Detour to KI Sawyer

 As we headed towards Marquette and Pictured Rocks, the hubby saw a sign for KI Sawyer and he wanted to know how far off the highway it was. Google said it was only about 8 miles. The hubby said we have to go visit.

What is KI Sawyer? It is a decommissioned Air Force Base that the hubby visited when he was a kid. You know me, I'm game for just about anything so of course I don't mind random detours.

There is not a lot of left of the air force base. Most of buildings are either left to ruin or have turned into other businesses. There is an KI Sawyer airport.

Near the airport is some of the planes that they had at KI Sawyer. The hubby parked the car and let me go check out the planes since he already saw them.

There was a B52 which is just huge.

F101B Interceptor 

And a couple other planes.

While I was checking out the planes, I saw a sign that said there was a museum down the road and was open Wednesday-Sunday 1 to 5. It was Sunday afternoon, perfect. I tell the hubby and we head to the museum.

The K.I. Sawyer Heritage Air Museum is located in one of the old buildings of the Air Base. It features the history of the air base and its commanders. 

Since it was used during the Cold War were some items from when the Russians visited as well.

The museum is small but the volunteer who was there was stationed there and was very knowledgeable. He left us to look around but was available for questions. It was just interesting to see the pictures of what the base looked like when it was active and how the planes were lined up. 

If you are interested in military history, especially Air Force history, check out K.I. Sawyer when you are ever in the UP. These old bases depend on our support to keep the history alive and stopping by will help preserve that history.