Sat/Sun June 29/30,Copper Harbor We have now been out a MONTH! Hard to believe

During the night Friday night @ Lac La Belle, we did have some wind with gusts & rain. Our anchor held well. We usually tie to land & put 2 anchors out when we are going to stay awhile, but not just for 2 nights. So I did get up a few times, just for my piece of mind to check that we were still in the same spot and we were!! 

Gull Lighthouse

Saturday morning, June 29, pulled up anchor from our picturesque spot below the ski mountain. It's not raining but it is overcast (no fog) & 60 degrees. The wind was 25 Knots coming from the north/northeast, over the Mountains.  The forecast was for 1-3 foot waves, something different from what we've been experiencing, (you know; super calm). The first hour the waves were right on our nose & were maybe 2-4's. We knew we would be turning & the waves would be on our beam (side) and that is when the stabilizers do their thing & give us a comfortable ride. I always secure everything before getting under way, even in calm waters cuz you just never know. That all goes back to my days without stabilizers. So when it's rough, nothing moves or falls.  We almost ran into fishing nets. There is no rhyme or reason sometimes with them. Flags & floaters going everywhere. What we have to worry about with nets is if we were to cruise over one & it was close enough to the surface, we could get the net wrapped around our prop or caught in our stabilizers. Neither is pretty. 

Copper Harbor Lighthouse est 1866 & is now a museum & is the oldest working lighthouse on Lake Superior. 

Lonely Alizaan @ dock

As we pulled into Copper Harbor around noon. We saw Alizann @ the dock.  They are the only vessel @ Copper Harbor Marina. Marty & Suzanne greeted & helped us in. Keith is the dock guy, but this is his first year @ Copper Harbor and he is great!  Actually Alizann was their first guest boat of the season, so that makes us second & third. How cool is it to have 3 Krogen Cruisers together & the only boats in a marina @ the northern most point of Michigan.  We call that a special rendezvous!  We only know of 4 Krogen trawlers that call the Great Lakes their home, do I have that right, Krogen Cruisers? How many Krogens live in the Great Lakes currently?  We are only aware of 4. Let us know who they are please, other than Day Dreams, Waterford & Alizann. 

Our special Krogen Rendezvous 

We traveled 25 miles today with cum of 669.  After arriving, we all did our own thing for the afternoon. Garry had some important head maintenance to complete, so we left him alone. Alizann invited us to their boat for Docktails ( I must give credit to our friends Chuck & Susan of Blue Moon for our new name for cocktail parties). We had great appetizers: Marty & Suzanne's smoked salmon from Marquette & Jacque's dill Havarti in crescent & fresh peaches-yum. We were picked up by the hostess of Keweenaw Mountain Lodge for dinner. It is almost 2 miles up the Brockway mountain from the marina and has a golf course/swimming pool & lodging. It was established during the Great Depression by the WPA. After dinner, Alizann invited us back on board for some fine Lemoncello.  Marty & Suzanne are leaving in the morning for Isle Royale. We wish them safe travels, calm waters & lots of Moose sightings. We really enjoyed meeting & bonding with fellow Krogen owners. Thanks for a great evening. 

Sunday morning, we thought we would take our bikes & try to find wifi because we again are without any communication.  No cell service & no wifi. We know there is no cell service anywhere in town, you have to travel  to the top of Brockway Mountain, which is several (over 4 up) miles from here, but we were told a few places in "town" have wifi. Can't believe, only 1 pay phone in town & no one has cell phone service & no prepaid telephone cards to buy anywhere! Forced isolation, it's probably a good thing! We found wifi & a pay phone @ a bar/restaurant, how long has it been since you used a pay phone? It's 50 cents now for a local call. 

We are enjoying another beautiful weather day, blue sky & in the 70's. The locals all are saying this has been an unusually cool start to summer. After lunch, we rode out to Fanny Hooe Lake, Manganese Falls & Fort Wilkins.  The Fort was constructed not for war but to protect the rowdy copper miners & settlers from possible trouble with the Indians who recently had lost this land but the Indians never caused problems. 

In between all this, we did find time to stop @ a few gift shops along our route. We found thimbleberry jam. We saw people on ATV's here & lots of bicycles, mostly mountain bikes. There are tons of trails & Copper Harbor has been designated as one of five best places to ride in the world! 

We've been reading some of the local lore & found this one interesting. You've heard the expression "What the Sam Hill"?  It's never made sense to me but now I know the rest of the story. In the 1850's Sam Hill was a copper mining company agent here in the Keweenaw (that's this stick out @ the top of the U.P.) area. Sam was a geologist, surveyor & mining engineer who loved to use profanity. He was very influential & powerful, so when people would retell stories of his escapades they would sub his name in  place of his profanities. He became a state representative in 1870 & played a key role in copper mining & the creation of the Keweenaw waterway, assuring Hancock's future as a major Great Lakes shipping port. My facts today are referenced from the Keweenaw Traveler publication. 

Copper Harbor has the oldest exposed volcanic rock on earth. Population 100. Located at the very northern tip of the UP. We love it here, so much that we are staying for 4 nights, longest stop yet.  Lots of biking, kayaking, hiking and gift shopping to do.

 The next time I publish a blog will be when we get to Hancock, where I think they have wifi @ the Marina. Right now, I am sitting outside of the visitors center in order to work on my computer.  I'd rather be playing! Miss you

Lac La Belle, I think that's french! Day 26 of our Grand Adventure, June 27/28, 2013

Thursday morning, June 27th, Jeri's birthday, we left Big Bay @ 8:00 AM, overcast but calm & warm. Lake Superior was beautiful again & the hills looked cool shrouded in mist & fog. 










We passed the Huron Islands today, they are beautiful, but no place to anchor around them.

Bête Grise Lighthouse, not pronounced like Doug does; betty grease! Again, I believe it is supposed to be pronounced with a french accent; silent T & S, maybe? 

Bete Grise Lighthouse

Arrived in Lac la Belle @ 1:30 PM, the fog settled in on us and became dense the last part of our journey, (Cheryl, we couldn't help it, but with electronics, we are perfectly safe-please don't worry).  Waterford was in the lead & did a super job of getting us into the entrance.  We are anchored out in this beautiful lake off of Superior, under a ski lift.  Miles traveled 36, cum 644.  Our temps have now been averaging 60's & 70's-love it.  

Communication, u don't realize how connected you are, till you aren't.  We take it for granted that we can pick up the phone, it's like when the electricity goes out and you keep flipping the light switch anyway.  That's how it's been these last couple of days.  We were trying to make dock reservations by internet (we bought some wifi for a day from this tiny resort on the lake) and we were having difficulty, so 3 out of the 4 of us @ some point said let's just call them-duh, no phone service. Just the fact that we went searching for internet tells you how difficult it is to be unconnected.  

We put the dinghy's in and explored the lake.  There are cottages around more than half of it, most with docks, but not a lot of boats.  There was one boat fishing.  It is very quiet here, the water slapping our dinghy seemed really loud.  Sleeping has been great, no furnace needed which is good because we aren't plugged in.  We love anchoring, if we have a choice.

Friday morning, sunny & warm so we hiked up Mount Bohemia, elevation 1485.  We found marked trails and followed one to a cool ski/summer resort.  We talked to 2 people there who were getting the place ready to open this weekend.  She said they didn't open in June because that's the buggy season-now you tell us!  We have been experiencing more bugs of all varieties than our usual summer vacations in July & August.  It still has been very manageable with some bug spray & pics.  This place has been a ski resort for years, but they recently built some cabins and they have these cool round canvass structures which are the dining room, bar, first aid, etc. So they are now trying a summer type program; $95/day/person with 3 meals and all activities; kayaks, bikes, hiking, etc.  Would be fun.  We walked around the place, looked good.  We hiked the trail to the top of the mountain, all 1485 feet, where all 3 of ski lifts converged and NO the ski lifts were not running.  We walked the whole way. there were unripe thimble berries all over the mountain. Wow, my mouth was salivating.  Garry spotted a big deer while hiking and they watched some deer last evening from their boat @ the water's edge, but we saw some big cat type prints on the trail and big deer prints.  An added bonus when we climbed to the top of the Mountain was limited cell service, enough to text, but when we tried to make phone calls, they failed.  Oh well, we can live without calling, I think.  Just know we are doing fine.  I am behind in my blog, for those of you following us with the AIS system.  

We climbed to the top, WOW

Cool ski resort

Yurts?

Duck didn't fall off!

I'm @ the top of the Mountain

Our boats are anchored down there! Lake Superior in the distance

Thimbleberry blossoms

 Summer is here, hope everyone is enjoying themselves, where ever your travels take you!!

Big Bay, Go Or No Go, June 26, 2013 Day 25 of our Adventure,

We left Marquette on Weds morning @ 7:30 AM, I sure don't get to sleep in very often. Air temp 70 degrees already. Sunny & calm. Lake Superior is again like glass-Beautiful!  This area is gorgeous, no wonder Ridge moved back up here & Wayne comes to his Camp every chance he gets. I just wouldn't want to be here in the long winter months.  

Big Bay Point Lighthouse & Huron Mountains

Big Bay Point Light, est 1896 is currently a B&B. Psychics have identified 5 distinct ghosts inhabiting the lighthouse. 

Big Bay harbor is questionable in depth, the Ranger that takes care of the place said we shouldn't try it. Others told us we could get in. So we threw anchor outside of the harbor, put the dinghy down and Doug & Garry went in & sounded it themselves. They decided it was a go. A bit tricky @ the entrance & not much room @ the wall. We had to cozy up to each other. There is about 7 feet of depth. Our depth finder read 2 feet @ the shallowest on entry and now Garry's depth finder is showing 1.6 feet under his boat @ the wall.  We need almost 5 feet of water.  

The unmanned office, very rustic

We arrived around 11:30. Only a 28 mile trip, with a cum of 607. The Mosquitos were there to greet us. It's all woods @ the dock, so that makes sense. No one was around. We docked without assistance & my Captain did great. We then helped Waterford in. 

Lumberjack Tavern

Thunder Bay Inn

After lunch, we walked into "town" not really town, no post office, no hardware store. There are some famous places though! In 1952, a murder took place in a bar called the Lumberjack.  That still stands & is open. The defense attorney for the accused wrote a book about the murder & trial.  In 1959, Otto Preminger made a movie from the book, called An Anatomy of a Murder & they filmed the murder scenes in Big Bay & the trial scenes in Marquette. There is also a B&B named The Thunder Bay Inn, where some of the scenes were filmed, too.  So we visited both places & learned about the story. Jimmy Stewart, Lee Remick & Ben Gazarra starred in the movie. It received 7 academy award nominations. The author went on to become a Supreme Court justice. We would have bought the DVD or the book, if either of these places sold it, but they didn't-go figure. Thunder Bay Inn even had a gift shop & didn't carry it. Both places did have pics & newspaper clippings, etc to look at.  Jacque ordered the DVD of Anatomy of a Murder from Amazon to be delivered to us in Houghton, MI.

Find the duck

There were thimbleberry bushes along our walk, they are in blossom but no where near ripe. I love thimbleberries & hope they are ripe by the time we reach Isle Royale. We will get a pic @ some point.  We do not have cell service or wifi here.  

 

Sippy duck

tipsy duck

Dead Duck

Home of Northern Michigan University:Marquette

entering Marquette Harbor

After a beautiful cruise, with a lot of bridge time, we arrived in Marquette to Cinder Pond Marina on Monday, June 24 @ 1:15 PM.  It's a beautiful day and a warm day, at least high 70's, maybe an 80 in there.  The dock boys were actually sweating-yahoo! Waterford docked in the hoist well and we are on the end of the run, closest to the lake.  This is the first Marina of our trip that has been semi full.  While on anchor Sunday, we were hailed by fellow Krogen owners; Marty and Suzanne on Alizann, a beautiful 48 Kadey-Krogen North Sea.  They were anchored in the bay on the other side of Grand Island and had been hiking when they spotted us.  With the AIS, they were able to find the name of our boat in order to call us.  Hopefully we will meet up with them here in Marquette.

Marquette Light, est 1853

Downtown Marquette from the water

We decided to get the chores out of the way today so tomorrow we can play.  First right in front of the Marina is a great park with lots of people playing, picnicking & even jumping in the water off the wall-brrrrrr! The area is very well maintained.  There are 2 boat ramps at the Marina, we couldn't believe how busy they were.  Boats in and out continuously, doesn't anyone work in this town?  It's always entertaining to watch people launch their boats. We have a hard enough time remembering what day of the week it is and this looked like a Saturday with all the people out and about.  We were told, that these beautiful days are so rare, that when they occur, everyone calls in sick or somehow takes the day off and heads for the water.  We are lucky to be experiencing this. We walked around the area by the Marina, I think it is considered the Downtown.  We found a clothing store that had been recommended to us; Getz's.  They had a great selection of clothes; outdoor, rain gear & Carhartt's.  Doug & Jacque found pants there. There really wasn't too much else within walking distance, so we called a cab & went out to the Highway, where there was a grocery, Loew's, Walmart & Menard's.  The guys were able to get most everything on their current lists. I don't know how they keep coming up with all this stuff they need. Jacque & I grocery shopped for necessities, we have to eat! The Taxi driver told us he had gone to Northern in the 70's, when they really knew how to party. Craig, you probably knew him, haha! 

Fresh Lake Trout filets

Tuesday morning, Doug & Garry washed the boats. We did laundry & walked to the fish market. It's my turn to cook us up some fresh fish. I bought a big fresh caught lake trout filet. 

Alizann pulling into Marquette

one of many beaches

Alizann pulled into the harbor as we were getting ready to go on a bike tour to Presque Isle Point, (still in Marquette, not to be mixed up with the one in Lake Huron).  There wasn't room in the main Marina for Alizann, being a 48 foot Krogen trawler, (looks somewhat like ours, but on steroids) so they docked on the wall beside the park.  We stopped over to say Hi, while they were tying up.  They decided to join us on our bike ride.  There is a great paved bike trail along the shoreline, which is mostly sand beaches.  You wouldn't believe how many people were on the beaches, even Lifeguards. People were actually in swimsuits, some actually in the 56-58 degree water!!  The place was happening.  

Presque Isle

Crystal clear water

Rode around Presque Isle, which is rolling with cliffs, lots of green & sand.  The bike path stops & we had to compete with all the cars, it was a constant stream of traffic.  On Tuesday mornings till 1:00 PM, the cars are banned from the park, but this was after 1:00, darn!

the WoodenDome

Football field, inside the Dome

 On our way back to town, we passed the Northern Michigan wooden dome, so we stopped in.  We were in luck, it was open, (found out it was Orientation Day for fall). It is a very cool structure and they had it set up for football.  Doug's godson, Paul & the Hillsdale football team will be traveling to Marquette this fall for a football game, will it be played in the dome? That would be cool & warm.  

Doug & I then split off from the others to go find the infamous dorm, Halverson Hall, where Jeri & Craig lived and played.  We found it and there were people all over again because of Orientation.  I was able to snatch her a pair of NMU sunglasses they were giving to the new students. I called Jeri so she could reminisce with us, but we couldn't get up to her room on 2nd floor.  We took a bunch of pics for her.  I'm sure it doesn't look any different, it's only been over 35 years. 

While I'm on the subject of Jeri, her Birthday is tomorrow, so we all need to sing Happy Birthday to her. Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Jeri, Happy Birthday to you!  Wishing you a GREAT year to come!  Sorry we're not there to celebrate with you, :'(  Love, Jan & Doug

can you see the duck?

We biked back to the Marina and met up with Waterford & Alizann for a cocktail party.  We swapped stories about anchorages we've enjoyed on Lake Superior.  It was one long cocktail party & a traveling one to boot.  Marty & Suzanne were gracious enough to give us a tour of their beautiful vessel.  All I can say is WOW, well done.  Alizaan is very self sufficient and could travel anywhere and they do have plans of traveling across our country and beyond.  Talk about adventure!  We loved meeting them and hope to connect later on this summer.  

Alizann, part of our new Krogen family

Marquette Harbor dock

We left Marquette on Weds morning @ 7:30 AM, I sure don't get to sleep in very often. Air temp 70 degrees already. Sunny & calm. Lake Superior is again like glass-Beautiful!  This area is gorgeous, no wonder Ridge moved back up here & Wayne comes to his Camp every chance he gets. I just wouldn't want to be here in the long winter months.  

Important for 2 reasons, our duck & Doug