We had breakfast, did a load of laundry and about noon, left Copper Harbor on Thursday, August 26. Acey’s mileage was 76,722.3 and Thor had 91,455 miles. We had a fairly short drive to Marquette, but could not check-in to the Marquette Tourist Park until 3.
Friday it rained most of the day, and Linda worked on the Copper Harbor Blog. The rain finally let up and we went for a drive around Marquette. Lake Superior was fairly calm.
We stopped by Ore Dock Brewing, had some tasty beverages and met some locals. Nice place, great beer!
Mandy and Chris hooked us up with some great stickers – love the saying “What water wants to be”!
After breakfast on Saturday, we explored Marquette by bicycle – there was a bike trail right out of the campground that took us by Lake Superior.
This ore dock is no longer functioning but is an interesting relic of the past. The water is so clear, you can see remains of pilings in the lake.
We came to a hill that had a statue honoring Father Jacques Marquette, for whom the city is named.
We saw the lighthouse as we rode back along the beach.
We got a little closer, but without taking the tour, that’s as good a view as we could get!
The operating ore dock was much further down the beach. The train track connecting to the dock – it is all so long, its hard to get a good photo!
The train track runs up over the top so the cars can dump their taconite (iron ore pellets) down the chutes into an awaiting freighter. We did not get to see the process while we were here. Thanks to wikipedia, here’s a photo of the Great Lakes Trader at the dock. Note the train cars up top on the ore dock..
To see a YouTube video of the whole procedure, click here! (Its 11:54 long, but interesting!) We rode about 10 miles by the time we got back to Acey; we made lunch and took showers. Then we drove to nearby Ishpeming. Linda’s Great and Great Great grandparents lived there – and her grandma (and grandpa) grew up there! Family history says that 805 N. Fifith Street was where Nana’s family lived.
Linda’s Great great and Great grandfathers worked in the iron ore mine in Ishmeming – and pasties (Pass-tees) were lunch for the mine workers. We toured the Cliffs Shaft Mine Museum when we were here in 2019. The mine was opened in 1879; the original timber headframes over the A and B shafts were replaced with concrete headframes in 1919 – and this one still stands.
Here is a photo of what it looked like when it was in operation
Mining at this site continued until 1967, marking the end of underground iron mining in the area. You can see more about the Cliff Mine Shaft Museum on wikipedia.
On Sunday morning, we worshipped by YouTube, watching the Stephens Valley Church service from last week; the current week is available on Sunday afternoon. We then zoomed with our Sunday School class – it’s really a blessing that we can keep up with our home church while we are on the road! After lunch, we went to go see Lakenenland.
Tom Lakenen has some crazy junkyard art – large sculptures of scrap metal. You can see more about it here – its FREE and open 24/7. Here are a few of the sculptures we saw.
This tribute/memorial to the Edmund Fitzgerald and her crew was interesting, showing its final route November 10th, 1975, showing where it sank; some facts: scale 1 ft = 52 ft, waves up to 52 ft?, all 29 man crew lost, length 729 feet.
A totem pole of sorts and some owls
We have to include the gator!
The Rusty Chain Band with wolf-like dancers
This airplane has Chuck and Snoop on board – Cute!
A rare savitskisaurus… likely one of a kind!
A snowmobile of sorts – apparently there is a snowmobile trail nearby – Tom tried to give away hot dogs, coffee and hot chocolate, but the health department gave him grief over it – Hot chocolate is still a go…
here’s a team running the The UP200 — an Iditarod qualifying race.
That was a fun walk thru the crazy sculptures! Time for a rest?!
We noticed this behive structure on the way back to the campground, so we stopped to take a look. Aparently it was a rebuilt charcoal kiln; part of the process of making iron. The Carp River Furnace had operated near this site.
We made pizza for dinner and zoomed with the family – then headed to Sunset Point to see the sun set!
And if you have ever taken pictures of a sunset, how do you pick the best ones?!
Our God paints a beautiful sky!
Monday we leave for Mackinaw City – back to the “mitten”!
Enjoyed the trip‼️
Thanks for reading – and commenting!
. Thank you for posting all the great photos. What a sturdy house, 805 N Fifth Street. Not only still standing, but occupied and kept up. The welder/sculpter was very creative.