The Hobo Kid: Yooping

Some of you might not know that the great state of Michigan is actually broken up in to two sections. After having flown to many of the airports in lower Michigan as well as the Upper Peninsula (known to many as the U P pronounced "yoop") we decided that it was time to make a road trip! Our main goal was the Michigan shipwreck museum located in the far north at a place called Whitefish Point. For any of you that haven't listened to the song "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot, now would be a good time to do so. The Great Lakes, Lake Superior especially, are home to hundreds of shipwrecks. The most famous being the Edmund Fitzgerald. Whitefish Point is a mere 17 miles from where the freighter broke up and sank, killing all 29 crew members on board.

The museum itself had great information about the history of the lakes, the shipwrecks, the coast guard personnel who rescued sinking ships and all the history in between. We were able to tour the lighthouse on a day similar to one that would have been hated by the sailors of the great lakes. Windy and rainy for a September storm we were able to get a good idea of what the Lake could be like on a bad day.

Fortunately we weren't subject to bad weather the entire trip. We were able to see a lot more of Michigan in better weather, including many of the state's smaller lakes as well the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes National Park. From some of these areas we were able to get a great view of the Great Lakes themselves. If I didn't know any better I would have thought it was an ocean. It is impressive how big the lakes really are.