July 25-29, Mackinaw City/a reunion & a visit from 2 special people!

Back to Mackinaw City, where our trek around Lake Michigan began. When we arrived, we were greeted by Garry & Jacque on Waterford 2 (our sister ship). Garry & Jacque, were our traveling partners for our adventure last summer and
have been absent these last 2 months.  They now have all their important responsibilities under control so they can join us for the next phase of our adventure.  Looking forward to being a team again!

On Sunday, Jeri & Patty pulled in to the Marina parking lot!  Soooo glad to see them, even though the weather was cold, cloudy & drizzling.  They unloaded a bushel of fresh vegetables, fresh from Jeri & Craig's garden.  Thank you for having those green thumbs.  They have grown huge zucchini's, I couldn't fit it in my refrigerator or really anywhere in my galley.  Along with zucchini, they brought green beans, peppers, egg plant, cucumbers, onions & tomatoes-yum.  I had so much, I was able to share with Jacque.

Princesses!
Just like Elsa (Frozen)

When the skies cleared enough to walk around, we did.  We checked out the main drag & even stopped in some of the shops, Doug was out voted 3 females to 1 male.  Garry & Jacque joined us for dinner @ the Dixie Saloon, wouldn't recommend it but we had fun.  The gals even stayed on board, taking over our Salon, making it look like a dorm room.

The next morning, was cold, gray & windy so everyone slept in.  We took our time motivating & it was well worth it.  I made fancy coffee/hot chocolate & we munched on Jeri's delicious homemade chocolate chip zucchini bread. By the time we took our bikes to Shepler's to grab a ferry over to  Mackinac Island, the sun had come out & the wind had died some.

We had a Great day, starting with brunch & a tour of the Grand Hotel.  For those old movie buffs; Somewhere in Time starring Christopher Reeves & Jane Seymour was filmed here.  It's a beautiful, expensive place to visit, everyone should do it once.

movie memorabilia

After all that food, we biked the entire circumference of the island.  We passed lots of beaches, cliffs, rocks & rows of cairns.  After our bike ride, we treated ourselves to some Mackinac Island Fudge ice cream.  Jeri couldn't decide between fudge or ice-cream, so that was the best of both.  Then we needed to rest, so the large green, sloping lawn in front of the fort looked real inviting.  Our last stop was @ the Carriage House, which sits on the water front, just past all the craziness of downtown.  There is a beautiful garden to walk through first, then we were escorted to the patio which was lined with more beautiful flowers & had a grand view of the water & lighthouse.  We enjoyed some fancy fun drinks & soaked up the last of the sun.

there were lines & lines of
these cairns along the shoreline

A cairn that Jeri made
with our help

How'd someone do that??

We returned from the Island,  cracked open a beautiful bottle of Pinot Noir that Patty had brought us and then walked to the Keyhole Bar for dinner.  Garry & Jacque had eaten, but they joined us for some dessert.

What a fun, fun visit, Thank you both Jeri & Patty for taking the time out of your busy schedules to join in our adventure.  We loved having you here with us. Please come see us again soon!


Sadly on Tuesday morning, we had to kick Jeri & Patty out so we could continue our travels which now will take us into Canada, so this will be my last post for a while.  We will be anchoring out, I still can text but can not use data unless I find wifi, which is highly unlikely.  Check back in a week or two, not to worry, we are safe,  just unconnected for a time!

July 23-25; Fayette & Manistique, MI, back to our time zone

Poverty Island

Manistique East Breakwater

Lansing Shoal

In Wisconsin, on their time zone, sunrise happens about 5:30 AM. Normally, I see daylight and turn over & go back to sleep but this morning we got moving.  The wind that has plagued us the last couple of days has subsided some but we are afraid it may build again as the day progresses. We soon will be back in our usual time zone because we are headed to the UP (upper peninsula of Michigan) today.

We arrive @ Fayette State Park where they have a wall that boats can tie up to but no electric or facilities.  There is only 1 sailboat along the wall, so there is plenty of room for us.  Fayette is a restored living museum of a Historic Townsite, representing a once bustling industrial community.  The industry was manufacturing charcoal pig iron from 1867 to 1891.

After we get settled, we were heading out to explore the park, when a bigger Gulfstar sailboat pulled in.  We helped them dock & noticed that the Captain had a NCYC (North Cape Yacht Club) shirt on.  NCYC is adjacent to Toledo Beach, where we used to own a dock & kept our boat for 10 years.. We introduce ourselves to Larry & Julia and found we have mutual acquaintances and they still own a dock @ TBM. Larry invited us and Linda & Ken from the other sailboat over for docktails to share stories & compare notes. Thanks for the nice visit.

We hiked around the high bluff and then around the restored town.  The State has done a nice job with this historic site.  There is a rustic campground & stone beach close by.

For all you arachnophobians

The next morning was a beautiful day and we headed to Manistique, MI another town in the UP.  They have a brand new facilities & office building.  We docked along the new wall and there are plans to reconstruct & dredge the actual marina next year.  Nice to see progress and that the Marinas are being updated all along Lake Michigan.

Our selfie! thanks for checking in on us!

July 21-23: Washington Island, WI (cousin Jack's home)

Cousin Jack

This segment of our Lake Michigan tour has been a special one.  We were honored to visit my maternal cousin Jack, son to my Mom's only sibling: Annette & her husband Earl. Annette & Earl had 3 children: Douglas, Jack & Diane.  All of them are older than me, closer in age to my 2 brothers, but we all started our lives living next door to each other in Buffalo, NY.  My parents & Annette & Earl built their first homes @ the far end of their parents (my grandparents) Apple Orchard.  The two houses were identical, cape cods but different color and there was a shared driveway & patio in the middle.  We were all quite close.  My father & Uncle Earl worked for the NY Central Railroad.

Cousin Diane & Jack on our patio

My father got into Labor Relations & soon was transferred out of town.  My Mother was saddened to leave her home, her parents & especially her sister & family.  I was seven years old @ the time, my brothers: 11 & 16 years old. At first, we didn't move too far, just following the rail line & Lake Erie shoreline to Ashtabula, OH.  One of the perks of working for the railroad was free rides, so we went back home often.  As I got older, I would go in the summers myself, riding the train.  My Dad always knew the conductors, so they would keep an eye on me. I would stay with my Aunt Annette or my Adopted Aunt Betty, who had moved into our old house.  When I stayed with Aunt Betty, I would get to sleep in the bedroom I had been in since an infant.  My cousin Jack, had joined the Coast Guard during this time, so we didn't see too much of each other after that. Over the years, I have stayed in close contact with my Aunt Annette, therefore I was kept in the loop with the family. Through Facebook, (again, not sure why I fought joining for so long) I have reconnected with my cousin Jack & his awesome wife, Kristi.  So when I knew we would be traveling close to Washington Island, I hoped we would be able to visit. And visit we did! Kristi was born & raised on Washington Island, WI which is a 5 by 6 mile island located in the northern end of the Door peninsula.  Cousin Jack met Kristi while he was stationed in the area with the Coast Guard.  As they say, the rest is history.  They did leave Washington Island for years and raised 2 sons but they have now retired here, to this piece of paradise.

Jarod, Kristi & Zach

We docked @ Kaps Marina, one of a few marina's on the Island.  It is a bit overpriced for their accommodations, but we were happy to have a secure dock.  Jack & Kristi came by with their car, (haven't been in too many of those lately) & picked us up.  They then proceeded to give us the grand tour of the Island & we loved it.  We meant Kristi's sister, who owns one of the local bar/restaurants & she makes a heck of a Bloody Mary. There are a lot of beautiful woods, beaches & museums with interesting history to be found.  They were lucky enough to have their 2 grandsons, Zach & Jarod visiting from the Green Bay area, so we were able to get to know those 2 great guys. The next day, we finished some chores on the list and then enjoyed a delicious meal cooked by Kristi & then had a fun game of a new type of Uno, like we'd never played before.  It had a card shooter, that you pushed the button & you never knew how many cards would shoot out for your turn.  The young ones taught us a thing or two.  This was a priceless memory, I think, for all of us.  It was great to reminisce & to tell their grandsons some of the happy times from our childhoods.

We found the Skipper & Gilligan's boat

July 19-21 Fish Creek, WI part of Door County

are we close enough?

Leaving Sturgeon Bay, we had to travel under 2 bridges, they both are close to each other & one opens on the quarter hour & the other on the half hour.  So if we needed to have both open, we would have to float around between the 2 bridges for 15 mins.  We asked a few people what the clearance was on the first (the new) bridge & we got estimates/guesses.  Estimates wouldn't work, because we need a clearance of more than 22 feet to fit under & the estimates we were hearing were 20 something.  One foot off could mean disaster for us.  Finally, the dock boy called the bridge & asked what the official clearance was. The Bridge tender told us 25 feet.  We measured our height & we are 22 feet.  OK, we can get under the first bridge (hopefully) & only have to wait for the second bridge to open.  There are times when water levels fluctuate even without tides, let's hope that isn't the case here. I went up on the bridge of our boat (not to be confused with the road bridge) to make sure we wouldn't hit going under, (@ that point, not sure if I could do anything about it), but it made me feel better to be up there & I was able to take pics. Obviously we made it, with a foot or three to spare-a little bit of stress is good for the heart, right?

The Coast Guard cutter, Mackinaw in
dry dock, probably for repairs

White Pelicans

Cruising Door County on Green Bay is pretty.  The Bay is quite large & there are some limestone cliffs & lots of trees. Some of the shoreline has pretty houses, some pretty large. We started seeing groupings of white birds flying low along the water & could tell they weren't seagulls.  We kept an eye out & finally some flew close enough that with our binoculars we could see they had black tipped wings & large beaks, looking a lot like pelicans.  We've seen pelicans in Florida but never heard of them being up north.  I texted our resident expert, Kathy & she named these beautiful creatures "white Pelicans", they are migratory. White Pelicans don't dive for their food; they swim after it, thence the reason for flying so low along the water.

We arrived in Fish Creek with reservations @ Alibi Marina.  It's a busy place with the boats really squeezed in.  We had a primo dock on the end of a run.  We have been very lucky to have dock hands assist us @ all the marina's. What's different @ Wisconsin Marinas is that the docks don't have uprights, only cleats. So the Fender hooks that Doug received as a retirement gift from Lathrop have come in super handy.  We are now in peak boating season for this area.  Boats were coming & going. We saw one come in flying a CIC burgee, so we went over & said hi. We didn't know the owner, Roger but we have mutual friends like the Deaton's.

I've always wanted my own
John Deere tractor!

Doug's new friends

We walked around the quaint tourist filled town that has lots of shops & restaurants. Later, we got our bikes & rode along Cottage row, a beautiful area with houses that are bigger than what I picture as cottages. The roads were windy, hilly and there were many trees and low stone walls.  That area was much quieter.

The next day, we put the dinghy in and ran over to a beach in the next bay. We passed limestone cliffs & some caves (didn't go in, fear of bats). We had a picnic lunch while floating around the fish creek harbor.  Peninsula State Park lies all along the harbor, a great place to hike, bike & kayak.

Eagle Bluff Lighthouse

what's that saying "Can pigs fly?" Obviously!