But Lake Superior called, so we journeyed to Munising to take a “shipwreck” tour boat.


The second wreck was of a larger ship and had a large amount of debris scattered along the bottom. Here’s a great view of the anchor:

Leaving the wrecks, we cruised along the shore enjoying the weather and the great views. The colorful shoreline is caused by the sandstone, which erodes and leaves trees that have been undercut to grow upside-down:



Our last trip was a shopping visit to Marquette, and then on to the former K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base, a large base that closed in 1995. While I was never stationed there, many of my friends were, and I was interested in seeing how it looked after all these years. My friends always talked about the beauty of the area, the hunting and fishing opportunities, and the harsh winters. Sadly, there not much beauty left here. Some of the base is being used by various civilian entities and most of the base housing is apparently rented out, but most of the base is empty and deteriorating. A quick tour:




Traveling around a closed base is like touring a ghost town – you wonder what life was like here when it was active. So many people spent years here, had children that grew up, and left here with fond memories. RIP, K.I. Sawyer.
That’s it for Michigan! We’re traveling again – who knows what we’ll have to share next time?