2019-14
Lake Huron
Mackinaw Bridge
Crossing
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| one hand on the wheel, on hand on the camera |
Lower Michigan
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| lower Michigan, industry and farm land |
Alpena Michigan
Midland Michigan
Bay City, Tall Ships
Campground: Alpena
County Fairgrounds. $23 plenty of sites only a few campers/tenters
here. I have 30 amp, but I think other sites might have 50 amp.
This is in-town. With nice walking paths along the river right from
the fairgrounds, a nice plus. Water and dump station available.
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| Alpena Fairgrounds has three areas for camping I'm close to the dirt road, but with river views |
Campground: Midland
Fairgrounds. $20 plenty of sites. Multiple 30 amp outlets on each
telephone pole. Water between some sites. Dump station charge $7
even if you are camping here. Fairground are basically in town.
Close to shops restaurants. Makes for nice basecamp.
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| Midland Mich Fairgrounds, nice grassy sites 30 amp and water available near campsites |
Well it was time to
leave the U.P. and head south into Lower Michigan. Winds were
expected to pick up the day I crossed the bridge which is 4.995
miles, 8,038 km long. The towers are 552 ft (168m) in height. When
I crossed it in the morning around 9 am, the wind gusts were around
20-25 mph and the truck and 5th wheel camper had no
problems. That and the traffic was going at only about 30 miles an
hour.
I’m taking an
easterly route along the Lake Huron side (my third great Lake so far)
on hwy 23 to Alpena. Once a thriving lumber town it is still a nice
town to explore. I’m staying at the Alpena Fairground, plenty of
space and relatively quite.
There’s a nice
museum, part of the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Over 200
shipwrecks sit on the bottom of Thunder bay in the cold clear waters
of Lake Huron. Glass bottom boat tours are available or diving
excursions can be arranged. The day I arrived, there was a lecture
by Dr. John O’Shea. Archaeology is now doing research on places
like the underwater Alpena-Amberly Ridge in Thunder Bay. What
they’ve discovered were remains of ancient human activity and stone
hunting structures used to hunt caribou, thousands of years ago
during the receding ice age. It was the first time these discoveries
were made public and I was there. Woo Hoo!
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| Presque Isle 2 lighthouses this is the first one built |
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| volunteers do so much good work |
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| while lighthouse was in private hands they built this big fireplace covering up two windows looking onto the tower |
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| the second larger lighthouse |
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| great views of Lake Huron |
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| looking at shipwrecks off shore before lighthouses were built I'm sure |
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| Second home required to maintain lighthouse #2 |
More lighthouses of
course. The Great Lakes are a “great” place to visit tons of
lighthouses and I’ve been able to visit just a few of them along
the way. Today I drove over to Presque Isle to see two lighthouses
built 30 years apart. Shipping was increasing after the first
lighthouse was built in 1840. By 1870 the second larger lighthouse
was built included was a fog horn. I’ve been getting my exercise
climbing up all those lighthouses as well as Castle Rock.
Presque Isle has
some great volunteers, one was in a window painting away. Others
provide information on the lighthouse operations. The smaller
lighthouse built in 1840 has a hand hewn stone steps to the top and
awesome views from both lighthouses. $5 to climb both lighthouses.
Although the keepers cottage for the smaller lighthouse was in
private hands for many years and renovated along the way, it still
contains lots of history including thick wooden doors and beams
salvaged from shipwrecks washed ashore. A massive fireplace now
hides two original windows that looked out onto the tower, but it is
the grandest of fireplaces I’ve ever seen.
While visiting one
of the sites in the U.P., I happened to talk to a retired Ford Motor
Co. worker. First discussing our own retirement plans, he then
mentioned that today, Ford Motor Co. no longer hires full time
employees. Hiring only Part time workers. Giving them 3 day work
weeks, no benefits, no health insurance, and no retirement plans.
How can they plan for the future. And this is after all those
companies received a permanent lower corporate taxes and of course
the wealthy also received a large permanent tax reduction.
Unfortunately the concept of “trickle down economics” has been
proven over time that it doesn’t work. Ford being a good example
of what actually happens.
Distance Traveled: 144 miles
Michigan’s state
roads are not well maintained in lower Michigan. I often hear from
friends and relatives living in the U.P. that all money goes to lower
Michigan and nothing to the U.P. Well I can confirm that all the
major roads in the U.P. are in pretty good condition. Of course they
may be county roads. In any case, the camper and truck had one heck
of a time bouncing along those secondary roads.
Midland Michigan
Currently hosting a
LPGA tournament. First time for that here. It’s an impressive
town. The downtown are looks very upscale. Very helpful
Visitor/Convention center. The town is the headquarters to Dow
Chemical Corp.
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| Alden B Dow home and studio |
The Alden B Dow Home and Studio
What an awesome tour
of the Alden B Dow Home and Studio. Alden was one of the sons of the
head of Dow Chemical of course. He had a passion for Architecture.
Getting his degree in the field, he traveled Europe, Japan and
interned with Frank Loyd Wright. The Studio for his budding
architectural firm was built first, eventually the home extended the
place to over 20,000 sq ft.
Opening his
architectural firm in 1934. By 1937 he had won the Diplome de Grand
Prix. He completed his home by 1941, one of the first Mid Century
Modern designs that are coveted today by many home buyers. A
stunning example, wish I could have taken photos inside, but only
exterior shots were permitted. Had a wonderful tour guide for the
hour and a half tour.
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| only exterior shots were permitted |
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| best home tour, Mid Century Modern |
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| courtyard, car park |
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| family home entrance |
screened patio overlooking poind
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| maintenance worker |
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| stepping stones designed to challenge the kids |
Later I would tour
the Dow Gardens and the canopy walk through the Whiting Forest. The
gardens were once a part of the home and studio and of course are now
open to the public. Lots of gardeners out working, having to walk
around their many ATV vehicles along the paved walking paths. One
could spend many hours here. I spent most of a morning here,
including a stop at one of their cafe’s and coffee shops on the
grounds.
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| nest along canopy walk |
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| so much fun to be a kid for a day |
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| and a walk out onto a glass view below |
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| manicured garden walk way |
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| lots of staff maintaining the gardens |
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| cafe and coffee shop best iced coffee around |
A few days later I
went to the Midland Center for the Arts. Not much on the art scene,
the main exhibits are geared towards the kids, science themes mainly.
The art displays all have a link to Dow Chemical products such as
acrylic paints, plastics, acrylic water colors etc. Some of the
worst art signage I’ve ever seen. Extremely small type face, many
requiring the reader to bend way down or in some cases I actually sat
on the floor to read the placards. Note: I would not recommend
wasting your money on this museum. Next door is a live theater which
I would attend if there had been a performance the time I was in
town.
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| wonderful periodic table, flip each tile to learn more about each element |
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| two of the original Terracotta soldiers 400 BC |
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| from the oriental doll collection |
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| young boy |
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| the mystery black dome their idea of a planetarium |
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| much of the art displayed also showed off Dow Chemical paints photography for paintings not permitted |
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| cast of pieces of experimental plastics |
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| Alden Dow collected these cast offs considering them pieces of art |
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| Snoopy |
Haven’t even
mentioned a nice group of campers I met, Loners On Wheels. They were
kind enough to invite me over to a number of get-togethers they were
having. A couple are full-timers, others live in Michigan and use
their Rv’s, mainly Class C’s and van campers to explore part-time
around the state.
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| a few of the Loners On Wheels waiting for a repair truck to replace a tire Thanks for letting me join your group this weekend |
And my last stop was
over to Bay City for the Tall Ships Festival. I was able to get some
good shots of the boats from the bridge as the festival gates weren’t
open when I got there. Apparently they have lots of music and tours
of the boats once the gates open up. Tried to get a couple shots of
their lighthouse on the harbor, but it’s on private land and
surrounded by industrial parks. Still a fun
adventure for the early
morning.
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