Boats and Bears

So here's part two of my Michigan trip from last weekend.

Saturday we headed out to the falls again (that will be it's own post) and then afterwards we went to Whitefish Point, which ended up being the same thing as the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum because the road ended there. But the museum sounded cool because one thing the Great Lakes are known for is the unpredictable weather, which makes guiding a boat through there fairly treacherous.

The place had so much to really take in but I can say I learned a lot. One cool thing was in one of the boat houses they had a Coast Guard boat that they would paddle out into the lake to help stranded ship men. The boat was gorgeous, but trying to put into perspective how difficult it would be to get that boat out there in inclement weather was kind of awesome. Then if they couldn't get out to sea, they had this thing they'd pull/push on the beach as close as they could. Then they'd use a canon ball to shoot out this wooden paddle with instructions (one side in English, one in French) on how to secure the rope to yourself so they could pull you in. It was pretty amazing.

Anyways. We convinced the boys to pay an extra $4 per person so we could climb up into this lighthouse and see the view. I feel like it was worth it just for the work out factor. The lady told us it was 54 steps. First off, it was 57 steps, only after the 20 to to get up to the base of the lighthouse. Also? That didn't count having to come back down. Also? It didn't take into consideration how incredibly narrow and steep these stairs were. Going up was only mildly awkward because your face was directly behind some one's ass. Mine was behind Matt which wasn't a super thing because he was having some issues from  his BK Angry Burger the day before. Have I mentioned this is only stale air in there? Well the view at the top was gorgeous. Tight fit but it was really pretty.

Coming back down was a different story. You can kind of see how steep the stairs are in this picture. But they are steep. I can't mention this enough. The stairs are obviously a spiral stair case, so you have to go backwards for awhile and then turn yourself around. Plus, it was raining so the stairs were slippery. So I pretty much felt like I was going to slip and fall the entire time.

 But here's us at the top. And there's a big raindrop on the lens.. oh well.

 Also you could tour the Lightkeeper's House which they've restored and the entire place was full of antiques and information. It was also full of completely creepy wax people. Seriously. I can't stress how creepy and life like they were. But in the kitchen Jennifer wanted me to give Grandma some love. Which I could do as soon as the old people (who smelled like they shit their pants, I'm not even kidding) left. So over the barrier I went, quick boob grab (it was firm) and back out I went.

Then we went into the shipwreck artifact building. SUPER interesting. They had information and recovered artifacts from several Great Lakes shipwrecks and really- it was so interesting to hear how some ships went down. A lot of boats run into each other apparently.

 Isn't this gorgeous? It's a light that would go inside of a lighthouse. It's pretty stunning in person. And huge.

 After the museum Jennifer and I talked the guys into taking us to the Oswalds Bear Ranch. Basically we wanted to have our picture taken with baby bears like in the brochure. So we drive (really far out of our way- so thanks for being a trooper, Jon!) and end up there by mid afternoon. We find out it costs $15 per vehicle, so no big. Then we see this sign:

 So again, Jon being awesome forks over $5. And I make a new friend.

 Matt kept telling us that they were going to smell and be rough and no. He's a fucking liar. They smelled like mud but hello- they have a mud bottom home. But they weren't rough, they were kind of soft. So then he backtracks and says it's adult bears. Yeah. Well, that's yet to be determined. But this bear was super friendly and he likes suckers and Fruit Loops. Seriously. He could absolutely live with me and fit in with my kids.

The fun part was when we got there, the guy who apparently runs the place was going to just let Jennifer and I in. Well out of NOWHERE this punk asshole kid comes up and is like "Five bucks and a camera". Like a god damn Bear Nazi. Seriously. But whatever. We were already in so we were doing it.

Afterwards we walked around to see the adult bears (male and females were separated). This was me feeding a yearling some flowers. They like eating flowers too. They also have large tongues.

 Then Matt posed for a picture with Jennifer. I couldn't get anything out of him yet he will do it for her. Nice.

Overall... it was a fun day. I was pretty tired by the time we got back for sure. :)

Tomorrow... I'm going to post about the waterfalls for you. Then Friday will be Dear Sara (send questions to sarastrand9438(at)hotmail(dot)com!!), and then Saturday I'm going to do my final post on Michigan. Next week though.. we're talking about the contest that will be happening and we're going to talk about marriage. Because I got a bit of a post request I guess I could call it? So stay tuned.