Lake Michigan Road Trip Pt 2: Day 3

Day 3

Start: Oconto, WI
Finish: Wells, MI
Miles: 102
States: WI, MI

I had some time to kill this morning before checking out the first museum so I head on over to the local lakeside park. The place was packed with boat trailers which makes sense because all 10 of the ones at my hotel were long gone. They apparently take to the water at 2a and come back in around 11a.

This lake is everywhere!

I read a book called Firestorm at Peshtigo a couple of years ago and that inspired the idea to visit the Peshtigo Fire Museum. Based on the 3 different numbers I heard, anywhere between 800 and 3,000 people died in the fire back in 1871. There were only 3 display cases with actual items that "survived" the fire and everything else was old stuff donated over the years. I was a bit disappointed but after reading some stories from survivors, it seems like a miracle that anything or anybody made it at all.

The museum was an old church and you guessed it, the bathrooms were the old confessional booths.

A mural in the museum.

Some artifacts.

Can you imagine fighting a fire with a 500 lb fire extinguisher? Ok, maybe not 500 lbs but look at it!

Not a sight that anybody ever wants to see. This is at the Fire Cemetery next door.

An estimated 350 bodies and remains are buried here. Nobody else is allowed to be buried at the Fire Cemetery.

A short drive from here to the border was the Marinette County Historical Logging Museum. Another disappoint in my book as there were a few old logging tools and some pieces of an old saw mill. The rest was just old junk donated from all over.

 

This was out front though. Almost made up for the museum.

 

 

 
While in Marinette, I stopped by Red Arrow Park and did a bit of strolling out on what I think was technically a sand spit. 

Not the first sand spit I've encountered in my days.

 

Pending the weather, I'll be golfing tomorrow morning so I took a trip over to the attached Casino Resort. If you sign up for a players card, you get $10 off your round so I did just that. I was trying to avoid it but like 2 neodymium magnets in close vicinity, I ended up at a blackjack table for 15 minutes and I turned $60 into $200. 2 blackjacks and winning a triple split of 8's will do that for ya.

Luck had nothing to do with it, baby.

 

The plan after the casino was to get my tan on and swim a little but the weather turned as another storm was coming through. I still made my way to the beach and enjoyed the cool breeze coming off of the lake.

70 degrees and a breeze. Perfect.

 

The night was then topped off with a delicious BBQ pizza.

Upcoming: Golfing Sweetgrass and what else? I don't really know.