I rode about 90 miles up US 23 to Alpena, MI. US23 runs along the shoreline of Lake Huron all the way up to Mackinac City, where it joins I-75 in crossing the Mackinac Bridge to the Upper Peninsula. There were a number of places along the road where the shoreline of the lake was within 100 feet or so, and I thought this spot was pretty nice:
Before I got to Alpena, I stopped at the Sturgeon Bay Lighthouse, built in 1868 and now, of course, abandoned:
It has been nicely maintained by the state historical society, though.
In Alpena, I stopped at the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center, which while small, was well-done. It had some collections of salvaged artifacts from some sunken ships, but I thought the setting of the building was nice:
Alpena seemed to be a very nice, small city along the Lake Huron shoreline.
My final stop of the day was in Paradise. Actually, about 12 miles north of Paradise at Whitefish Point and adjacent to Whitefish Bay on Lake Superior. This is the location of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, which is located at the Whitefish Point Lighthouse. It was very nice with some very interesting artifacts.
Here are a couple pictures of the grounds:
Inside the museum itself were a lot of artifacts and a lot of information about ships that sank in the vicinity of Whitefish Point.
One of those ships, of course, is the Edmund Fitzgerald, which lies about 17 miles to the West of Whitefish Point. The museum had a nice presentation of the shipwreck, including the actual, recovered, ship's bell:
As you might imagine, being next to the (second?) largest fresh-water body in the world (Lake Superior), the water doesn't get very warm and consequently the whole area is pretty chilly most of the time. That didn't stop these partygoers, though:
Incidently, along the way on US23 heading up the coast of Lake Huron, I caught sight of this:
It's a freighter headed to the Soo Locks at Sault Ste Marie, and then either west to Lake Superior or south to Lake Michigan. Pretty cool.
Tomorrow I'm crossing the International Bridge into Canada and I'll be heading around the north side of Lake Superior toward Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Miles Today: 356
Total: 1,358
