The morning in Alpena was amazing. I went to a museum called the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center. It is associated with the NOAA Marine Sanctuary. This sanctuary isn’t for animals…it’s for shipwrecks.

The museum details the long history of ships sinking in Lake Huron. Remember the song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald?” Well, apparently the storm on the Great Lakes are legendary.

Alpena is located on Thunder Bay, so named because of the storms. There are at least 200 shipwrecks in the bay alone. Some have been salvaged and some are designated landmarks and cannot legally be plundered.

The museum is full of education stations

displays

a giant sphere that serves as a screen for a film on the environment

and a full size replica of the stern of a ship with a sound and light show that lets you feel what a storm is like on deck. It even has wind machines.

             

Then after I devoured all the knowledge of the museum, I went to the wildlife sanctuary I mentioned yesterday. It is a wetlands area formed by the Thunder Bay River which includes an island that you get to through a covered bridge.

The sanctuary is right in the middle of the city. This house is right across the river from the island.

Talk about scenic views!

All in all Alpena turned out to be a great place to stop.