Well, it's hot and humid in South Carolina (even exceeded 100 degrees multiple days), so time to hit the road.
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| Thank you, Jill, for the wonderful sign for our RV |
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| Camped in the Thousand Islands |
After spending great family time at my brother's Canadian Cottage north of the Thousand Islands area, we headed west across Ontario, re-entering the USA at Port Huron, Michigan over the Blue Water Bridge.
Arriving just before the 4th of July weekend, we expected problems getting campgrounds on the northern coast, so we stayed put in Port Huron, exploring the town and catching up with groceries, haircuts and other routine Stuff.
Port Huron is a town/small city with an historic downtown that is coming back to life after apparently stagnating for years - new condominiums going up and lots of preservation work on beautiful old Victorian homes and other 18th century buildings. It is on the St. Clair River where it joins Lake Huron which separates Port Huron from Sarnia, Canada. Lake Huron empties into the St. Clair River (yup, not the other way around), which continues south to St. Clair Lake which is then connected to Lake Erie. The river is deep and a Caribbean blue. Massive 1,000 foot long freighters go between Lake Erie and Lake Huron to points beyond. We stopped at their small Maritime museum where the history of Port Huron's shipping industry is documented, including the large number of ship wrecks that have occurred here, mostly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As a freighter goes by, a volunteer from the boatnerds (really - see boatnerds.com) announce over speakers all the ship details about length, weight, etc. We spent a while watching the freighters and all the pleasure craft enjoying the river - only a few minutes north to Lake Huron.
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| Ice Axes and Ice cutters (floor) hauled by horses |
We took a great little trolley ride (clean propane bus outfitted like an old time trolley) with the driver giving us lots of information about many of the historic buildings, attractions, restaurants, and life in Port Huron. We stopped at the Knowlton Ice Museum - a fascinating small museum documenting the history of the ice industry. We learned that originally the farmers would go down to the river or Lake Huron and cut chunks of ice for use in the summer to keep things cool. Ice boxes became popular and as city populations grew in the late 1800's, the demand for ice created a massive industry. The technology changed from men hand-sawing the ice, to horse pulled ice cutters (looked like plows), to gasoline engine driven saws. Jobs in the industry were very physically demanding and dangerous - if a worker was killed, other employees were allowed to take the afternoon off. The museum included all kinds of early ice tools, vehicles used to transport ice and even lots of miniatures and toy ice boxes, ice wagons and dolls!
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| Ice had to be about 10" thick |
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| Hand saws and horse drawn saws |
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| Many ice companies operated each with their own wagons |
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| Icebox used in a store or business |
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| Beautiful Icebox for a wealthy home |
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| Not a washing machine - an Icebox that cost over $400 at the time |
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Electrification made home refrigerators viable and most homes had one by the 1920s
The ice industry quickly declined |
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| Horse drawn wagons gave way to motor vehicles |
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| The ice company's collection of old license plates |
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| The museum had other items from the time period, like this Model T |
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| And two rooms of these antique dolls |
Coney Island Red Hots (hot dogs) are a popular, old-timed food in this area - it is an all beef hot dog on a steamed, soft bun with meat sauce, onions and mustard. We tried them and they are good, but Jack insists they don't hold a candle to M&M's Red Hots in.... wait for it...... ELMIRA!!!
We drove to the northern part of town near the Blue Water Bridge to Canada to enjoy their park where Lake Huron empties into the St. Clair River.
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| Darn sailboat captain wouldn't sail under the center of the bridge! See all the sailboats in the distance on Lake Huron? |
We said goodbye to Port Huron and drove west about an hour to get a small town campsite in Lapeer. Tomorrow we visit the "Bavarian" village of Frankenmuth.
We took a great little trolley ride (clean propane bus outfitted like an old time trolley) with the driver giving us lots of information about many of the historic buildings, attractions, restaurants, and life in Port Huron. We stopped at the Knowlton Ice Museum - a fascinating small museum documenting the history of the ice industry. We learned that originally the farmers would go down to the river or Lake Huron and cut chunks of ice for use in the summer to keep things cool. Ice boxes became popular and as city populations grew in the late 1800's, the demand for ice created a massive industry. The technology changed from men hand-sawing the ice, to horse pulled ice cutters (looked like plows), to gasoline engine driven saws. Jobs in the industry were very physically demanding and dangerous - if a worker was killed, other employees were allowed to take the afternoon off. The museum included all kinds of early ice tools, vehicles used to transport ice and even lots of miniatures and toy ice boxes, ice wagons and dolls!
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