"Wisconsin-Happy Festival State", by Eve Phillips. My husband and I love to travel in the state of Wisconsin where we live and get great pictures on the way. My name is Laurie Kutil and photography has become a great passion of mine since 2010. One thing I have learned in researching each town before visiting it is that, "Every town has it's story". When I do uncover those stories by connecting with local residents, our experience becomes so much richer. In turn, sharing the stories with you brings me joy :)
Manistee is a city of 6,226 and is the county seat of Manistee County. We only a saw a little since we were just staying overnight here before going to Mackinaw City the next morning. It’s 25 minutes from Ludington and is of course, another port city. The sun was getting low since it was after 7:30 PM by this point. We did want to see the light house so we went to First Street Beach. Unfortunately, it was under wraps for some restoration work.
There was still plenty to see here, this is a beautiful park and even has a walking path that we saw many people using this evening.
There is also a beautiful marina here called Harbor Village and a Coast Guard station is located here as well.
On display to the right of the buildings.
Also a Lions Club concession stand and pavilion, complete with lion.
On the other side of the pavilion is a ship propeller and plaque. It was from the S.S. Glen. When I was walking around I saw Al looking at them, he appeared to be saluting. He actually was trying to block the setting sun while reading the plaque.
We were getting hungry and asked some passing walkers what would be a good place for dinner. Without hesitation they said T.J.’s Pub in the historic Ramsdell Inn downtown. Now I see how it got it’s slogan, “Victorian Port City”.
And here we are! What a beautiful building at the heart of downtown!
A few steps down and you are in! We had a great dinner in a relaxing setting at the end of the day. This crystal decanter reflected the light in the room beautifully. The french dip and chips hit the spot too.
What a great dinner, it was time to go to our hotel, Microtel not not far from here.
On the way we saw the S.S. City of Milwaukee ship and Coast Guard Cutter. Both retired ships are museums now.