Essence of UP
Thursday, 20 September 2018
The story of today is right here. Rain. Drippy rain. Not so cold, just continuous moisture. Good for the late garden plants. But.
So, we hopped in the Prime, and headed out to defray boredom. First stop: winding drive down to Seul Choix Point and its lighthouse on the north shore of Lake Michigan. The latter dates back to 1892, and is still used, but most navigators are using digital/satellite systems, making the light more confirmation than a sole guide.
To me, this kind of view is Essence of UP. Maple trees bending to make a tunnel over a gravel road through the forest that I can toodle along, with a smile on my face. Special this day: drippiness.
We popped out on the Lake Superior shore near Marquette. These are two of the Picnic Rocks in the Marquette Harbor.
And this is the view southwest into the upper harbor from Presque Isle Park, a rugged point extending into Lake Superior. This is an immense ore dock. Rail cars are moved out onto the top of the dock, and their loads are dumped into spaces in the dock, then emptied into a ship (called a boat around here) in 20-ton lots. The name is “ore,” and I think of ore as the material that is rock-with-mineral as it is mined from MotherEarth. But, here the “ore” is taconite, pellets of 70% iron that has been separated (mostly) from the rock that contained it at or very near the mine.