Econo Lodge

Manitowoc, WI...a slice of Pleasantville

by aphrodyte

"My Brilliant Plan...went AWRY!"

I took the liberty of borrowing this picture of Michigan Lake because I loved the thick layer of fog that settled on the dark reflective lake. When we were there it was sunny, light clouds and high lake winds chopping the waters a bit.

Why did we come to Manitowoc, WI?

It was the starting point for the SS Badger car ferry.

Why did we take a car ferry?

I was trying to be a genius about it all and prevent ourselves from having to go around the lake and driving through Chicago, IL. I thought by sailing through the lake it would cut our time by 2 1/2 hours and reduce our aggitation of traffic and toll booth stops.

Sounds perfect...what went wrong?

I was SEA SICK!!

I had never anticipated this level of motion sickness and hope to never EVER experience it again. After all this time, my memories of those 4 excruciating hours on that boat still engulfs me with feelings of nausea and dread!

NO MORE CAR FERRIES!

Yes, I did take the motion sickness pills, and did as instructed. However, the pills did not take into effect until 3 hours AFTER the boat left the pier. I thougth that my first set of pills wasn't working so...stupid me...I took another. Yeah...that made the experience much worse. Because 30 minutes later, the first dose FINALLY kicked in and it caused extreme drowsiness (it's never done that before). I rented out one of the cabins for us to relax in and I settled myself into one of the beds for the remainder of the trip bemoaning my fate because I can still feel the ship move and I was too tired to do anything about it.

I still felt the after affects of the motion sickness pills long after the boat ride. We had another few hours of driving before we made it to our destination...Toronto, ON.

I was cranky...sleepy...and argumentative. We hadn't reached the middle of Michigan yet and all I wanted to do was sleep...sleep...argue...sleep!

Needless to say...that was my least favorite point of our epic journey and if I had to do it all over again...I feel that I would not do that part again because even though we shaved 2 hours off our trip...those hours after the boat ride were unbearable!

On top of all this...I caught a cold from spending too much time in the cold winds above deck. It lasted almost a WEEK!

"Early in the morning...we had to catch a BOAT!"

After a really great night's sleep at the Courtyard by Marriott we took a 40 min drive to Manitowoc, WI where the SS Badger car ferry was docked.

My sister was being silly that morning...I think she had a big breakfast! Too much sugar.

Photo Op of the rocky coast of Michigan Lake...on the Wisconsin side.