A Ludington Day

 It was miserably hot today. I had to do some work in the morning, but then we headed for Ludington. It's usually 10 degrees cooler in Ludington in the summer and that was true today. We went for lunch at House of Flavors and split a Great Lakes Cranberry Wrap. Yum.

Then we drove around and looked at a few historic buildings and places. The beach was next. Pure Ludington, although things are winding down for the season since many schools have already started.

The goal was to walk out to the Lighthouse, which we did.

Nothing but blue lake and sky behind us!

Then we went back to House of Flavors for ice cream. I mean, we do know what HOF is for!

After that it was home again to do a few tasks around the house, but it was so hot we ended up watching a few funny videos.

The goal of the evening was to watch the Badger come in. That's a favorite Ludington pass-time, but I haven't done it anytime recently. I'm glad we went. Here she comes. See her?

I'm pretty sure you can find her now. She's being escorted by a Sheriff's boat. Also the Ludington Harbor Patrol was on duty. There have been some problems lately with small boats not staying out of the way, so they may have upped the escort presence.

Just a reminder. This is the only remaining coal-fired passenger ship in the U.S., and it's a registered Historic Landmark. The Badger and its sister ship the Spartan (also docked at Ludington but not seaworthy) are the two largest such ships ever built.

It has to turn around to dock because vehicles and any cargo are loaded off the back. You may remember that part of the docking system broke last summer and they lost about a third of the sailing season. But that's all fixed, with a new "apron" and counterweights. Watching it do that maneuver is quite interesting. Here is it almost backed into place in front of the Spartan.

It was still hot, so we drove around to the other side of Pere Marquette Lake for the view of the ferries from that side and also to visit the memorial to Pere Marquette. This is one of the most likely places for his death, although there are a lot of theories pointing to other locations.

Home again, salads for dinner- it was just too hot to eat, some visiting. Today was as full as it was going to get.

Miles hiked so far in 2024: 372.8.

Ludington breakwater to the lighthouse and back 1.0 mile

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