Thunder Bay

Wednesday brought a stiff northerly breeze into our camp. The temperature stayed in the 60's most of the day. I could swear, I heard the sounds of loons on the lake, but Missy thought I was crazy. We had a mix of sun and clouds with a few rain showers but nothing big. We decided to spend the morning on the river kayaking. Campers Cove RV park also has a kayak and canoe business. They will outfit you with what you need and then transport you up the river as far as you are willing to go. We opted for the 3 hour trip. The owner of the campground took us up river by van. He's a full time fireman in the city of Alpena and he and his wife run the campground on the side.



Sammi has a waterproof camera, so was our official photographer. Here above is Daniel and I and Missy below.





Missy grabbed the camera for this shot of Sammi. Then Sammi took a picture of all of us below.


We put in at a bridge about 4 or 5 miles up river. Daniel and I took a double while Missy and Sammi each had their own. It was an easy paddle down the river past what looked like summer cottages along the banks of Thunder Bay River. Eventually the river opened up to the lake. There we were lucky enough to see a number of heron fishing and a majestic Bald Eagle!

After lunch we drove into downtown Alpena. It's a small community of about 11,000 people. They have a nice downtown and you can tell they are


working hard to improve it. We stopped in at the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center. The center is small, but very interesting and even better it's free! There is a full size schooner that you can go aboard. The first half is built like its in huge storm on lake Huron and as you walk through it, it really feels like you are in a storm. The floors are uneven and thunder crashes. We even felt a little sea sick! The second half of the ship is as if you are snorkeling or diving on the wreck of the ship. The rest of the museum is dedicated to the many, many ships that have sunk off Thunder Bay. In fact all of Thunder Bay is set aside as a Marine Sanctuary. You can dive to the ships, kayak over them and even snorkel over them. They are all marked on the surface with buoys so they are easy to find.

From there we drove a short distance out of our way to visit Dinosaur Gardens. This is one of those quirky off beat places we love to visit. A man, for no apparent reason decided to build life size cement dinosaurs and place them around a Michigan Cedar Swamp. He even has a giant walk in brontosaurus which we are walking into below. Daniel was very upset about the incorrect naming and depiction of the huge beasts, but we reminded him that a single man hand made these in the 40's and 50's and facts have improved since. Once inside the huge "brontosaurus" there is a picture of Jesus! Yup, right where the heart would be is a picture of Jesus with a the saying " the greatest heart."








Here is Missy, helping some of the locals with dinner! Yes, not only are there dinosaurs, but in his spare time, he made cavemen too.


Look carefully and you can see Daniel running from the T-rex.

Tomorrow, we move on to our last stop and lake Erie. Along the way we hope to stop in Bay City to try and find the home of my great grandmother on my mothers side.

We leave you tonight with sunset over the Thunder River.




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Location:Alpena, Michigan