It seems like when people retire they want to take a cruise. Maybe they see Alaska or sail the fjords of Norway. Maybe they sail through the Panama Canal. Maybe they just cruise the Caribbean with Mickey Mouse. Sad to say, my wife and I have not yet taken one of these exotic cruises. So, when planning a recent jaunt around Lake Michigan we decided to finish it off with sort of a cruise from the shores of Michigan back to our homeland of Wisconsin.
Yes, I know that the ocean is bigger, but there’s only so much water you can see at any one time. You can’t see across the ocean and you can’t see across Lake Michigan either. I know that some cruises cross the international dateline. Well, our cruise crossed a national timezone line! So, in many respects, our trip on the SS Badger from Ludington, Michigan to Manitowoc, Wisconsin was just like those other cruises. In fact, it was even better because we were able to take our car along for the ride!
When we arrived at the dock at 7 AM it was still quite dark. The silhouette of the ship outlined in deck lights was an interesting sight. We boarded at about 7:30 and left the dock at about 8:30. One of the nice things about a morning cruise is that there is an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet served from 8 to 10 AM. The $8.50 cost of the meal seemed very reasonable.
Most of the passengers enjoyed watching movies or TV, played bingo, or just relaxed for the 4-hour cruise. I, on the other hand, had fun walking around the decks taking photographs. The SS Badger was launched in 1952 and is the only coal-fired steamship in operation in the United States. I have nothing to compare it to but I found the design of the ship and the ever changing shadows and reflections made for interesting subject matter.