Two Decades (Observed), Pt. II

(cont'd.)

This morning the motel allowed us to stay in our existing room until our new one was cleaned up and ready for us (which was good 'cause we didn't want to have to return to the motel to switch rooms halfway through the day while we were out and about.) About 10:30am they let us know that our new room was ready, so Kris and I walked two doors down - again on the second floor - and moved in all our crap.

This room was the same size, and the same layout, as the last one. The only thing we didn't care for with this one was the TV was set up in a not-ideal spot (on account of the eastern-facing window, off to the left there), which meant you had to angle it in order to watch it while lounging in bed. Minor gripe.

Shot of the room from the front door vantage.

This bathroom was way nicer, though - toilet flushed better and the shower pressure was better.

After settling into our new digs, we left the motel and began the walk into town. Kris wanted to stop off at one of the many little 'mini-parks' that line the beach, right off the sidewalk. This was some kinda thing that hauled up anchors on old ships (a capstan, I think?)

Kris, checking out some random painted rocks left in a pile on the beach (not sure what their purpose was, but whatever.)

Kris suggested we could kill some time checking out this ship museum in the harbor this morning, and I was fine with that (I do love me some ships.)

The old ice breaker vessel was anchored at the end of a long peninsula of sorts, off the main road, and along the way back to it we passed by a lot of old boats and ships that were randomly on display here and there.

Like, why keep something like this?

Walking towards the ship museum (off to the right there.)

This ship was pretty big, and I assume one of many that they used to employ on the Great Lakes back in the day.

The gangplank leading up to the ship.

Upon stepping into the deck, we were met by an employee who told us that the tour today was free on account of some trick-or-treating event they were putting on for kids. The whole ship was decorated for Halloween, which was fine with us - we were just stoked we didn't have to pay the $15 per person admission price (though we would have happily paid that amount for what we got to see this morning, as you're about to see.)

Yours Truly and some squid dude we saw hanging out on the deck.

This was self-guided tour through the ship, and there was practically nobody there this morning - basically had the place to ourselves, which was awesome. Upon starting off on the tour, following the little yellow arrow stickers along the floor, we came into some kinda lobby/sitting area where they had a lot of information crap setting out for tourists.

So, as you can imagine, this ship goes back a few decades, right back to World War II (as you can see here.)

A view of the Mackinac Bridge through one of the (dirty) portholes.

A storage room full of random crap. We passed by a lot of those.

The people running this museum told us that when this ship was decommissioned in 2006, the crew basically walked off the ship with all of their personal belongings and everything else was left behind. . . exactly as it had been. This ship was more or less one, giant time capsule. 

Walking up and down these steep steps was nerve-wracking - the angle was so extreme they advised walking backwards down them, facing the steps so that you didn't pitch forwards and break your neck.

Some kinda intense weather suits the crew would wear on duty.

We obviously didn't read all of the displays set out for tourists - that would have tripled our time here, and God knows it took us an hour as it was just walking through the place.

A fire hose. You know, to put out fires.

I'm guessing this was some sorta 'sick bay,' where sick or injured people would end up. I strongly approve of the old school, wood-paneled TV in the corner and the Simpsons poster.

The doctor's desk (note the 2026 calendar still open on the desk - straight up time capsule.)

See that expandable fence thingy in the corner? Certain areas of the ship were still closed off, whether by mini-fences like this, chains over ladders, locked doors, etc. Probably 'cause that's where they store like torpedoes and shit, I don't know.

Another side room full of gadgetry of some kind. And Ghostbusters proton packs, by the look of things.

Firefighting gear. For when the ship catches on fire. In the middle of a Great Lake. 

Kris continues through the festive bowels of the ship. . .

Another sick bay. This time featuring one of those dummies people train on with like CPR and stuff. Little terrifying at first glance.

Our path came back outside at one point, and we passed by a bunch of tables and chairs that were most likely set up for today's tourists (can't imagine these would hold up all that well with a rocking ship in the middle of a Lake Superior gale.

Captain has the helm (as if I wasn't about to get my pic taken with something like this.)

In the kitchen (or galley, I guess, seeing how it's on a ship.)

What the crew was chowing down on back in 2006.

After leaving the kitchen, we entered the dining hall (I assume), which was set up with a bunch of mini-games for super young trick-or-treaters. Kris and I rightfully declined the offer to play them.

Some kinda lounge?

Kris heads down another level. . .

These doors must be elevated to prevent water from spilling over into other sections of the ship. You know, like the Titanic.

Kris inspects the crew's storage lockers in one of the many bunk rooms we passed through.

Seems like an odd place to put a bunch of loves eats, but hell - what do I know.

Another bunk room.

Descending into the bottom levels of the ship, where all the engine crap is.

The ship's twin engines (love the Blues Brothers reference. . .)

Must be the chief engineer's office. Conveniently located next to some water heater thingy of some kind.

These little catwalks allow you to walk over all the perilous engine components without falling in and being ground to a pulp. Which is nice.

Another bank of storage lockers for  the crew.

That's some old ass equipment right there.

I was tempted to swipe some of these tools, they were just sitting there not being used. My garage could sure use them.

In yet another bunk room (I have no idea how large this crew was, but it had to have been dozens at a time at least based on the amount of beds we came across.)

The bunks lift up for storage (wish my kids' beds did this, that'd definitely help keep their rooms organized.)

I imagine these doors are watertight, too. To prevent sinkage.

They had some of these bunk rooms all spookily-lit, too.

One of the rooms was all feminist'ed out, with its displayed devoted to the female crew members that have worked on the ship over the years.

Couple of sassy bitches, striking a pose.

The crew's 'library,' filled with books, magazines, DVDs, VHS tapes, and even cassettes and CDs.

Lotta dated media on display here. . .

Some kinda office room (I assume for mid-tier officers.)

Here's the room where they keep all their large, red tanks. Can't forget those.

That cable setup is stressing me out.

Kris glances through her reports.

Not sure what this the point of this crap is.

View of one of their inflatable rescue craft through an office window.

One area we went through had a bunch of senior officer quarters and offices, like this fancy wood-paneled one. I love me some wood paneling.

Officers quarters (and a model of a smaller Coast Guard ship - the one we were touring was waaaaay bigger.)

This room was towards the end of the tour, and I'm not sure what purpose it served aside from being the epicenter of where all the Captain's and Officers' quarters exited out to. Kinda like a wood-paneled 'lobby' for the top brass aboard the ship?

Various bedrooms. . .

After viewing the officers' neck of the woods, we exited out to the 'quarter deck' (for lack of better term) in order to check out the Bridge. . .

Kris views the backside of the Bridge

(Pretty sure this determines how fast the ship goes.)

The Bridge consoles.

The main helm. A little underwhelming, honestly.

My wife, being weird.

Another view of the Bridge.

Some kinda map room (and Santa, inexplicably.)

The last part of the tour was the top deck, where you could like walk around the outside of the Bridge and forward command areas. . .

Doors too the Bridge.

Looking out at the bow.

Looking out at the various break walls that guard the harbor from Lake Huron's waves.

Off the other side of the ship, a Shepler's ferry comes back from Mackinac Island.

One of the lifeboats (I assume.)

The stern.

Kris attempts to get a selfie of us in front of the bridge (these never turn out great.)

I followed the yellow arrows, a lot of good it did me.

Exiting the top deck.

Exit through the Gift Shop. Of course. And no, we didn't end up getting anything.

After exiting the gift shop, you pass through one, final room - these giant machines turn and haul up the anchors (or at least they used to.)

Some old guy that works for the museum offered to take a couple pics of us on the ship before we took off, which was nice of him.

And one of us in front of the bridge.

Beginning the long walk back to town, after the tour wrapped up.

A giant propeller (not sure if this is from the ship or what, but it looks like it could be - about the same size, more or less.)

Another shot of the bridge (again, because that's what you do up here.)

Kris and I finally voted for our favorite scarecrow this weekend, going with the one we saw on the museum tour. Not because it was the best, but because we were so impressed with the ship and the people that worked there - all super nice folks.

We came back to the room so Kris could lie down for like an hour, and while she quasi-napped I watched some World War II documentary on the History Channel (because I'm that old, yes.)

After getting around, Kris wanted to hang out down by the bridge for a few minutes before she relented and we headed back into town (I wasn't really in a 'bench-sitting' mood, but I played a long for a bit.)

We returned to the Mackinac Brewhouse so I could grab a beer and perk up a bit (I was dragging a little by this point.)

This Griffin Claw stout was phenomenal.

Passing through their sit-down, drinking area, we continued on to burn up the remainder of our arcade credits from the day before.

We didn't have much left, so we just played this one again for a bit.

We are not very good at this one at all, and I wasn't happy that Kris beat me this time around.

Just look at this baddie.

After burning through our last credits, it was getting later in the afternoon, almost dinner time, so we walked about a half mile down the road to the Rusted Spoke Brewery (a place that Kris had researched earlier in the weekend) to grab an early meal.

Kris' super fancy bloody Mary (which was light on tomato and vodka and heavy on the pickle - neither of us cared for it very much.)

The beers here were only so-so, but they had some awesome names for their various brews. I got the ones numbered here - 1 to 4 - and they read left to right in the following pic (I ended up getting a flight so I could try a few of them out all at once.)

Waiting for our food (which turned out awesome, by the way.) Our waitress was this young French girl in her 20s, we didn't get around to asking why the hell someone from France was slinging beers in frickin' Mackinaw City of all places.

After finishing up our meal, we walked the mile and half back to our motel, where we grabbed some warmer clothes and prepared for our evening's main event.

Setting off for Fort Michilimackinac.

Grabbing her 'walking shoes.'

It was super convenient being a thirty-second walk away from the fort, I'll say that much.

There was a HUGE line for Fort Fright this evening, unlike the last time we were here. In the decade following our first experience, this weekend has seemingly exploded in popularity, it was crazy.

Like, last time we were here, there were MAYBE a few dozen people in the fort. This year? Easily a couple thousand. 

Walking up to Fort Michilimackinac.

A canon stands guard over the bridge.

One of the guard towers of the fort.

I haven't toured this fort outside of Fort Fright night in over thirty years, so I don't remember what any of these buildings are - don't expect much for captioning with these pics, folks.

Some zombie British infantryman, guarding the fort entrance.

People trickle into the fort. . .

Doesn't look crowded in some of these shots 'cause I used the Magic Eraser feature to erase some of the crowds.

These buildings were either closed off for the evening or else converted to walk-through haunted houses (or places where you could get complimentary popcorn, donuts, and cider.

A diorama showing Native Americans scalping British soldiers (they evidently freed all the French captives, as Natives were usually pretty chill with the French opposed to the Brits.)

Lots of unknown fort buildings. I'd ask some of the volunteers from time to time what each building was, but most of them were like, 'I don't know, I'm only volunteering here this weekend.' Thanks for nothing, assholes.

Inside some kinda church.

We toured all the buildings that you could, which took all of about an hour, tops. Not much to do here besides walk around and check stuff out.

People ambling about, checking out the various haunted houses (which were all pretty hokey.) Not sure we'd do this event again, seeing how over-crowded it's become over the years.

A fort volunteer, telling ghost stories to anyone who will listen.

On our way out of the fort, after we had done everything we could do, we accidentally exited out of the front entrance and got yelled at by some of the costumed volunteers, so we had to enter back into the fort, cross it, and exit out the opposite side.

Back at the guest center/souvenir shop, after exiting the fort area. They have some Christmas themed event going on up there in a few months, but the odds of us getting back up here - especially during the Holidays - are pretty slim.

Back at our hotel room, at the end of the night, we finished off our giant jug of wine and watched Coming to America. So ends our 20th Anniversary Weekend, which all in all was a solid, relaxing weekend. Who knows where we'll end up in ten years, but you can rest assured we'll be posting a '30th anniversary' post in 2036. Stay tuned.

- Brian