No Yuppies in the U.P.

As we headed west and north towards the Upper Peninsula, we traveled through the small town of Crivitz, Wisconsin.  Six decades ago, when I was a young whippersnapper, my parents would take us here for vacation.  We always went with my cousins, Don and Keith, and my Aunt Eleanor and Uncle Joe.  Here I am again, on the same two lane road!  It brought back memories of fishing, getting checked for ticks each night by our mothers (yuck),and the time a squirrel ran up my Dad's pant leg!  He sure was jumping around a lot before running to the cabin to remove his pants...and the critter with them!

We got to Summer Breeze Campground by noon and parked in a nice spot under some huge shade trees.  We really didn't need the shade since it was 65 degrees when we got here.  Then it started to rain and the temperature dropped even more!  Ten minutes later, the clouds disappeared and it got to a "balmy" 70 degrees.  Talk about fickle weather!

Thursday was our explore and discover day.  I had "Googled" things to do in Iron Mountain, and the list is NOT long.  The top two were golf courses.  Scratch that since neither of us play golf.  Under the golf course listings was the Cornish Pump and Mining Museum.   Since this is a National Historic Site, a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark and a Michigan Historic Civil Engineering Landmark we decided it was worth looking into.  We were glad it was open for business.  After Labor Day, there is no guarantee the museum will be open.  There is no heating or cooling in the metal building, so once the cold days come along, it is closed for the season.

I literally gasped as we went through the doors into the room that surrounds the engine.  The flywheel is absolutely huge!  Can you see how it compares to Don, who is standing along the wall on the right hand side of the picture?  The flywheel alone is 40 feet across and weighs 160 tons.  It was built to pump out the seeping water in the Chapin Mine and was capable of pumping 3400 gallons per minute.  That is a LOT of water!  The next room held all sorts of mining paraphernalia, saved after various mines in the area shut down or the equipment became outdated.

But the best part of all, was the newer separate museum in the back.  There was an additional charge to go into the WWII Glider Museum, but since we were here, why not take advantage of it?  Neither Don or I were aware that gliders were used in World War II.  The men who flew them were courageous and had a deep love for their country.  The late Andy Rooney of 60 minutes fame flew in one of these and landed in Normandy 4 days after D-Day.  Walter Cronkite was covering the war for the press and ended up in one of the gliders on a mission.  

These Waco G4 gliders were made of wood, metal, bolts and a lot of canvas.  One of their missions wasn't considered a success, but the pilots had been sent behind enemy lines and weren't given a compass or a map!  How insane is that?  And yet, they went into battle, carrying men, food, medical supplies and even jeeps!

This board shows the thousands of wood parts that were part of each glider.

I had Don put his hand by the board so you can tell how small some of these parts were.  More gliders were built at the Ford plant in Michigan than anywhere else in North America.  Final production models contained over 70,000 parts!

This is a view looking towards the front of the glider.  The "first class" seats were wood benches with a back rest.

This is a view of looking towards the tail end of the plane.  Remember, it is just canvas covering the outside of the frame.

Below are pictures from the museum showing how part of the plane is on a hinge so they could load jeeps inside.  It still seems impossible to me that these gliders could carry such a heavy payload.

I am still in awe of the guys who had to crash land into fields and then go into battle as an infantrymen.  You can understand why their life expectancy was so short.

In the afternoon we drove to Norway.  No, not across the ocean, but the small town of Norway in the Upper Peninsula.  You sure can't miss the sign as you enter town.  The Norseman was staring straight at me.

We drove through the downtown area where most of the businesses had the word "Norway" as part of their name. There was the Norway Barber Shop, the Norway Masonic Building, Norway Baptist Church, etc.   And then came the Norway Moose Family Center.  I wonder how many moose families there are in this town.  And would Denmark moose families be welcome if they decide to settle down here?  We never came across a moose to ask him those questions, so I'll just have to let it go.

Norway may not be big, but it does have at least one stoplight!  I guess they must have more traffic than Algoma, or maybe it is because they prefer stoplights to stop signs.  Who knows?!