Tall Ships - Day 2 - Part 1

As we headed into the celebration, on the second day, we had to stop to watch the drawbridge. Asa loved the "boat bridge" as he deemed it. We spent a lot of time watching the boats and ships pass through because Asa loved it so much.

Upon entering the grounds, we immediately got into the line to tour The Europa. We spent about twenty minutes waiting in line to see the ship. This was the longest line that we waited in the whole weekend.

While waiting in line, I was enamored by the simple fact that only a couple of these rubber ball bumpers is what protects the ships from damage against the dock.

Daddy's shoulders were the coveted spot by the boys. They fought over who was able to sit up top all weekend.

Finally aboard The Europa. Asa went right to checking everything out.

Climbing the ladder to the upper deck.

Walking around checking out the deck.

Crossing a gang plank/bridge, we saw this guy taking a short cut by climbing down the ropes.

Look at that beautiful blue sky. It was warm but when the sun went behind a cloud it was tolerable.

Asa and Eli each at the helm.

We contemplated touring The Bounty but quickly decided not this time. This picture below helps to show how long the line for the ship was. Asa is standing at about the 45-60 minute wait point and the line was futher down than that. Just to clarify Asa insisted that I take this picture it was not intended to show the length of the line but it worked out nicely that the line happened to be behind the spot he chose to stand.

We then headed over to sit and relax for a few minutes. We enjoyed a frozen lemonade treat and also bought a tall cup of lemonade as well. The boys enjoyed being able to just walk around being goofy. They made many of the people smile as the walked around waving and just being silly.


After resting we headed to find the bus ride to tour the lighthouse. We learned it was on the other side of the river but luckily there was a shuttle bus to take us over there. Here is Eli sitting on the bus drinking some of the lemonade.

Upon arriving on the other side of the river we decided to not go on the lighthouse tour and try to go the next day instead. (We didn't realize that they would not be giving the tours the next day, oh well.)

As we headed to see the ships on this side of the river, we had to go through the Green Village. A small area set up for different exhibitors with ideas on how to be more "green" in our everyday living. One of our favorite tents had birds of prey, here is a little screech owl.

Another was for the Chippewa Nature Center in Midland, MI (one of my favorite places), here the boys took turns fishing.

In my next post, I will cover the ships that we toured after arriving on this side of the river.