Manitowoc

We took a day trip down to Manitowoc -- along the Lake Michigan shore. They have a great maritime museum with a World War II submarine that you can actually tour. This is a picture of the U.S.S. Cobia. It was so interesting to go down into an actual submarine. The small little cots the men slept on and the tiny lockers for their personal possessions -- they had to be pretty small guys. The cots were suspended over the torpedos. The head (toilet) was a very complicated gadget to operate. There were about 12 steps involved in using/flushing it properly.

The tour guide did a good job of describing the heat -- in the 90's down there and the deafening noise of the engines and how thick the air would get if they couldn't surface and replenish it.

The museum had a few full size yachts and smaller sailing vessels as well as incredibly detailed miniatures of ore boats, steamships, paddleboats, etc.

We also saw the U.S. S. Badger come into dock. It is one of the few car ferries left on Lake Michigan. It transports people and vehicles from Manitowoc, Wi across Lake Michigan to Ludington, Mi. It takes about 4 hours to cross the lake. It is a huge ship and we could take our whole rig on it -no problem-- just a little expensive. Many people use it to avoid going through Chicago to get over to Michigan. Maybe we will take it sometime!