Historic White Pine Village, a new bear and a nice dinner out

Our last day here in Ludington was one of the best. The weather was outstanding, 65 degrees, crystal clear and no wind.

After we got up this morning we headed out to Historic White Pine Village, for those who live in the Flint area it is very similar to Crossroads Village. The folks in the local historical society have done a great job of gathering period artifacts and furnishings for all the houses and businesses moved to this beautiful site.

We ended up spending more than three hours touring the many buildings and exhibits on the site, taking way more photos than I can ever post here.

With the sun in its full glory, Joan was wearing her trademark bonnet and looked like she really belonged in this historic village.

Buildings moved here include a doctor's office, a general store, a farmhouse, a clock store, a hardware store, a trapper's cabin, a blacksmith's shop, a barn and many other historic buildings.

I really enjoyed the maritime museum that included a number of artifacts from the rich history of Ludington as the base of Michigan based car ferries. The local information said that in the 1800s, Ludington had the largest fleet of car ferries in the world. A map of Lake Michigan showed ferries criss-crossing Lake Michigan from a variety of ports north and south on the west Michigan coastline.

Only one ferry remains here in Ludington, the SS Badger, that I wrote about last night.

The print shop brought back fond memories of my high school print shop class. We had some platen presses in high school and I had to learn the layout of a California job case, which is how the old cold type was organized in the old days.

At the end of the self-guided tour we noticed a statue of a boy and girl under an umbrella that turned out to be a piece of artwork that was once in a Ludington park, but in later years suffered from vandalism. It was restored and moved to the village to save it. The young lady in the statue bears a resemblance to someone I know.

After completing our tour of the village about 1:40 p.m. (we missed "Days" today) we headed back to the Wolf's Den to pick up 'our' bear. This is a store we will definitely return to someday, hopefully with more money than we had available on this trip. There are some really unique hand crafted wood items at this store. They have some bed frames we would love to have.

Back at our trailer I had a couple hours to read my book, which is something I always look forward to.

One of our new traditions is to find a nice restaurant to eat at during our last night. Through a restaurant guide and some online research we found PM Steamers and headed there about 5:30 p.m.

It was an outstanding restaurant with moderate prices and a wonderful view overlooking the city marina. About 6:45 p.m. the hostess rang a loud bell which signalled the arrival of the SS Badger which we could watch through the window from our table.

Our stay in Ludington has been wonderful, but we look forward to heading home to family and friends tomorrow. More then.