We’re doing a little touring with Barbara Bouwkamp today, starting out at the Big Traverse boat launch and marina. There’s a thin coating of ice on the water there, you can see it better in the second photo. There are some reflections in both shots on that thin layer of ice. It’s a quiet time at the docks there.

Barbara’s next group of photos are looking across the Portage Canal, first at the Houghton County Marina, a few of the Hancock homes above and even higher UP, the Quincy Mine Shaft peeking out at the top of the hill. That’s a lot of content in just one click of the shutter. Next is a look at the Houghton County Road Commission buildings below and Mont Ripley ski runs above that. Plenty of snow for skiers right now. And last, but not least our “Gateway to the Keweenaw”...all surrounded in white, both ice and snow. Note the position of the middle section down now for the snowmobile traffic to go across underneath, so they don’t have to go out on unstable ice to cross the canal.

Andrea Guerriero from DRE Designs - Great Lakes Marine Products shares an interview she did with Roger LeLievre, Editor and Publisher of the Know your Ships book. The Honorable James L. Oberstar and the Algoma Transport make cameo appearances during the interview on the West Pier in Sault Ste. Marie. The boats coming through were very handy to demonstrate the usefulness of the Know Your Ships book. If you’re interested in purchasing the current books or pre-ordering the new one that will be available sometime after March 10th, click on this link: Know Your Ships

What's that blue stuff up in the sky?

Every time I see the the boats at the mouth of The Traverse River I wonder how the Gay stamp sands are doing. They are notorious for infiltrating and clogging the waterway.

Awesome video. I just subscribed to Andrea's YouTube channel.

Seeing The Algoma Transport it made me look up the status of my old flame, The Algoma Enterprise. In 1979 during her commissioning I spent several days on her, sailing around Lake Ontario. I'm very sad to report that even though she was 20 years younger than the Honorable James Oberstar, she has been scrapped (in 2021). I found this sad video of her salvage:
Remembering the scrapped ALGOMA ENTERPRISE

Great pictures today. It's very strange not
seeing a lot of snow at this time of year.
The roads on our hill are bare. I must say
I'd much rather see snow than this ice
causing rain. It's downright dangerous out
there.
The video and interview were very
interesting also. I'll have to be sure to
have my husband check this out, as well as
D.A.'s contribution. Very nice.