Thirty-ninth Lighthouse Expedition

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Revision as of 15:51, 28 May 2009

August 14 - 25, 2002 -- Isle Royale and Western Lake Superior with U.S. Lighthouse Society

August 14, 2002, Wednesday

7:30 am

Left home heading north on I-75.

11:15 am

Reached the bridge at the Straits of Mackinaw. From the bridge we could see Old Mackinaw Point, Round Island, Round Island Passage and St. Helena Island lighthouses.

11:25 am

We stopped in St. Ignace at a McDonalds for lunch. Since we are under a time crunch to get to Marquette, we got it "to go."

1:50 pm

We reached Munising and saw the Munising Front and Rear Range Lights. Just down the road we saw the Grand Island East & West Channel Lights in the town of Christmas.

2:45 pm

We made great time from home to Marquette and after some difficulty, because of road construction in the city, we found the Marquette Maritime Museum. We have been to the Marquette Harbor Lighthouse several times on previous trips, however the light is now open for tours. The Museum is in the process of restoring the lighthouse. Our tour was led by Christina Kenney. We were able to get some great pictures of the front of the lighthouse from the walkway for the first time. The lighthouse was built in 1866 and an addition was added in 1907. The light was painted its now famous red in the 1950's. However, the epoxy paint has started to deteriorate the brick causing an even more extensive and expensive restoration process. The light is still functional and flashes every 10 seconds. After the tour of the lighthouse we enjoyed the wonderful Maritime Museum. On display inside were the Fresnel lenses from Big Bay (third order), Marquette Lower Harbor Breakwater (fourth order) and the second order lens from Stannard Rock. We left about 3:45.

4:05 pm

We found our motel, the Budget Host Brentwood Motor Inn. A nice room at a reasonable cost.

5:00 pm

We left the motel and went to another of our favorite places in Marquette, Jean Kaye Pasties. We picked up two great pasties for our dinner and took them to the Presque Isle Park. It was very windy and it was a challenge to eat them at the picnic table. Afterwards, Don walked out onto the breakwater to photograph the Presque Isle Breakwater Light. We left at 6:30 and went back to the motel.

August 15, 2002, Thursday

8:50 am

We left the Budget Host Brentwood Inn in Marquette. After stopping at a store we returned to the Maritime Museum where Don was able to again photograph the light with the morning sun.

10:00 am

We left Marquette.

11:35 am (CDST)

We stopped and had lunch at the McDonalds in Ironwood, MI and left at noon. Three minutes later we were in Wisconsin.

12:40 pm

We could see the Ashland Breakwater Light from the highway.

1:45 pm

We arrived in Duluth, Minnesota.

2:05 pm

We found the Fitger's Inn in downtown Duluth. The beautiful hotel was once a brewery. It is located right on the bay. We had a very nice room on the fourth floor with a beautiful view of Lake Superior. We checked in and did a little unpacking.

3:20 pm

We left the hotel and walked along the boardwalk to Canal Park. We are able to see the three lights at the entrance to the Duluth harbor. This is our third trip to Duluth and each time we enjoy seeing the unusual lift bridge operate as the boats and ships pass underneath. We walked around the park, visited some of the shops and got back to the hotel about 5:00.

6:00 pm

We met Lori & Bruce Yates from Tomah, WI and Tom Baumgarten also from Tomah, whom we met on the San Francisco trip last year, in the lobby. Unfortunately, Tom's wife, Lynn, could not come on this trip with us. Also in the lobby were Kay Carroll from Corvallis, OR and her daughter, Sue Carroll from Bethesda, MD, who are descendents of John Eddy, a lighthouse keeper on the Great Lakes. Since Diana's paternal grandmother was an Eddy, we discussed our possible family connection. Dave Snyder from the USLHS, San Francisco, CA also made an appearance in the lobby and then we all went downstairs to the restaurant, Bennetts on the Lake, for dinner. At this time we met the rest of our traveling companions.

Traveling with us were: Jeff & Shari Atkinson from Holland, MI; Phil & Mary Borkowski from Ann Arbor MI; Darrell & Annie Camp from Lilburn, GA; Barbara Covello from Healdsburg, CA; Fran Cox from Reidsville, NC; Holly Dahms from Menomonee Falls, WI; Bob & Mary Ellen Farquhar from West Worthington, OH; Jan Gallagher from Lakewood, CO; Marcia Gooldy from Denver, CO; Dick & Pat Jeffries from Pheonix, AZ; Hal and Maryann Jenkins from Sacramento, CA; Ed & Branca McDonald from Pleasanton, CA; Georgia Lee McElhaney from Shepherdstown, WV; Eric Maul from San Francisco, CA; Bill McElligott from Boca Raton, FL; Rusty and Patti Nelson from South Portland, ME; Sue Roberts from Goodlettsville, TN; Sam Roberts from Orland, FL; Jim & Patsy Roehr from Cheyenne, WY; Mike & Sue Smith from Yachats, OR; and Enoyse Sommer from Albuquerque NM;. Carol Nettleton from Minneapolis, MN; Bob Proctor from Santa Ana, CA; and Marie Tilson from San Francisco, CA joined the group later.

We had a wonderful wild game dinner including pheasant, duck, and quail. After dinner we enjoyed a walk outside on the hotel deck to see Canal Park, the lighthouses and the Lift Bridge lit up at night.

August 16, 2002, Friday

8:00 am

We had a buffet breakfast at Bennetts on the Lake in the Fitger's Inn.

9:00 am

We met our bus driver for the entire trip, Gene Bailey. We had a short tour of Duluth and saw many of the beautiful Victorian homes on the London Road.

9:35 am

The bus dropped us off at Canal Park near the Maritime Museum. We were met by a member of the Coast Guard, Vince Leo. We walked out to the Duluth North Breakwater Light. The canal in Duluth was built in 1870 and the current lighthouse here was built in 1910. We climbed to the top of the tower. While we had made two previous trips to Duluth, this is the first time we were able to get inside these lights and climb them. Next we walked back down the breakwater, across the Lift Bridge and out to the end of the other breakwater to see and climb the Duluth South Breakwater Outer Light. Next we climbed the tower of the Duluth South Breakwater Inner light. I counted 81 steps to the top of this one.

11:50 am

We left the Inner Light and as we began to cross the Lift Bridge, the warning bells went off indicating that a ship was approaching and to get off at quickly as possible. Since Dave, Eric and I were ahead of Don (guess who was still taking pictures), we were able to cross to the other side. Don had to wait until the boat had passed through and the bridge came back down before he was able to join us.

12:00 Noon

Everyone was on their own for lunch. We went with Dave and Eric to Famous Dave's. We had wonderful BBQ ribs and sandwiches.

1:00 pm

It was back on the bus to go to Superior, WI.

1:40 pm

We arrived at the Wisconsin Point Light at the end of Wisconsin Point. We had quite a hike, first along the breakwater and then over the boulders to reach the light. About half of the group did not attempt to make the walk. The keepers dwelling was also close by. Vince Leo met us there and let us climb the tower. We left by 2:55.

3:25 pm

Our bus driver, Gene gave us several options to finish out our afternoon. He dropped eleven off at the Aquarium, five of us off at Canal Park, eight at the hotel and the fifteen others went out to the lighthouse ruins at the end of Minnesota Point.

We had different agendas for the afternoon:

Don:

4:45 pm

Arrived at the Minnesota Point Lighthouse ruins after walking about 1 1/2 miles from the airport on Minn. Point. Left at 5:00.

5:05 pm

Arrived at the ruins of an old Lighthouse Service Depot. Left at 5:15.

5:45 pm

Arrived back at the bus.

5:55 pm

The bus left and arrived back at the hotel at 6:15.

Diana:

3:50 pm

Lori and I visited many of the wonderful shops in Canal Park. We had hoped to take the trolley back to the hotel, but took the boardwalk instead.

5:00 pm

Left Canal Park and arrived at the hotel at 5:30.

Back together again:

6:40 pm

We met downstairs at the bus and went to dinner at the Raddison Hotel. We ate in the revolving restaurant on the sixteenth floor. The restaurant makes one revolution every 72 min. We had a beautiful view of the city and it was especially nice when it got dark and we could see the city lights of Duluth and Superior. We got back to the hotel about 9:30 pm.

August 17, 2002, Saturday

8:00 am

We boarded the bus and left Fitger's Inn in Duluth, MN and went back to Wisconsin. Once on the other side of Superior, we took State Road 13, the scenic route, to Bayfield.

9:20 am

We made a brief stop along the way in Cornucopia, the northern most Post Office in Wisconsin. Some of us enjoyed a wonderful little gift shop called The Good Earth. We left about 10:00.

10:30 am

We arrived in Bayfield. Dave Snyder lived in Bayfield when he worked for the US Park Service as the Historian for the Apostle Islands. He gave us a brief tour of the town and then turned us loose to discover it on our own. It's a wonderful little town with great shops and is the gateway to the Apostle Islands.

1:30 pm

We all gathered at the Brittenhouse Inn for a wonderful lunch. The Brittenhouse was built in 1890. The Queen Anne style mansion offers an elegant Victorian atmosphere with lodging and dining all year round. Our meal was wonderful! Dave's sister and husband, Cheryl & Jim Debelak from Cheyboygan, MI joined us for the Bayfield part of the tour. Following our wonderful lunch, we were given the disappointing news that due to the high winds (52 mph) the boats would not be going out to the outer islands and we would not be seeing the lighthouses on Raspberry, Sand or Devils Islands. While we were disappointed that we would not be able to visit and tour them, at least we had had the chance to see and photograph them from a boat trip in 1994. (See trip # 19) At that time we also saw Michigan Island. Most disappointing for everyone but very understandable. Dave came up with some alternative plans.

4:00 pm

The ferry was still operating to nearby Madeline Island. The crossing was a little rough and there was lots of spray from the waves crashing onto the boat. Luckily we had found a safe, dry spot from the spray! Others weren't quite so lucky.

4:20 pm

We arrived and went directly to the Madeline Island Historical Museum. Pedro gave us a brief talk about the settling of Madeline Island by the Indians and later by the fur traders. Housed in the museum is the fifth order Fresnel lens which had once been at Raspberry Island. John Eddy, Kay Carroll's grandfather, had been the keeper at Raspberry from 1895 to 1900. On the wall above the lens was a painting which Kay's mother had done of the lighthouse. Kay told me that her mother had done two of them and the other is in her possession. We walked around the town of LaPointe and took the 5:30 ferry back to Bayfield.

5:50 pm

The bus left Bayfield and took us to our next unplanned but delightful event for the day: The Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua (http://www.bigtop.org) just outside of Bayfield. For seventeen years they have been hosting a variety of guests artists and speakers, musicals and plays in their huge blue and white stripped canvas tent. One play of particular interest to us lighthouse buffs, "Keeper of the Light", was on the playbill July 17-20. Our evening's entertainment was bluegrass music. A good time was had by all.

8:30 pm

We left the Big Top and went to Greunke's restaurant for pizza, salad and ice cream.

10:15 pm

After stuffing ourselves, we were delivered to our motels. Half of the group went to the Seagull Bay Motel and the rest of us to the Winfield Inn. It was a long day, lots of fun, but unfortunately no lighthouses!

August 18, 2002, Sunday

7:15 am

The bus picked us up at the Winfield Inn in Bayfield and took us to the Pier Restaurant for breakfast. Cheryl and Jim joined us again.

8:50 am

After the breakfast we went back to the Winfield, told the Debelaks "goodbye," picked up our luggage, and then took the other group to the Seagull Bay Inn for their luggage and we left Bayfield.

9:30 am

We arrived at the former Lighthouse Keepers home in Ashland and could see the Ashland Breakwater Light out in the water for photographs. This lighthouse was built in 1910. We left at 9:45. On the way from Ashland and heading back to Duluth, Dave showed us a 45 minute video about the Apostle Islands released in 1996. It gave the history of the area and is a promotion tape for tourism. Dave was part of this wonderful production. It was a bitter sweet time. We got to see pictures of the lighthouses that we did not get to see or tour in person.

11:10 am

A quick stop at Fitger's in Duluth.

11:50 am

We arrived at Two Harbors Lighthouse just north of Duluth. This light was built in 1892 and is now a Bed and Breakfast. Bob Anderson, who works for the Lake City Historical Society and his wife Ellen, met us and took us up to the tower. (40 steps). The tower is still in the process of renovation. The Historical Society has been working hard on the renovations since 1998. We were also able to tour the B & B - three guest rooms with a shared bath, all on the second floor. The Two Harbors Breakwater Light could also be seen from this spot. Don went down and walked out on the breakwater to take pictures of it. Our bag lunches had been delivered to the lighthouse from Emily's Deli. Our plan had been to eat them once we got to our next stop, but by this time is was getting late and we were hungry. We enjoyed our picnic on the curb or grass and a few lucky ones got to use a picnic table. Quite a change from our experience at the Brittenhouse yesterday. We left at 1:35.

2:00 pm

We Arrived at the Split Rock Lighthouse. This one is still Diana's favorite of the more than 450 that we have seen. It's location, location, location!

2:10 pm

We went to the State Park to view the lighthouse high on the cliff. This is just one of the great locations to photograph the light.

2:35 pm

We left the park and went to the Lighthouse Visitors Center. We were met by Lee Radzak, the site manager. We were shown the video about the building of the lighthouse. It was first lit on August 10, 1910 and Pete Young was the first keeper. All the materials to build the lighthouse, the three keepers dwellings and three stables were hoisted up the 130' cliff. The tram was built in 1916 to make getting supplies to the keeper families easier and was used until 1930. In 1924 the highway was built and the light became a tourist destination. The US Coast Guard took over the light from the Lighthouse Service in 1940. The light was retired in 1969. Every year on November 10th, the anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975, they light the tower. We had seen the video previously (in fact we own a copy) so Don walked down the stairs to take pictures. He made the climb back up just in time to meet Lori, Bruce and I coming down. The rest of the group visited the lighthouse tower and the restored keepers dwelling. We had all done that on previous visits. We made the climb down the steps (Don too) and took more pictures. Then we got to climb back UP the 181 steps (second time for Don). There is a wonderful observation platform about half way up, which is another great spot for photographs. Our third visit to Split Rock, but hopefully not our last! We left at 4:45.

6:00 pm

We arrived at the Grand Marais Light Station. The light is on the breakwater. We were met by Dave Cooper, a Ranger with the US Park Service and a friend of Dave Snyder's. Those who wanted to walk out onto the breakwater for photographs did so and the rest of us went to the Lighthouse keepers home which is now the museum for Cook County. The house was built in 1886 and the first light was at this location from 1886 to 1902. The second tower was constructed in 1922. We left at 6:45.

7:20 pm

We arrived at the Grand Portage Lodge located on the Lake Superior shore.

8:00 pm

We had dinner in the lodge dining room. Dinner choices that evening were spare ribs, trout or veggie lasagne.