Elk Rapids, who knew!

Elk Rapids Library

This place is happening, man.  Most current dock holders @ E.C. Grace Municipal Marina waited from 7-10 years on an official waiting list to snag a dock here.  The waiting list now takes @ least 5 years. It's really nice, but why such a difference between here & everywhere else we have been? Well, could it be the fresh cut flowers in the bathrooms every day or that all the dock hands (& there's a lot of them) are all trained & have certificates to prove it or that the marina sits in the middle of a series of lakes & islands protected from Lake Michigan yet there is easy  access. There is a small quaint town walking distance from the marina that has a coffee shop, bakery, restaurants, wine shop & a few clothes & gift shops.  When we checked in, we were given a nice bag with the harbor's name on it, filled with maps, coupons & actual items; a bottle of Root Beer, an Aveda sample, a floater key chain & a letter opener-Wow. They treat you well.  My standards keep rising.  Sunset view, gas grills, boaters lounge, Continental breakfast on the weekends, lots of picnic tables, sand beach, tennis courts-need I keep going? We hit their Farmer's Market today & bought fresh local grown strawberries-yum. So you don't totally hate us: it is cold here today-hat & gloves cold. It has curtailed our recreational plans.

poor duck!

The dock hands were going to trailer our dinghy to the upper marina so we could go explore Elk Lake (a service available to all that stay here). Our second plan was to bike ride but it's even too cold & windy to do that. Alternate plan & last choice is to do chores in the boat. After we did that for awhile, we walked to the adorable Library just up the hill.  It is a house overlooking Traverse bay, with lots of windows, rocking chairs & wifi.

in the Library

It's so cold it snowed! (cotton wood)

This turtle was walking slowly across the sidewalk when Doug put
our Duck on for a ride & the turtle took off running,
 then took a flip into the waterfall!
Never saw a turtle run so fast & jump so far!

This is the water way that the Turtle
took a flip into from the walkway

We went to a free wine tasting tonight @ the Wine Shop.  We tasted wines from Portugal, Spain & Italy.  Wasn't in love with any of them, but it was fun and we met people from Turkey and supposedly the Mayor of Istanbul.  I don't know if he's really the mayor or if he's named himself like my niece & nephews do when they play with that one App.

Thanks for reading!