Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Marc and Jill are doing a fantastic job on the Boardman/Harriman and the visit is well worth the trip!

If you care to come down to DeTour Village, Jill and I will likely be working on the BOARDMAN / HARRIMAN during the week of Engineers Day and may be able to offer you a tour.

I always stay at the Mid-City Motel. Not the most impressive, but its clean and less expensive than most and a few blocks from the Locks...

I'm not sure your timetable would allow it, but Marquette has a nice marine museum that's worth a short visit; Old Point Mackinac Light in Mackinaw City is now a museum that's also worth a short visit; when you get off the car ferry in Manitowoc you should pause for an hour to visit the maritime museum there. It's easy to do and still get to Green Bay at a reasonable time.

Lockview Motel, Longships Motel, Ramada/Ojibway are the only motels adjacent to the locks. Lockview used to be booked up a year in advance, but has been a few years since I've stayed there so don't know if thats still the case. Never had much of a problem booking another motel room in town for that week. Mid-City Motel is about 4 blocks, is another midway between locks & Mission Point but can't remember name. As mentioned, are no shuttles but I have never seen parking being much of a problem.

On your ride down to Ludington, may I suggest a visit to the museum ships SS City of Milwaukee/USCGC Acacia in Manistee MI. Tours of both boats plus you can stay overnight on the CoM in one of the passenger cabins, $30 per person.

Don't confuse this with the Super Bowl. Other than the dinner cruise there are no tickets to buy. There are no shuttle buses. Parking can be found within a block or 2 of the locks. People tend to come and go from the locks all day, especially if there is little to no boat traffic, which can and does happen.

I figure there isn't a better place for information about Engineer's Weekend,, than here!

We plan on going to all the open houses, touring the Valley Camp and taking the 6pm dinner cruise. Since we're coming from central Minnesota (550 miles), we would like to stay Thursday & Friday night in the area. Assuming that getting a room and finding parking close to the events on Engineer's Day is tough, if not impossible, I would like to make all reservations and buy tickets as soon as possible.
Suggestions on the best places to stay within walking distance of the locks or that have shuttle service running back and forth greatly appreciated. Since we can't sleep with our eyes open we don't care how fancy the place is. Considered the Whitefish Shipwreck Museum on Thur. the 25th then driving 1.5hrs Friday morning to make the 8:30, gathering, but not knowing where to park nixes that. With all the people in town, how does the city handle parking on Friday?
Our master plan is to loop clockwise back to Minnesota rubber necking it all the way. We plan to head down I 75 across the bridge, tour the Mac", maybe take the east shore route south, put the car on the Badger, then up to Green Bay and back home. A place to stay Friday south of the Soo would also work. Places to see and where to stay traveling to Ludington would also be helpful. I have never seen the Poe Lock (enlarged version) and the last time I saw the Mackinaw bridge was looking up from the deck of the Alva C. Dinkey in 1966.
Any suggestions on what attractions to see or things to do, where to stay, places to eat, how to schedule everything, or any other ideas greatly appreciated. At this early date, we could even go counter clockwise to the Badger then to the Soo if someone recommended some other things to see.

Thanks in Advance.

If anybody wants me to bring them some Minnesota State Birds, we have plenty extra in June every year,,, just drop me a post .