It was good to see the US Coast Guard on duty. The Canadian Coast Guard is very different because they are search and rescue and community service. They do no law enforcement, like their US counterparts. Since Canada does not allow guns, their Coast Guard and Customs agents are unarmed. Two Royal Canadian Mounty officers stopped by Crazy Eights for a visit in Gore Bay, just checking our Canadian Customs registration that we received in Kingston. They were nice, friendly young guys - tough duty on a Saturday afternoon! Rich asked where their red jackets and black Mounty hats were, because they were casually dressed! These officers were from Sioux St. Marie and they were assigned to help out the customs officers with checking visiting boat registrations. They shared that the government is considering arming their Customs folks because of 9/11 - decisions obviously aren't made quickly. The Coast Guard patrols that we saw were mostly 3-5 young men and women in a large red inflatable boat. We were told that they are college kids. Interesting...............
The other photo is of the light house at the harbor entrance to Manitowac Island. The famous Grand Hotel with its very long veranda is a major landmark on the island. It was featured in the movie, "Somewhere in Time" with Christopher Reeves, that was filmed at the grand lady. Now days they charge you $10 to sit in a rocking chair on the veranda if you're not a hotel guest!
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