Have you ever been on a cruise? Years ago, I was fortunate
to take a short 3 day cruise to the Bahamas.
Though we often think of cruises to the Caribbean or Alaska
or through the Panama Canal, they’re available in many other places, including the Great
Lakes. When I was first married, I worked on an old passenger ship, the Canadian
Pacific Railway steamship, S.S. Keewatin, that operated on the Great Lakes
between 1908 and 1965. For many years, the only way to reach some areas was by
ship (usually called boats on the Great Lakes…don’t ask why). The Keewatin was
initially put in service to complete the rail route, because tracks had not
been laid north of Lake Superior. By the time I worked on the ship, it didn’t
run anymore and had been turned into a museum.
Here’s a photo of the ship.
I was even married aboard. Check out the wedding photo. My, do
we look young!
During the years of homesteading and immigration, ships
carried people deep into the Great Lakes.
In my current release, Mail Order Mix-Up, Pearl and her
friend Amanda take a steamship from Chicago to the lumbering town of Singapore,
Michigan. Their boat would have been less elegant than the S.S. Keewatin, but
it would have seemed grand to two orphans from New York.
Where have you cruised, where would you like to take a
cruise, or do you prefer land-based transportation?
Christine Johnson
Mail Order Mix-Up (LIH, April 2016)
Honor Redeemed (Revell, July 2016)
Mail Order Mommy (LIH, Nov. 2016)
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