Michigan Exposures

All Things Must Come to an End

So it was time to head back home. I decided to stop at the Mackinac Bridge because I thought I might have an outside chance of catching the Stewart Cort. She was making her way to the Soo Locks. As I got to the Bridge and looked at AIS, it seemed like she didn't move at all. As I type this, it looks like she is still around Mackinac Island. I have a feeling, she is waiting for other ships and they will convoy them through the St. Marys River.

So a few more pictures of the Bridge. Even this is pretty iced over.

But it looks pretty cool. Of course, it would look cooler with the Cort under it but oh well.

A slightly different angle.

And a closeup.

Then I had a chance to get some pictures of the lighthouse.

It is another one of my favorites.

I even ventured to the front.

A slightly different angle to get the long view.

And a closeup.

Trying to get some trees in the shot.

Same angle minus the trees.

Then I had to get some straight on shots. A brief shot of Lake Michigan.

And the Lake Huron side.

One more shot of the Bridge.

Wandering Around the Soo

The Soo Locks officially opened at 12:01A.M. on March 25th. Somebody forgot to send Mother Nature the memo that there needed to be some ships there. As I said in the last post, they were all stuck around Duluth.

The Park around the locks was still opened and there were a couple of boatnerds that braved the cold to be there for the opening. It was actually kind of beautiful.

I think this shot gives you an idea of just how cold it was.

Some things I don't normally take pictures of.

A shot just to give you an idea of just how much snow we were talking about.

I believe this propellor was from the first steamer on the Great Lakes.

The sign telling you where you are.

I decided to get a couple pictures of the Valley Camp so that I would see at least one ship. I'm not really sure if this counts though.

A slightly off angle shot. One of these days, I will make a point to visit her.

Portage Avenue is the main tourist drag of Sault Ste Marie. To the left, you can see the Ojibway Hotel. That is where I normally stay when I'm in the Soo.

Just a shot to give you an idea of how much snow.

A shot of the MacArthur Lock through the fence. They are still doing some work on it.

Looking down the Lake Superior side of the locks. As you can see, it still pretty iced over.

A shot of the Administration Building through the fence.

A sort of shot of the International Bridge.

This would be the spot where I get pictures of ships from. It is actually one of my favorite places.

A pair of old observation cars. I think these may be used for the snow train.

A car from the California Zephyr. I kind of wish they would bring this style back.

Another car.

And a shot of the International Bridge.

Despite not seeing any ships, I still had fun during my brief stay in the Soo. It was nice and relaxing for one thing. Since there weren't any ships, I wasn't spending my time driving from the Locks to Mission Point and back. I think I'm going to try to get up there within the next couple of weeks. Hopefully shipping traffic will be at some semblance of normal by then.

Wandering down the Curley Highway

The Curley Highway goes from roughly around Brimley to roughly around Paradise. It is part of the Lake Superior National Lakeshore. The Point Iroquois Lighthouse is along the way. There are also a few scenic turnoffs but none of those were cleared.

My mom wanted some pictures of some of the streams that were still running. I was a little hesitant but I'm glad I listened to her.

The make a nice picture, I think.

Another shot of angry Lake Superior.

One more.

One thing I like about traveling around the Upper Peninsula is that they know how to deal with the roads in the winter. For the most part, they were clear. The parts that weren't clear were parts that didn't have shelter from the wind.

Another stream.

Even this wasn't too bad if I took it slow.

Another stream.

Same stream but from a different angle.

Again, the same stream but I wanted to get some of the background in the picture.

One more.

Just a stand of birch trees.

One more picture of birches.

The Point Iroquois Lighthouse and Surroundings

As I said in the last post, there were no boats going through the Soo Locks. They were all stuck in Duluth and as we were there, a group of Coast Guard ships was going over to Duluth to get them unstuck. I heard someone say that the ice was about 6 feet thick in some places. The Coast Guard convoy started moving out of Duluth on Wednesday. As I am typing this post, they are somewhere around Thunder Bay. Rumors are that they will arrive in the Soo on Saturday but I don't think that is likely.

Since there were no ships, I decided to wander down the Scenic Highway to Paradise. My first stop was the Point Iroquois Lighthouse which is just west of Brimley (Oatmeal Capital of the World). I try to stop at this lighthouse when I get the chance because it is one of my favorites and one of the more beautiful lighthouses.

I couldn't get too many angles of it because the paths around it weren't clear and the snow was at least 3 feet thick in some places.

But I could move around well enough.

Obsured by some of the trees out front.

From the road in front. This is my second favorite angle. I actually prefer the angle from the other side, but I couldn't get to that one.

Pulled out a little more to give you an idea of just how isolated it is. I seriously couldn't imagine being a keeper here during the winter.

I did take some of the path that was cleared.

I thought it looked pretty cool.

If you look in the background, you can see Lake Superior. It was pretty angry on Tuesday. I have to believe that wasn't helping the ships much either.