Manitowoc, Wisconsin, Part I
There are at least a hundred reasons that make me know that summer is
drawing to a close. I have watched the sun and it has started its
annual race to the south, the evenings are, in general, cooler and the
signs for “Help Wanted” are in all the store windows where the high
school and college students have worked – just to name a few. These
and other things mean that I must soon return my boat to its winter
resting place until next season.
But just because school is about to start is no reason to forget about
taking another excursion, is it? I think not! This weekend I am going
to take some time and squeeze in another journey into Wisconsin. There
is a city on the edge of one of the greatest of the Great Lakes –
Michigan – by the name of Manitowoc, to which I have wanted to
journey. The name itself has the ring of Native American Heritage. The
Indians called it mune-owk, and it meant “spirited land.” Manitowoc
hugs the shoreline of Lake Michigan; it is a city of about 35,000
people and one of the cleanest I have visited. My assumption is that
the residents take great pride in their city as well as their personal
residences. Its heritage is one of rich maritime history, fur trading
and the lumber industry. It is this trip that I wish to describe to
you.
Heidi and I left the suburbs of Chicago at approximately 7:00 am on
Saturday morning and headed north on some of the “back roads” that are
my desired alternative to the Interstate Highway System. (We are
fortunate enough to live in the western suburbs where we actually have
an alternate choice to the Illinois Tollway.) It took a little over an
hour to get north of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin and onto Route 43, headed
toward Milwaukee. In about two hours we were already north of
Milwaukee; even on a Saturday, the traffic had already thinned
somewhat.
We took a brief detour at Kohler, WI just to see where it was and to
make a note of the fact that one of our next excursions would have to
be a visit to the Kohler Kitchen Designs and the famed American Club
there. I’ll be sure to let you know about that trip. After a total of
only about 3 ¾ hours on the road – including the “detour” – we were
pulling in to the Visitor Center at the edge of Manitowoc.
After a brief visit with the president of the Visitor and Convention
Bureau, Kathleen Galas (who, by the way, was a tremendous help in
planning our brief visit), we were on our way to see the S.S. Badger,
the car ferry that travels back and forth between Manitowoc and
Ludwig, Michigan. We had a brief conversation with a Badger employee
named Del before boarding the ferry. Del, a veteran high school
teacher, has spent the past 22 summers working for the Badger. He said
that he has never had a true “Summer Vacation.” One can tell he really
likes his summer work and is knowledgeable on the subject as well.
Soon Stephanie, the Cruise Director for the last six years on board
the Badger, came down from the huge ship and welcomed us aboard for a
brief tour.
Seems that this year is the 50th anniversary for the
ferry. In her early years (Built in 1952 by the Christy Corp. of
Sturgeon Bay, WI) she only carried things like railroad cars, lumber
and the like across the lake. Due to dropping revenues and the need
for her services, she was basically mothballed in 1990. In 1991
Charles Conrad purchased the Badger, thinking that maybe it would be
cool if the Badger was fixed up and outfitted to carry passengers. To
make a long but very interesting story very short, the S.S. Badger was
refitted and resumed cross-lake services on May 18th, 1992. She now
makes a couple of four hour, sixty-mile trips daily from Manitowoc to
Ludington, Michigan and back from about May until October, carrying a max
of about 180 cars (although she has carried everything from
motorcycles to race cars to other boats to freight cars to… well as I
said, everything imaginable has made the trip!) and about 600
passengers.
The Badger is a huge vessel with all the amenities aboard, including
restaurant and lounge facilities, a movie theater, children’s play
areas, a small maritime museum and a well-stocked gift shop. One can ride inside in
air-conditioned comfort or enjoy the fresh air from the deck that
surrounds the ship. There are also 39 staterooms that are available
for sleeping and resting. Del even told us of a gentleman who spends
his week-long vacation just riding the Badger and relaxing with
several good books. A long blast on the horn reminded us that our
brief tour had come to an end… we needed to disembark before we found
ourselves stowaways on our way to a 4-hour cruise to Ludwig, Michigan!
A last look back at the Badger showed that her cavernous cargo area
was just about full with cars and the last of the passengers were
climbing along a stairway to the upper decks. We will definitely
be back for a trip across the lake in the near future.
Although it was a drop-dead gorgeous day, we both had a hankerin’ for
an ice cream cone. Kathleen had provided us with directions to a small
dairy just a few miles from town, so we headed out. About 5-10 minutes
later we arrived at the Pine River Dairy. We were amazed by the sign
out front: 25¢ ice cream cones! The place was very small, but most of
the products were made right there on the farm – including the ice
cream, and boy, was it tasty and refreshing. The variety of cheeses
was incredible for a small store and there were many other products
there – like sausage, butter, chocolate, etc – as well. The Olm family
has owned and operated the Dairy for over 60 years. Had we not been so
stoked for tonight’s dinner – more on that later – we would have
probably eaten two double-dip cones… apiece!
We sat in the shade, enjoying the piece, quiet and French silk pie ice
cream, and then headed back to town for a tour of the Rahr-West art
museum. (End part I)
R. Karl
rkarl@onthelake.net
