Dave Lusch shows us how the Michigan Basin is like a set of nested bowls, with the older rock on the bottom and the younger rock overlying it. This formation helped the “Master Blaster Eroder,” continental glaciers, “scoop out the Great Lakes like a spoon in a melon.”

Walking back in to view the Mystic Sinkhole, we stop to observe some of the surface karst features.

Bopi Biddanda collects samples of the microbial life that surrounds the upwelling of groundwater from one small sinkhole.
A stream of groundwater being discharged into the bay through a sinkhole. Mats of Purple cyanobacteria are the only organisms that appear able to survive in the oxygen-poor water.

The larger, deeper sinkhole provides a perfect place for a few reflective moments.

Cindy and Kim brave the chilly sinkhole waters. It is always 10 degrees Celsius, whether it is July or January. The bottom of the hole, 70 feet below, can be easily seen from the surface as there is no aerobic life that can survive in this water.

We finished up the day at impressive Presque Isle lighthouse. Our fealess leader always has to find the heights.

Welcome to a Great Lakes “Advenshore” in Alpena, Michgan!

We all rolled in today from all over the eastern half of the US, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Ohio and North Carolina. From “Huron” out we will be busy learning as much as we can about the Great Lakes and Lake Huron.

The Dog Days Inn

Gretta helps Steve with the logistics of our stay in Alpena. “And how long will you be staying with us Mr. Stewart?”

After a brief introduction at the hotel, we all piled into vans to move to the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center for orientation and introductions.

A dichotomousmixer by Rochelle from Sea Grant got us better acquainted with each other.

After an overview of the workshop by Steve and Cindy Hagley we got down to the real business of the day, dinner.

Dinner at Jeppetto’s

With a menu full of fresh fish dinners and pasta, you can’t go wrong.

After a brief hint, tomorrow promises to be the first of many packed days!

Only five days to go until we all meet up in Alpena!

The coming week promises to be an exciting one. Geology of Lake Huron, lighthouses, sinkholes, snorkeling over shipwrecks, dive cameras. And that’s only the first three days!

If this workshop is anything like the Lake Superior workshop, we are all in for a great week!

Don’t forget to do your reading before you go. It really helps to free up your nights to enjoy the area and the company of your colleagues.
Drive safe and we’ll see you there!

View the Lake Superior Exploration Workshop Event Page

August 4, 2006 – Today was a day for closure and for beginnings as we wrapped up our weeklong workshop and went home with lots of new ideas for teaching about Lake Superior, the Great Lakes and the connections to oceans. Our Paddle-to-the-Sea had successfully begun a journey from western Lake Superior through the Great Lakes to the great oceans of the world.

The next planned stop for Paddle is the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center of the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Underwater Preserve in Alpena, Michigan, for the Lake Huron Exploration Workshop in 2007.

The day began at the Great Lakes Aquarium with group photos on the deck with a sunlit harbor as the backdrop. It seems that everyone had a camera and kept our volunteer photographers busy juggling equipment while repeatedly trying to capture the perfect shot.

Then it was on to the classroom for presentations by teams of participants illustrating how they would put their knowledge of Lake Superior and the Great Lakes to use in the classroom.

There were lots of great ideas creatively presented with activities and skits. There was even a newly-minted “food web” song which had everyone harmonizing. It sounded terrific as the class musically assembled the parts – phytoplankton, zooplankton, juvenile herring and lean lake trout. At the close of the session, it was obvious that everyone had gained a great deal of new knowledge and insight, and the tools to make them come alive in the classroom.

The unquestioned highlight of the week for participants was the awarding of their Lake Superior Exploration Workshop diplomas, which were well earned.

The day included some anxious moments as a young visitor to the Aquarium reported to us that one of the sea lampreys in an exhibit had evidently decided to flee captivity and was now writhing on the floor. The Aquarium staff was contacted and the lamprey was rescued.

Then it was time to take our leave of the workshop with lots of good-byes, promises of keeping in touch and hopes for getting together at future COSEE Great Lakes Activities. Like Paddle, we were all off on a journey through the Great Lakes to the sea with a mission to bring as many other teachers, scientists and young people with us as we can muster.

August 3 – Cindy gave us all a reprieve this morning. We boarded the van at 0830 for the Aquarium instead of 0800.

We again started with a plan for the day and concept mapping

followed by an introduction of Dr. Lucinda Johnson of the Natural Resources Research Institute. Participants opened the session with questions for Lucinda on the certainties and uncertainties of climate change.

She gave us an excellent and well-illustrated presentation on the complexities of climate change, with understandable examples that teachers can use with elementary students. Lucinda concluded her remarks with a series of slides specifically on the potential impacts of changing climate to the Great Lakes.

Following yet another imaginative box lunch prepared by the UMD caterers, Cindy put on her croupier’s hat and orchestrated a competitive round of the watershed game, with candy as the currency.

Then Matt TenEyck, UW-Superior, clearly connected our Great Lakes to the oceans of the world with an explanation of invasive species, shipping and ballast water.

At 2:30 pm (can that really be right) we concluded the formal portion of the day, and sent the participants off to prepare for group presentations tomorrow.

They’ve been so busy that the blog fodder I’ve received has been sparse, so instead I offer the following:

Our Duluth heat wave seems to have finally broken, but not before some bizarre occurrences. In fact, Bruce Munson reported that it was so hot earlier this week that he had seen a squirrel in the backyard dipping its nuts in ice.

And while participants worked late into the night preparing for Friday, our fearless leaders looked for direction…