As Falls Tahquamenon, So Falls Tahquamenon Falls, Pt. VI

(contd.)

Tahquamenon Falls - Day Six

The Houghs managed to get around fairly quickly this morning, but Smitty was still sleeping by 10am.  Not wanting to waste much more of the day, I loaded my roommates up in the van and set off to properly check out the Upper Falls.  Not knowing how the rest of the day was going to unfold, I wanted to make sure we would be able to see them from the best, possible vantage point.  As you recall, we were all too exhausted after our hike to reach this spot, but this morning we decided to finally tackle it.

These winding stairs zig-zagged down the side of a steep cliff face, and would have been impossible for us to descend after that hellish hike.

There would have been no way we would have ever been able to climb back up, that's for damn sure.

 

Once we reached the bottom, we had to walk down a series of elevated platforms, probably 300 yards long, that hugged the side of the cliff and ran parallel to the river.

No shit, sign.

Tahquamenon's Upper Falls.  This is the ideal vantage point.  I mean, there's a viewing platform right at the edge of the falls (see upper right corner of picture), but that's too close and at a weird angle - not the best for picture-taking.

Obligatory picture of kids in front of attraction.

Never fails.

. . . .aaaaaand again with a slower shutter speed.

(Alayna wanted to take one of us.)

They thought this was the funniest shit ever.  I don't get it.

A family selfie (another Cannonball request.)

After a half an hour or so of checking out the Upper Falls, we trudged back up that LOONG stairway and loaded up back in the van.  On the way back to our campsite, I made sure to take a picture of this party store, located right outside the entrance to the campgrounds. where we purchased ice and wood throughout the week.  This place is owned by Wanda (or, "Aunt Wanda," as we affectionally refer to her now) - she's super-friendly, and has kept the store open just for us when we needed anything.  Probably didn't hurt that Smitty helped load up her van with 50 bags of ice one afternoon, which definitely got us on her good graces.  She's assisted in her store by her mother, who has three teeth to her name and, from what I can ascertain, doesn't speak a lick of intelligible English.

More run-down signs from the near Ghost Town that is Paradise, MI.  The entirety of the Upper Peninsula seems to scream that tourism was booming in the '50s - '70s, then dropped off the face of the map suddenly.  We constantly see signs like this, retro in style for sure, advertising establishments that are no longer in business.  It's super depressing.

Smitty, awake and ready for the day.  We drove to Paradise for lunch, stopping off at a restaurant that Smitty and Rita had eaten at the first night we rolled into camp.

You had me at 'Gastropub,' sign.

Unfortunately, we got there during the peak of the lunch rush, and due to Paradise's small number of restaurants (it's about the size of Rosebush, folks), everyone vacationing in Tahquamenon Falls was seemingly there.  There was only a twenty-minute wait for a table, though, so we decided to wait it out.

Checking out the adjoining buildings next to the restaurant.  Believe it or not, these are not historical sites or museums - this is what actual businesses in Paradise look like.  It's like going back in time a hundred years up here.

  

I know in Midland local businesses sure as hell don't look like this.

Killing time.

Finally seated.

I had gotten about five hours of sleep the night before.  I just can't sleep camping - I always have to get up around 5am to pee (which, of course, involves getting out of a tent and walking to the nearby bathrooms), and can never go back to sleep due to the paper-thin tents and surrounding campers.

I just ordered a plate of cheese fries, and this is what they brought out to me.  I would have preferred liquid cheese - not melted provolone or whatever the hell this is.  Whatever.

After lunch, we hit the road and headed north towards Whitefish Point.  Seeing how today is my birthday (I turned 27 this year), it was my choice for the activities today, and I had my heart set on checking out the Shipwreck Museum located there.

Arriving at the Whitefish Point Lighthouse Station and Shipwreck Museum.

Houghs, doing what they do best.

The entirety of this complex was a virtual museum - akin to Fort Mackinac, or St. Augustine (all period-accurate exhibits, etc.)  We started first in the Shipwreck Museum. . .

A lighthouse bulb.  I think.

Some ship's bell they salvaged from the bottom of Lake Superior.  This museum was organized into separate, small exhibits for each of the major shipwrecks to take place in Lake Superior:  each exhibit would feature an informational sign describing the event, a model of the ship in question, and artifacts recovered from the wreck.

This dude met a gruesome end, for sure:  tortured, dismembered, drawn and quartered, burned, and eaten by a hostile Native American tribe.  No thanks.

Homies.

(You'll have to zoom in on the text of these various exhibits if you want to read up on the different shipwrecks.)

Sailing ships got the shit kicked out of them by Lake Superior back in the day, especially off Whitefish Point (for whatever reason.)

I didn't upload pics of all the exhibits that were housed in the museum (probably half), but I did take pictures of every one of them.

These old diving suits look terrifying.  I mean, the technology couldn't have been fool-proof back then - I'm sure tons of dudes drowned while diving back in the day.

That was one thing that struck me as odd while checking out the different shipwrecks throughout the museum:  the ridiculously high number of ship collisions that have taken place on Lake Superior.  You'd think that as big as the lake is, there'd be plenty of room for ships to stay clear of one another.  There were at least a dozen exhibits in the museum, though, that told about ships crashing into one another and sinking.

Honestly, this is in pretty good shape for being pulled from the bottom of a lake.

Ummm. . . I guess these divers are checking out a shipwreck. . . ?

Not sure if this jug was filled with hooch or what.  There's a distinct lack of three 'X's across the front, so who's to know.

Some Captain's affects.

Various artifacts pulled from wrecks.

What's crazy is that in most of these collision cases, only one ship would sink.  The Captain of the surviving ship, more often than not, would only be penalized monetarily, or, in extreme cases, would lose their captaincy.  No prison time, nothing punitive at all - just a slap on the wrist.  I'm sure that was very comforting to the wives of all the drowned sailors aboard the other ship. . .

How did cardboard survive at the bottom of Lake Superior?  I'm assuming it was locked up in a watertight safe or something, but, then again, why the hell would anyone care so much for soap that they locked it up in a frickin' safe in the first place?  These are the questions I ask myself in museums.

This eagle once adorned the prow of a ship.  He survived a shipwreck, but evidently lost his beak in the process.

It wouldn't be a Great Lakes shipwreck museum without mentioning the most famous wreck of them all.  Thanks a f***ing lot, Gordon Lightfoot (we heard that song about a dozen times today - I'm pretty sure they just played that song a loop throughout the day.)

 

The recovered ship's bell, taken from the wreckage at the bottom of Superior.

Following the museum, we went outside to check out the other buildings in the complex.  Yours Truly, like a dumbass, didn't adjust the White level on his camera right away after being inside. . .

Rita and Kris.

The Gift Shop.  They had a ton of shit in there, but I didn't find anything I could pull the trigger on (despite going in three or four times.)  Meh.

Some building, having something to do with the U.S. Coast Guard.  I don't know, we didn't go in here. 

The big draw at Whitefish Point, aside from the Lighthouse and the Museum, was the Station Master's House, which has been meticulously furnished in period-accurate fashion.

The house was modeled after, I think, the tenure of the last station master, who lived here at the turn of the century.

This was some sort of office room, I think. . . I don't remember.

Looks like the shelving in my Study.

An old ledger, detailing the maintenance of the Lighthouse. . .

Here's a few of the bedrooms that were upstairs. . .

Who the hell names their daughter 'Bertha'?  I don't think she was loved.

The Nursery.  I guess.

Some creepy-ass dolls.  That probably come to life at night, and kill things.

A very official-looking sign, courtesy of the United States Coast Guard.

(This guy isn't real.)

They had several of these wax museum-ish looking dummies (mannequins, whatever) around the house, replicating the last family to occupy the station.

Listening to records (I wonder what his Discogs username is. . .)

An antique-y piano.

Some chick.

I guarantee you that the ghost of this girl haunts this house.  No question about it.

Grandma, slaving away in the kitchen. . . 

Pretty sure this is the grandma figure from Rockwell's Freedom from Want.

After the station house, we checked out another building that housed some of the station's rescue equipment and gear, such as this lifeboat.

Some kind of a rescue cannon.  You load the rescue stick thingy in the barrel, with a rope attached, and shoot it at folks drowning in the water.  I guess if they survive not being bludgeoned to death by the high-powered projectile, they'd be saved. . .

Some rough weather lifeboat (note the hatch at the top.)  Nothing about this contraption looks appealing at all.

This guy looks like he LOVES his job. . .

(This is the exact face I make at work during the entire month of April.)

The Lighthouse.  It cost admission to get in - far too much for what you got, unlike the museum - so we skipped it and decided to head back to the campsite for dinner instead.

Breaking out some British goodness. . .

Women in the kitchen.

Not observing Smitty's personal space, rocking some new sweatshirts they picked up at the Upper Falls Visitor Center (that we stopped at on our way back from Whitefish Point.)

Trying our hand at some campfire-baked potatoes. 

Kris and Rita bought nearly-identical hoodies.

We left them in a little too long, so they got charred to hell, but there were a few good bites per potato. . .

Rounding out the evening with a game of Hedbandz (think 20 Questions.)

It took Smitty, like, 20 minutes to get this.  He kept rattling off different species of the animal kingdom - mammals, fish, birds, reptiles, etc. - but completely forgot about insects.  He was pretty frustrated, but holy shit, it was hilarious.

Laughing at Smitty.

Abby starts to fall asleep in her chair. 

- Brian