Sunday, July 6, 2008

In Between

Between gatherings some of us stopped off to see more sights. There was an abandoned airfield which turned out to be a great place to park for a few nights. We even got to see some windsurfers out on the runway. The airfield is now owned by the National Forest Service and leased to GM and Ford for vehicle testing in the winter. But in the summer it stand vacant. The locals come out on the weekends to 4-wheel, windsurf and sometimes even drag race. But the history is even better. It was built years ago by the military and was used to store nuclear weapons in bunkers and the runway was designed for the large airplanes, like a B-52, to land and take off. No military base, just the runway and bunkers. But the runway is triangular, 2 miles x 2 miles x 2 miles. Large enough so it can be an alternate landing site for the space shuttle.





Some additional sights seen in this in between stop were:





Tahquamonen Falls had both an upper and lower falls and many trails. The property was originally privately owned, but in the 1940s was entrusted to the state of Michigan with the clause it had to be used for the people otherwise ownership would revert to his heirs. It is now a state park.

Lower Falls

Upper Falls. This is supposed to be the 2nd largest falls east of the Mississippi. It has a 50 ft drop and is over 200 feet wide.






1 comment:

Barbara and Ron said...

That was really interesting about the airport.