Manitoulin Island and Great Lakes History
John and I were originally going to go to Pelee Island for a couple of days this summer to do some camping, hiking and site-seeing, but a few people I've talked to warned me that the bugs are pretty bad on Pelee Island in early August, so we've gotten scared off. Instead, we've decided we're going to go spend a few days on Manitoulin Island on Lake Huron, instead. We'll drive up to Tobermory and then take the ferry across to Manitoulin Island where we're hoping to stay at Stanley Park (gotta call them this weekend to make sure we can get a camping spot) and use it as a central point to go off exploring the hiking trails and museums and galleries.
We're going to go in early August, the weekend after the long weekend. I'm looking forward to it a bunch.
Speaking of Great Lakes traveling, I saw a fascinating documentary on the Discovery Channel this morning on shipwrecks on the Great Lakes. Like most Canadians, the only shipwreck I could have named to you up until today was the Edmund Fitzgerald, thanks to Gordon Lightfoot. I still don't have the names of the ships straight, but there were lots of haunting stories, like the passenger liner that listed side-ways and sank in Chicago harbour with a loss of 800 people or the first cargo ship to ever sail the Great Lakes which simply vanished without a trace or the survivor of a 1960's shipwreck who survived on a life-raft in zero degree waters for over 30 hours. Lots of interesting info, too, on why the storms in the lakes get so wild, especially in November and what the cargo ships on the Lakes are like today. It makes me abashed not to know more about the area where I've lived all my life and to want to read more about the history of the Great Lakes.
We're going to go in early August, the weekend after the long weekend. I'm looking forward to it a bunch.
Speaking of Great Lakes traveling, I saw a fascinating documentary on the Discovery Channel this morning on shipwrecks on the Great Lakes. Like most Canadians, the only shipwreck I could have named to you up until today was the Edmund Fitzgerald, thanks to Gordon Lightfoot. I still don't have the names of the ships straight, but there were lots of haunting stories, like the passenger liner that listed side-ways and sank in Chicago harbour with a loss of 800 people or the first cargo ship to ever sail the Great Lakes which simply vanished without a trace or the survivor of a 1960's shipwreck who survived on a life-raft in zero degree waters for over 30 hours. Lots of interesting info, too, on why the storms in the lakes get so wild, especially in November and what the cargo ships on the Lakes are like today. It makes me abashed not to know more about the area where I've lived all my life and to want to read more about the history of the Great Lakes.