The Edmund Fitzgerald

  WHITEFISH POINT, Mich. - The power of song. Even the guides attribute the success of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum to Gordon Lightfoot's epic, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."
  How else to explain the crowds? As many as 1,100 were here in one busy day this summer, Bev Purcell, who calls herself the surrogate lighthouse keeper, tells me. (The point's lighthouse, established in 1849, is now operated from nearby Sault Ste. Marie.) In the parking lot of this hard-to-reach Upper Peninsula outpost I see plates not only from Michigan and Wisconsin, but Florida, Tennessee, New Mexico, Idaho and California.
  The song came out in 1976, almost exactly a year after the Fitzgerald disappeared into Lake Superior during a raging Nov. 10, 1975, storm, the likes of which most mariners had not seen. Twenty-nine men sunk to the lake bottom with the ship.
  Lightfoot's haunting ballad still gets plenty of radio time, and it's played every 15 minutes or so in the museum, which includes displays of many of the shipwrecks that occurred in the Whitefish area in the 1800s and 1900s. The museum is interesting and entertaining, and for the kids there's a beach within a short walk. But as you leave, you realize you've come here because of a song. And you're not disappointed.

It's about you

  My favorite bumper sticker of the trip so far, seen July 27 near Bay City, Mich.:
  "Only you can prevent narcissism"

Roadside distractions

 DA U.P., Mich. - Sometimes on the road, you check stuff out just because it's time to stop anyway. Or something seems to outlandish that you can't resist, no matter how ridiculous and touristy.
  Here are quick examples of each in the Upper Peninsula.
  Near L'Anse, I see an unassuming sign for the "Baraga Shrine." I need a break. What I find is inspiring. Father Baraga, originally from Slovenia, traveled around the U.P. in the winter on snowshoes to tend to the needs of the local Catholics. "The Snowshoe Priest" also worked closely with Native Americans and tried to keep them from being forcibly relocated. This was in the 1840s, 50s and 60s. It is cold and dark, and snows nonstop in much of the peninsula in the winter. Baraga (1797-1868) is being considered for sainthood.

  An hour or so later I stop at Da Yoopers Tourist Trap in Ishpeming. (A Yooper is someone who lives in the U.P.) It's a funky "museum" of make-believe Yooper stuff, including a "riding lawnmower" - a grass cutter attached to a bicycle. The placing of the sign in the foreground with the rather large rifle in the background here struck me as, well, interesting. A confusing mixture of the serious and absurd.

A long way to F-L-A

  COPPER HARBOR, Mich. - It's the northern tip of the Upper Peninsula, which means it's a long way from anything resembling a major American city.
  But there's a lot to love about Copper Harbor. Many Durangoans would appreciate the outdoor opportunities and the laid-back lifestyle. Sea kayaking, mountain biking, a short ferry ride to one of the least-visited national parks. More on that in an upcoming Herald column.
  Here's what you see driving down the town's main street. A sign that U.S. Highway 41 has just begun its long, winding way to Florida.