Day 25 - Thu, 7/19 - Rest Day in Marquette

Yippee - a rest day.  Slept in till 7:00 :)   After chores were complete, we enjoyed some sight seeing around town.  Let me briefly describe what it is like to sight see - with two engineers - when you come upon a unique engineering structure.  Screech - drive the car across the bike path - halt - jump out and discuss all conceivable options on how the train gets out onto the structure, how the ore is on and off loaded from the train, where it is stored, how the ship is loaded - and on it goes.  What a bonus, it was right next to a coal fired power plant - so there was much discussion about just how the coal got there and from where.
So - Gwen, just thought I would give you insight to our informative and enlightening days off.
Patty on the train of thought


Notes from Tom:  Rest days are a welcome break for butts and legs, but we certainly stay busy.  Doing laundry, eating (several times), sending extra stuff home, planning the details for next segment of the trip and some sightseeing. Today we spent a couple of hours at Starbucks using their wireless for the planning, and we sent another couple of boxes home to make room for Jerry's wife Gwen who will be joining us Tuesday in Bay City, MI.

Two more days with the "Yoopers" then we cross at Mackinaw into lower Michigan.

Notes from Jerry:    After chores, while Patty and Tom followed up on our route planning with phone calls to motels, I borrowed the car and drove back up the hill to Ishbeming to do a little research to see if the hotel that my Grandma Pauline was raised as a child still existed.

My Mom told me that it was called, "Commercial Hotel or House" which my Dad confirmed.  I was told at  a neat mining museum outside of town that no Commercial Hotel exists now but to go into town and find an antique store which is owned by the president of the historical society of Ishbeming.  I did this and he said he was a relative newcomer to town, but suggested I browse through a couple of books put together by the historical society and if I found something,he might be able to help me track it down.  Eureka, I opened one of the books and found a few pages on a man whose Dad founded the Commercial Hotel on Main St. and Division St.!  The antique store man told me that on those corners were the city hall, a vacant (parking) lot and then a restaurant and an outdoor store, either of which could have been an old residence hotel or rooming house for the miners of the day.  I took some pictures, and enjoyed taking in the small town atmosphere of what is now a quirky little mining town that was pretty impressive in its day according to what I saw in the historical books which I purchased.

Tom and I solved many mysteries regarding the iron ore docks on our scenic drive west of town (which drove Patty nuts of course), due to the fact that there was one dock still in operation and celebrating it's centennial this year, and it was in operation as we came by!