Exploring Fabius Township and St. Joseph County, Michigan, with side trips all over this Great Lakes state

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Bridging the Keewaunau

Wandering far from Fabius once more for Louis la Vache's  Sunday Bridges!  This is day two of our journey to visit Isle Royale in the northwest corner of Lake Superior.  We had stopped at the Ranger Station in Houghton and then lunched in Bridgeview Park before heading off over the Portage Lift Bridge, the "widest and  heaviest double decked vertical lift bridge in the world," to Hancock and Copper Harbor where the next morning we boarded the boat for the island some 55 miles away over choppy Superior water.

One of the Artists in Residence programs we attended on the island was presented by John and Ann Mohan, writers and photographers, from, gasp, the Lower Peninsula (sometimes called trolls by the Yoopers).  For more about their photography and writing on Isle Royale and Lake Superior, visit Sweetwater Visions.  Their photography will give a glimpse of the beauty of the island.

But back to the twin cities of Houghton-Hancock in the Keweenau Peninsula, a great place to find fresh white fish, good pasties, and begin to learn the history of the peninsula's land and peoples.  Houghton is the home of Michigan Technological University and Hancock hosts Finlandia University, home of the Finish American Archive and Museum.  For a virtual adventure in the history and beauty of the Keweenau, visit Virtual Keweenau.

5 comments:

  1. An excellent and informative contribution to Sunday Bridges, Helen!

    «Louis» linked it.

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  2. Hope you had a 'pasty' while you were up there. I'm not sure of the spelling, just the taste.

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  3. Interesting bridge. I like double deckers. Although they are a bit scary to drive on!

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  4. B2, of course, we had a pasty! The best ones on this trip were at Laurium, outside Calumet, and the home of the Gipper. I have kept journals from yearly trips to the UP over the last 24 years and we have rated the taste of pasties from one end of the UP to the other! Love them! But very glad that we are not eating them because we are headed down a mine shaft for the day.

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  5. Wow! The widest and heaviest double decked lift bridge in the world? Sounds sturdy and that's what I would want!

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