Laurie Bashaw was out under the blue skies and sunshine snapping photos of some of the more familiar landmarks in the Marquette area and she shares the scenery with us all here today.

She starts us out with a classic view of Marquette's Lower Harbor Ore Dock, which was constructed in 1931-1932 and was a cornerstone for Marquette's iron mine economy for many years until it was closed in 1971. During that time, nearly 24 million tons of iron ore was transported from this Lower Harbor dockage. Quite an impressive figure!

The next photo is the Marquette Fish Dock, which is just opposite the Lower Harbor Ore Dock and is actually the end or the beginning, depending on which way you're going, of E. Main Street in downtown Marquette. I couldn't find much information about this dock, so I'm not clear whether you can rent a boat slip there or not, so feel free to jump in with more info if you're in the know.

From the docks, Laurie takes us to a familiar view of the Marquette Harbor Light from the beach at McCarty's Cove. It looks like Lake Superior was frozen over with smooth ice here the day this photo was snapped, giving off some color in the reflections.

The next two photos of the break wall that juts out from Presque Isle Park show you that despite the beautiful sunshine, it is still plenty cold. So chilly, that the ice is layered on quite thick, shining in the sunlight. Somehow that makes that deep freeze look inviting or maybe it's just fascinating. Either way, I like it.

But of all Laurie's shots today, I think her last one is my favorite. Someone took the time to build a little snowman on Lake Superior's shores and Mother Nature has helped to ice him over, arms and all. At first glance I thought the green tassel hanging from his head was something knitted, but upon closer inspection I discovered it's a pine branch, icy and frozen, too. I discovered something else in the photo that I didn't at first notice... it looks like the snowman was enjoying a beverage that day, too!

Beautiful shots of ol' Marquette!

The picture of the ore dock reminds me that at one time there were some very ambitious plans to develop it. Doesn't seem anything ever came of that. Always enjoy seeing the lighthouse too!

The picture of Pretty Bird last year in the review brings with it some wistfulness, even knowing he lived a very long life in bird years.

Great pictures of the Marquette Harbor structures and one icy resident.
Jbuck: Here is an interesting site to check out concerning the ore dock and it's development.
http://mqtcty.org/oredock.php

Thanks Duane P. (Islandman43), that's exactly what i was thinking of. Great report and the views of the harbor from the ore dock are impressive.

Really nice daily pics and great pics in the
review also. I, too, felt wistful about Pretty
Bird when I saw that picture of him.

Thanks for sharing the Marquette pictures, Laurie.
I always enjoy seeing pictures of Marquette. We
plan to be there in August. I can wait, though,
because that will mean I'm that much older :-)

Wow!!! Those are just gorgeous!

What a joyful little snowman! Thanks for the photos, Laurie. As
always, your commentary is much appreciated, Mary.