Tuesday, September 1, 2009

A Must see.

We were not able to take our trip down to South Haven so we took this opportunity to see some of the stuff we have never taken the time to see. This is where we started our day:
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This is actually where we started at the Great Lakes Naval Memorial & Museum - USS Silversides. We didn't do the movies, we just went into the submarine.
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Here are some of the sleeping quarters
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A fancy gauge.
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Some more stuff I don't really know about.
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The USS Silversides is HUGE! It seemed as if every little portal kept leading to another room! The stairs to go down are dangerous, the portals will grab your knees if your short and crack your skull if your tall. It was pretty amazing to see. Then you stop and think about the men and women that join the military and live on these submarines for months on end in these crowded areas and you think to your self, thank you.

So when we finally made our way off of the Silversides, we went over to the USCGC McLANE. The McLane wasn't as big, but 125 feet isn't small! This boat was rather fascinating, we could live on it, with some decorating changes and air freshener of course! We may not need the gun on the front, but Jaden and I had fun for a minute.
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I know I look like a dork, but that's not what I am here to discuss!
Here is a sitting/eating room. I am not sure what it is called exactly.
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Here are the sleeping quarters for this boat:
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This is the hatch that drops from the Helm into the Captain's head, and the rest of the boat so you don't have to brave the treacherous stairs outside while the boat is bobbing up and down!
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This is my husband, at home at the helm!
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www.silversides.org is the website for the museum in Muskegon, Michigan.

So we left here, and went to what the TomTom said was a "Train Museum". It turns out it was and has been turned into a visitor center.
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Right across Highway 31 there was another naval ship we toured as well, but it's new there in Muskegon.
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This one is standing on top facing the front of the boat--gives you an idea how big it was.
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This was a freezer at one point. It is to the best of my knowledge, that the ship was made into a car hauler to take cars across the lakes, As I had said, it was recently received in Muskegon, and they are trying to put it as close as possible back to original.
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Here is the engine room of that ship. It was some pretty large stuff in the tiny room.
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We did some driving around the Muskegon area, it's a really pretty city with a lot of history. We left from there and went up to the Whitehall/Montague area. Which I will show later!