Remember the Fitz

[johnhens]

35 years ago tonight, the Edmund Fitzgerald went down in a storm on Superior.
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/ ... id/183597/

[Damon S]

Will do. Was just thinking about the Fitz today. Superior is such an amazing force.

[Midwest Ed]

I remember that day quite well. Hurricane force winds that lasted for hours. I was living in downtown Houghton, above the bakery on Sheldon. The bakery's main brick chimney was blown over onto the roof of the building. It was a huge chimney with literally tons of bricks filling the 3rd floor apartment directly above mine. I thought the entire building was collapsing.

[Damon S]

A few years ago I was up teaching at the Great Lakes Sea Kayak Symposium in Grand Marais (MI) and met an elderly lady at a gift shop. She lived up there her whole life and I asked her about that day. She recalled standing on top the hill at the campground just around to the west of the harbor and breakwall. There is a huge beach there, very wide and quite a walk down the down the bank and to the water. She explained how the waves were so big, they were striking the top of the bank and into the camp area. If you've ever been there, you can stand atop that hill and look out for a couple hundred yards to the water and just imagine how big those waves must have been rolling in there.

[kfinnguy]

I went to a memorial service in Fairport Ohio. I love the great lakes region and part of that is the lore of the lakes. Including the shipwrecks, lighthouses, and natural beauty. I don't plan on every leaving the region, no matter how much snow we get. Because no matter how far away I go, my home is always on the shore of the great lakes.

[johnhens]

I went to a memorial service in Fairport Ohio. I love the great lakes region and part of that is the lore of the lakes. Including the shipwrecks, lighthouses, and natural beauty. I don't plan on every leaving the region, no matter how much snow we get. Because no matter how far away I go, my home is always on the shore of the great lakes.

I agree, no matter where I have gone out West or in the East, I have never felt the need to move there. There is no place I have been that would make me want to leave the Great Lakes. There are few trails (IMO) that offer the views of Superior from the Greenstone. And you throw in a storm as we had a few weeks ago, The Great Lakes are incredible!!!

[Midwest Ed]

Two more lighthouses for sale, in Manitowoc and Kenosha.

In another life I’d love to buy a Great Lakes lighthouse if only I could find one that could be remodeled into something suitable (and allowable) for apartment living. These two seem little small and I fear national historic registry restrictions would be too encumbering.

http://www.auctionrp.com/Property_details.cfm?id=1197

http://www.auctionrp.com/Property_details.cfm?id=1194

I’ve lived 52 of 56 years either by the shore or within a couple hours drive of Lake Michigan or Lake Superior, but after spending 4 winters in the Keweenaw (during record setting snow fall years) I now relish the months of lousy skiing. My four years in East Tennessee were OK as I lived only 10 miles from the Appalachian Trail.

~Ed

[CHUCKX53]

The Great Lakes are just that....Great. There are no others. My most memorable times were on the lakes. Anything else just doesn't compare.