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TONY PACKO’S PHOTO BY JEFF GREENBURG

ART MUSEUM PHOTO COURTESY OF ASSETWARE

he used “sonar” to direct a simulated submersible around the Fitzgerald

shipwreck, visiting “buoys” to trigger videos detailing circumstances and

theories about what may have happened to it. The doomed freighter,

made famous by Gordon Lightfoot’s haunting ballad, is the best known

of the more than 8,000 ships and 10,000 lives that have been lost on

the Great Lakes during recorded history.

Other exhibits focus on footage from actual dives (visitors can don goggles

and old-fashioned diving helmets to watch) and Great Lakes lighthouses —

there are 326 of them. One exhibit even presents real-time information about

all commercial ships on the Great Lakes, including their current location,

destination and cargo. (Visit INLANDSEAS.ORG for museum hours and fees).

THINGS TO EAT, SEE AND DO

If you’re hungry for lunch, no trip to Toledo would be complete without

a stop on the east side at the legendary Tony Packo’s Café, made famous

by Toledo native Jamie Farr — as Corporal Max Klinger — on the hit TV

show M*A*S*H. Try the fried green pickles and a classic Hungarian hot

dog while inspecting hundreds of celebrity-signed hot dog buns plastered

October, the green freighter is one of the highlights for frequent visitors

such as Mary Hagan of nearby Curtis, Ohio. She says she’s still discovering

items of interest, even after four visits to the Great Lakes museum.

“There’s so much here, I still haven’t seen everything,” Hagan says, and ticks

off her favorite parts of the museum ship, including the massive engine room,

posh officer’s dining room, stainless steel galley, and the captain’s quarters.

“They’ve redone it to show how it would have been as a working

ship,” she explains.

Inside the main museum, which is open year-round, Hagan’s 12-

year-old grandson, Caleb Pacholski, chattered excitedly as he moved

among the many exhibits, which are displayed in five galleries and include

artifacts, photographs, documentary videos, and interactive displays.

“Is that for real? Were there any bodies on it?” he asks, staring

wide-eyed at an inflatable orange life raft from the legendary Edmund

Fitzgerald that automatically inflated and popped to the surface after

the ship mysteriously sank in Lake Superior with all 29 crewmen on

November 10, 1975. There were no survivors.

Pacholski also was intrigued by a video game-like exhibit in which

Toledo Museum of Art

Tony Packo’s

Maumee Bay State Park Marina

Toledo Zoo

PHOTO BY ANDI NORMAN

MARINA PHOTO BY TJ IRWIN

54 APRIL 2015 | LAKELANDBOATING.COM

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