Day 95/96/97 September 4-6, 2013 Attacked by Pirates (it's ok, they were the friendly type)

Left Mackinaw City on Weds, September 4, it's cloudy with 2-3-4 foot waves on the beam. Stabilizers took care of it perfectly. Arriving @ Rogers City, we've traveled 1800 miles on Day 95. We walked up town, not much to see. The old theater where we watched the movie in June was closed temporarily for a week, does that give you an idea regarding the excitement around town. We stopped in at the Dollar store, a gift/coffee shop & the carry-out. 

If you don't like water but like to go fast, this is for you!! In the parking lot.

Thursday morn, Sept 5, we left Rogers City with blue skies & sun but cool 56 degrees. 2-3 foot waves again on our beam. Arrived @ Presque Isle. It's even real quiet here, Labor Day truly does signify the end of summer here in Michigan. The weather wasn't conducive to walking around too much; windy & cold. It appears now that Labor Day is over, so is summer. What a shame because they have such a short season. 

Friday morning, Sept 6, as we were preparing to leave Presque Isle, an 80 foot schooner, Madeline (a pirate ship)  arrived on their way back from PIB's celebration. We are younger than the crew on Madeline; no worries. We left Presque Isle & headed to Harrisville, where they win for the best facilities. Steve, the Harbor Master has a lot to do with this. Doug & I walked to a store where Garry & Jacque had bought an entrance rug on our way up North, which we love, so we wanted to get one too. They were sold out, so we ordered one. The weather again is cool & windy. 

The attack of the pirates :)

beautiful sunset!

Happy Birthday to Jim; wishing you many more sunsets over the water!

The 57th Annual Mackinac Bridge Walk; We did it!! Day 92,93 & 94

our view from the pilot house

Sunday morning, September 1st, Day 92: Wow, we've been traveling 3 months. We left Petosky just after sunrise. The day is cloudy, darn we will be going under the Mackinac bridge again & we were really hoping for a sunny, deep blue sky day. We have following seas which is a great ride for us. A few boats passed us going the other direction & they were bouncing quite a bit. 

We were just ahead of a small rain cell, so it started to drizzle just as we docked @ The Straits Harbor back in Mackinaw City. We came back here for 2 reasons; it's on our way home & we plan on walking the Mackinac bridge on Labor Day tomorrow. We laid low the rest of the day. 

Has anyone noticed that sometimes I write "Mackinac" sometimes "Mackinaw"?  I have researched & it depends what I'm talking about: the bridge, island & waterway straits are Mackinac; but pronounced "Mack-in- aw".  The city & the Coast Guard cutter is Mackinaw pronounced the same way, talk about confusing when I go to write. 

Line of people to get on buses

view from bus, people almost finished

Labor Day, we were in line for a bus @ 7:30 AM; they are very organized with 6 lanes of people for buses & they have 115 school buses from all over Michigan. We get bussed over to St Ignace in the UP, on the other end of the bridge. Then we will walk the 5 mile bridge back to Mackinaw City. They have had up to 70,000 people in the past. I don't think they'll have that many this year because it is cold & windy. The governor starts the walk, I think by 7:00 AM. We arrived to the other side of the bridge @ 8:50 & began our walk. There were a lot of people, strollers & some wheelchairs.  They do not allow pets or wagons. We had to dodge many people to stay walking faster than a slow stroll. At first we had 2 lanes to walk in; one paved & one fully grated. I liked walking on the grating, it was less crowded. About 3/4's of the distance, they narrowed us into one lane & gave the motorized traffic 3 lanes. Needless to say our speed slowed considerably. OK, there's the reason to get going @ 5:30 AM, like the governor did. He finished in 57 minutes, we finished in about 87 minutes. 

the grated lane, the water 300ft below

 

Mackinaw City from the bridge

The Finish line with our certificate

We crossed the finish line & collected our certificate-Yahoo! Found out according to the news, our good friend Cheryl watched, (no, she didn't see us on the news) there were 40,000 walkers. The weather must have kept some people home :(

An eagle tried to snatch our "Lucky duck", but we saved him!

Tuesday, Sept 3rd, we were going to leave but it was windy with small craft warnings, so we stayed put. Biked some of the bike trail to Mill Creek State park, then rode through Mill Creek campground; a huge place 1000 sites, lots of cute cabins with an awesome view of the bridge, right on the water. 

wind generators that power the Marina @ the Straits

This small vase has become one of my favorite purchases.  I pick wildflowers to fill it everywhere I go.  It makes me smile, I hope it does the same for you! :)

Petosky; a great Marina & town/ August 29/30/31

Thursday, August 29, we woke to a beautiful morning but they have 2 nasty type bugs here. Both come out @ night. One is winged & black & the other is a fragile type mosquito looking thing that doesn't bite but leaves little green marks all over the white fiberglass that is hard to get off. This last month we haven't been bothered by bugs much except for a few mosquitoes @ dusk.

That's calm!!

Lake Michigan is like glass this morning, we left Beaver Island @ 7:30 & the sun was rising above the trees. After we were a couple of miles into our journey, the fog descended upon us. Luckily it didn't last long. It was another great bridge day. Lake Michigan's water is blue with many shades. Sure wish Lake Erie looked like this. 

We arrived @ Petosky Municipal Marina a little after lunch. The docks are fixed so they are a little high but they are well maintained & there is plenty of water & weeds. Facilities are very nice. After we were settled, we put our dinghies down & since it was so calm, we took advantage & rode across Little Traverse Bay to Harbor Springs. Walked around the shops & Marina. We bought a rug for the entrance to the salon. 

Friday, August 30: The next day, we rose early & hit the Farmers Market here in town. The best one we've been to. Lots of fresh produce stands. Tomatoes & sweet corn finally. We also bought fresh basil, (it was really pretty), peaches & Doug ended up buying 3 pies. First he bought 2 little ones; Michigan cherry & apple pecan, then we found a full sized one made with fresh peaches, couldn't pass that up. It started to rain & blow so we ducked into a cute restaurant: Julienne Tomato, for breakfast. It rained on & off so today was a lazy day. We did accomplish a bit more shopping; some more dry pants for me, a cool birch basket @ the Basket store (if you are looking for a unique basket, try that place). Some drink glasses @ the Hardware store. The four of us, dined @ Palette's Bistro with a nice view of the lake & bay. Excellent meals. 

Saturday, August 31 we woke late to a beautiful day. First item on the agenda was to see if Garry's aluminum bottom 9.5 dinghy would fit on our bridge. With Garry's help we got it up there & it will fit. We plan on buying a new one & we thought we were going to have to get a smaller one. We then got on our bikes & rode on the beautiful bike trail to Bay Harbor. We walked through the Inn. Doug & I had been there once with Turner, it's a fabulous place. We then walked over to the Marina & stopped @ the sidewalk sales along the way. We saw the house our friend, Paul had built on the peninsula & we ate lunch outside @ Knot Just a Bar. The bike path is paved & goes all the way to Charlevoix, I know because Doug made me bike the 34 miles round trip a few years ago when we stayed at the Inn.

Doug's Bloody Mary & lunch

Another example of the clear pretty water

  We didn't bike that far today. We enjoyed the views of Lake Michigan & the bay from the path. 

When we returned to Petosky, we did a little more shopping, they have a super hardware store & just checked out the area more. This has to be one of our favorite ports & towns. There is a nice park all around the Marina & a great pier where the local kids jump off & swim. The downtown is thriving too. It's great to see. 

Lake Michigan;Our 4th Great Lake this summer! A different Beaver Island

Day 87; The wind has finally subsided, so we headed out today: Tuesday, August 27 to dip our toes into Lake Michigan. We traveled under the awesome Mackinac Bridge.  Both Lakes (Huron & Michigan) and the Straits are calm. We are not sure exactly where the 2 lakes merge & if the Straits are considered separate from the lakes; is the bridge the dividing point? Garry says that the 3 miles of water around the bridge are the Straits, separate from either lake. 

White Shoal light

Gray Reef light

The S V Denis Sullivan, 138 foot Tall ship, 3 masted, pasted us in Lake Michigan on her way to Windsor. She was too far away to get a good pic. All the tall ships from the Great Lakes are to converge @ Put in Bay on Labor Day for the big 200th anniversary of Perry's victory in the war of 1812. Our gang; Cheryl, Craig, Jeri & Jerry will be there to watch & hopefully document it all. Not sure if Paul & Jess will be there. Paul is back to college for football practice. 

Beaver Island Lighthouse

Wish we would have had blue skies & sun for the bridge pics & it is misting now.  Beaver Island has 2 marinas and the Municipal Marina had been recommended to us by one of Marty's friends. They don't take reservations but as of last nite, Joe (dock guy) said it looked like they would have space for us today.  As we neared Beaver Island we called the Municipal Marina & Jim (harbor Master) said no one had left today due to the weather & he only had one slip that was deep enough for us. Looks like another Plan B day! There is a private Marina; Beaver Island Marina, so Garry called Pat, harbormaster from BI Marina & she would love to host us. The docks & facilities are not as nice but they're no Rossport or Duluth either. The dock guy "Charlie" made up for all that was lacking. He is a good looking young man who works really hard.  He even found us wood for a campfire. They do have a sandbar in front of some of the docks & the depth went down to 1.7 feet on our depth meter during our approach. That is always a bit unsettling. Plus the water is so clear, it's difficult to tell how close bottom really is, so that even makes it more of a challenge. 

Wednesday, we biked some of the island. It is a big island: 45 square miles. We biked 10 miles of it. It hit 90 degrees today & we are not complaining-we are loving it. Lots of sand & dunes and lots of cedar, oak & birch trees. Some beautiful big old trees. They have a coffee shop, grocer, gas station, ice cream & gift shops, couple bars, couple of restaurants & of course a hardware store. We waded in @ two of the beaches & when we got back to our boats, bathing suits went on for the first time this whole vacation & we all jumped into cool, clean Lake Michigan right off our boats. Later, we dined @ The Shamrock, which was walking distance into the main village. Guess what? Not one Irish item on the menu! 


The history of Beaver Island is interesting. Native Americans were the first documented inhabitants and the Odawa tribe has 100's of graves here. In 1847 James Strang, a Mormon, who had broke away from the main group brought his followers to Beaver Island. Within a few years he had control of the island and crowned himself King.  His Kingdom was the only kingdom ever to be established in our United States. All the gentiles were forced off the island. He wouldn't allow his followers to have multiple wives but he had 4 himself.  In 1856 he was assassinated by some of his disgruntled followers. His loyal followers were forced to leave & the Irish Catholics took over. Hence the Restaurant the Shamrock, we thought would have Irish food! 

Doug's Kingdom Now!!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful nephew, Bob; wishing you a Fantastic year!!

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. 

Back In the U.P. of Michigan; City of Detour/ Day 83/84 August 23 & 24

On Friday, August 23, Day 83 we headed down the St Mary's River, it was another pretty day, lots of fishing boats out & they all were fishing in the marked channel, of course. We arrived @ Detour State Marina which just opened in July after a total redo; all new docks, dredged, new layout, new facilities, everything & it is beautiful. 

No one should be out on these lakes in November!

As we stop and think about this very strategic location on the Great Lakes, over the past hundreds of years, every man that ventured to and from Lake Superior had to pass thru here. Consider the Indians that flourished here with the abundance of fish and wild life, then as the white man discovered the area, other natural resources began to be harvested and transcended thru this channel. Beaver furs from the Indians were worth a fortune to the settlers & traders, almost to the extinction of these poor animals. Indians traded the furs for trinkets.

We biked around a bit. Not really a bike path & not much of a downtown, but there is a post office, gas station, 2 restaurants, 1 bar, grocery, hardware & 2 gift shops. Really everything one needs, when you keep it simple. We dined out @ the Mainsail & had nicely spiced Whitefish & Doug had the fried pollock (a fish)-he is definitely getting more adventurous. 

We stayed 2 nights & ran into Vicky, Chris & Hannah who we met in Harrisville & hooked us into the wifi booster. Good to see you!! 

Not as impressive as Duluth

We biked to the Botanical gardens & the museum. The second day the wifi crashed so again I was not able to work on the blog. 

this is what Doug does after our strenuous days