Andrew+Schneider


 * [|Copper industry in Michigan] - "Boom and Bust" article of discussion (Final decision).
 * [|Lumber industry in Michigan]
 * [|Iron Ore industry in Michigan]
 * [|Fishing industry in Michigan]

Andrew Schneider  Mr. Konnet / 1st Hour  Michigan History  March 27, 2011 __Two Guys Just Having a Good Time: St. Ignace__  Ever since I was a young pup, I have always gone with my family to St. Ignace every summer for a very nice vacation. Some years it is really nice and other years, not so nice. But the experience was always very adventurous and it seemed that something new would happen every time we went to St. Ignace. The only time I went to St. Ignace in my high school life was in 2010, due to my commitments to going to Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp and Blue Lake International 2009, which usually fell on the same week as our annual trip. When our family went to St. Ignace last year, my parents decided to change one thing. They said that I could bring one of my friends along with me to St. Ignace this year. I have two best friends, Austin and Max and I decided to take Max not because of any preference over the other friend, but simply because we would have an easier time dealing with Max’s parents compared to Austin’s parents.  June 15th, 2010 was the day that we left for St. Ignace. Another tradition that we seemed to have broken was leaving very early in the morning to go to St. Ignace. The reason being was that I had an appointment with my wisdom tooth surgeon in the morning, so we postponed the departure for later on that day. After the appointment, our family drove over to Max’s house, talked with his parents about communications, emergencies, etc. and then we left for our grand adventure to simply seek fun and relaxation. The trip itself did not seem too long, a mere 5 hour drive to the Mackinac Bridge, along with the occasional lunch break / gas stop break. I remember as a little kid that the trips would seem to take forever to arrive to our destination, but now with friendly company and as I mature, it doesn’t seem to take as long. We started on the quiet country routes that surrounded Washtenaw country and then we eventually connected onto I-75, which leads us directly to the Upper Peninsula.  After a long afternoon of traveling and listening to our iPods, we finally crossed over the Mackinac Bridge and arrived in the wonderful city of St. Ignace. Most of the populated town sits near the coast of either Lake Huron or Lake Michigan, but either way it’s really cool to have the ability to view two grand lakes at the same time. The atmosphere of the city is very enlightening with the surge of the naval ports, fudge shops, and seafood restaurants. Amongst this heritage tourism, St. Ignace runs on the transportation industry via various, long vessels that would skim under the bridge every day. Most of these ships are either heading to Chicago or Detroit, the cities were supplies were once a great need to compete with the consumer needs. St. Ignace acted a lot like a midpoint between the two cities, as it probably provided incoming ships with gasoline, fresh supplies, etc. (Citation for this portion of history - “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Ignace,_Michigan”)  Of course, now and days, you don’t get to see as many of these supply vessels due to the fall of the auto-industry in Detroit, but every once and a while you will see a ship or two cross under the “Big Mac” bridge. Probably around 4pm we arrived to our destination of the Best Western Hotel, right along one of the many beaches. The atmosphere is very inviting through the welcoming reception committee of the ever-present seagulls. It’s really cool how the staff manages the different buildings, for every different building there is a name associated with it. The main buildings are the Superior wing, Michigan wing, Ontario wing, and the Huron wing. Our family always stayed in the Michigan wing, which is the closest building to Lake Huron and is less crowded in terms of building population. We drove down the slope to our rooms, and mum and dad gave Max and I our room keys, and then we pursued each other to our room to see who could get there first. The room itself was very friendly and as always very organized and clean. There were two bed that sat adjacent to each other, a small table with a chair next to one of the beds, a television that sat in-between the two beds, a table next to the television with a lighthouse lamp, and a bathroom that had a giant mirror that looked on you as you walked in. You can always tell if its clean by a certain scent as you walk in the room, a scent of a mix between FeBreeze and leather (mostly FeBreeze). Overall the rooms made you feel like you were in a home away from home.  The nice thing about staying in a nice motel by the lake is that you get free continental breakfast in a lounge next to the main lobby every morning. However, as far as lunch and dinner’s are concerned, the hotels did not pay for such meals. Thankfully though St. Ignace is a very bountiful town in terms of seafood. Probably every block along Main st. contains at least one seafood restaurant, either that or a family owned restaurant. Only once did we actually see a McDonald's in the entire upper peninsula, which to tell you the truth was really nice. St. Ignace, and most of the Upper Peninsula, is known for the wonderful Lake Whitefish which are located in the Great Lakes. Probably, in my opinion, the best fish in all of the Upper Peninsula is located in a small town north of St. Ignace close to Whitefish Point. The actual location is the restaurant “Brown Fisheries: Fresh & Smoked” and their special plate is the Fish and Chips which in my opinion is over-the-scale amazing!  One of the more remembering locations during our trip was the Shipwreck Museum in Whitefish Point, Michigan. Inside, the museum serves a memorial to all those ships who were “captured” by the monster of Lake Superior. When you walk into the museum, the setup is that there are exhibits that are around the room dating from the oldest (far left) to the newest (far right). In the middle of the room was a giant spotlight that the ships would use to communicate to other vessels or to the shore, and at the foot of this massive light is the recovered bell from the Edmund Fitzgerald. The museum itself sits near the coast of Lake Superior, and there is a small boardwalk along the beaches, which provides a very nice atmosphere that is chilly but is very refreshing to anyone. I went with my parents before to the museum, but truly I found it more captivating the second time I went for as I was more mature I was able to become more captivated by the human emotions of loss and destruction.  One of the new experiences I gained during the trip was going to see Fort Michilimackinac in Mackinac City with Max and my dad, while mum stayed at the hotel to rest. It was a really interesting place because of all of the history associated with it, and also from the live demonstrations performed during the day like a live demonstration of a cannon being fired over the lake and a lady who made candles like they did during the colonial years. They even had some colonial clothes that you could try on! The history of the Fort itself is really interesting. It was originally built for trading purposes for the French during their conquest of the local area, mainly for trading furs and supplies with the local Native Americas, and it became a military fort after the conquest of the British in 1761. The British believed that the Fort was too vulnerable due to its mainland position, so in 1781 they took apart the entire fort, board by board, and moved it to Mackinac Island, which was renamed Fort Mackinac, and they burned what remained at Fort Michilimackinac (Citation - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Michilimackinac) . Also, while we went there, there were archaeologists that are still digging up remains from the previous fort and currently they are finding more artifacts from the colonial period up to the present. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline;">As any kid will tell you, the most exciting thing about the hotel is the pool. But of course who doesn’t love a pool? Who doesn’t like the feeling of walking into the pool area to smell the chlorine and hear the steams of the hot tubs after a long morning / early afternoon? I can sure tell you that there is almost nothing better than that first cannonball jump into the pool. Usually after we spend the morning sightseeing, Max and I jump into our swim-trunks in the room and we head up the hill to the pools. Another nice feature about the hotel that we stayed at was that there were two different pools: one pool inside and one pool outside. We usually preferred the inside pool because you did not have to worry about finding a towel so far away, and if it started to rain it would not bother you at all. Most of the time we would do cannonballs into the “deep side”, giving a fun name to each one, and then we would relax in the hot tubs near-side the pool and contemplate about life and what not. It was a very enlightening experience that I always remember. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline;">One of the more memorable events, along with all of the fun sights, was the night time. After I would say good-night to my parents, Max and I would chill out in our room usually staying up late until midnight watching television, mostly King of the Hill and Family Guy. It was a very fun time during the night because we would simply relax and talk, a lot like the visitations to the hotel’s pools. The last night we stayed there, we decided to order pizza from the local pizzeria called B.C. Pizza, which is our family’s favorite pizza parlor in St. Ignace. It’s funny because we never actually finished the pizzas we ordered, and in fact had some bad stomach aches all night into the morning. But in the end it was completely worth it! <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline;">After we had stayed in St. Ignace for about 4 days we made the long trip back to the homeland of Ann Arbor. Overall the wonderful family vacation, plus my best friend, came out as a successful and everyone had an awesome time! Max and I become better friends because of the trip, and he got to spend some time getting to know our family a bit more. Probably the best thing about St. Ignace is the glorious climate and weather conditions. The weather seems to stay in-between 50-70 degrees accommodated with partly cloudy days, so everyday seems to feel wonderful! I would recommend to anyone to go to this city if they are looking to get away from it all and to travel to a place that is not too far away from home.