August 25/26, Day 85 & 86/Mackinaw City; fudge but no Horse s#*@!

Left Sunday morning, August 25, a little bumpy; air temp 66 & water temp 61 & partly cloudy. Waves 2-4-6's thru the straits of Mackinac which are always a tad rough but winds were increasing as we cruised towards the Mackinac bridge. We were in front of a storm that hit the Soo this morn & did creep to Detour after we departed. The storm did not catch us but the winds picked up & we did have some 30 mph gusts & bigger waves until land helped us. Arriving  into Mackinac Straits now, we have traveled 1633 miles.

We docked in the new State Straits of Mackinaw marina. Very nice facility & beautiful wood floating docks. The city Marina is where we stayed years ago & they have fixed docks which are really high @ the moment. The DeFever Hallelujah, who we met in the Soo @ Kemp Marina is here.  Also the boat Bijou that docked in TBM last year is here, so Greg came over & said Hi. The boating community gets smaller all the time. We just found out that Blue Moon, our friends who are traveling the loop just met up with Raydiance who we met this summer. They were both in Petosky, MI. 

We walked around the tourist area near the marina & went to Shepler's Marine store & picked up the battery charger that Doug had ordered. Ours died a couple of weeks ago & luckily Garry had a spare one available on Waterford, which we borrowed until we got the new one. We stopped & had fish & chips @ Bell's Fish Market here on the water, it was tasty. Later the four of us, walked around & shopped some & stopped for a drink @ the Keyhole Bar. 

For everyone that's wondering; neither Doug or I have had a haircut nor have I had a colr done. Now it's become a "thing" & we are going to wait till we get home. So we look pretty ragged to say the least. Needless to say, we won’t be stopping @ Gross Pointe Yacht Club looking like this, haha!!

It stormed all night after we went to bed (perfect time for a storm), so we slept in & by the time we got moving, the sun was out; there were blue skies & it got up to 84 degrees. Yahoo- summer has finally arrived!! We toured the decommissioned Coast Guard cutter the Mackinaw.  Very interesting. I think my adopted Uncle Jack, Commander Atherton was on her for awhile sometime between the 1960's & early 70's. He was a Commander of Coast Guard Cutters for his career. I remember he gave me a ride on a Coast Guard Cutter out of Buffalo when I was young. We biked to both lighthouses & to the beach by the bridge. What beautiful clear blue water they have here. We stopped & taste tested another pastie. It was good but yesterday Doug, Garry & Jacque tasted the pasties from the American Legion & that was a great pastie! In order to complete our best pastie search, we need to buy pasties @ Jean Kay's, Wayne's recommendation in Marquette when we go Oct 5, when Hillsdale plays Northern U.

We are Pastie Connoisseur's  now

We biked all afternoon and toured the outskirts of town and McGulpin Lighthouse and a cute historical village that is currently being restored by volunteers from the historical society.

McGulpin Lighthouse

While we were visiting Mackinaw City, we were reminded that on Labor Day, they have the Mackinac Bridge walk, this is the 56th one.  They have been conducting this walk since the bridge opened in 1957.  Jeri has done the walk. We have decided we need to do this walk, so we will be coming back here.  Since we are ahead of schedule & can't get home too soon, we are adding to our itinerary and going to venture into Lake Michigan.  Staying Flexible is also a big part of our adventure.