Archives 2023

Day 104 – 106; Sept 4 – 6: After 3 days in Leland and keeping a keen eye on the weather, we departed at 8:00 am on Monday, 9/4 with the intention of running 4-4.5 hours to Arcadia with a back up plan of ducking into Frankfort if the wind and waves were too snotty (that’s a very sophisticated marine term!). Tim and Francie on Love on the Locks, a 37’ Carver, were right behind us with the same plan. Winds were 15-20 knots out of the South/South West and waves were 2-3 feet straight on the bow. These conditions were very tolerable for us, although we had taken more precautions than we normally do in case of large waves (we took the bar down and wrapped the liquor bottles in beach towels on the floor, secured the kitchen cabinets that might pop open, coffee maker and knife block were off the counter and in the sink. Legacy is built for this so we proceeded with caution but confidence. Only a few times did we take some spray on the fly bridge.

We particularly enjoyed passing Sleeping Bear Dunes from the water side, having hiked the Glen Lake side when we were in Northport on August 30th.

We could see that Love on the Locks was getting bounced around quite a bit so were not surprised when Tim said they were going to duck into Frankfort and call it a day. We pressed on to Arcadia, arriving there around 12:45. The conditions for the next 5-6 hours were going to be the same as we’d just run in, so we decided to press on to Ludington with a planned arrival between 4:30 and 5:00 pm. Ludington would get us closer to where we needed to be by 9/11 and would also provide far nicer accommodations than Arcadia with a full service marina, clubhouse, gas grills, covered pavilion, pool and hot tub. A couple other Looper boats were already there, so they were ready to catch us when we came in!

It was a long 8.5 hour run, but the right decision. Jeff and Pam on Sea the USA were ready for us with Margaritas and G&T’s – it was great to catch up with them since we had not seen them since Canada. Then it was off to dinner to meet Carol’s colleague Mark and his wife Elizabeth at the local brewery. The food and company were fabulous! We so appreciated Mark and Elizabeth driving up from Holland to meet us for dinner.

Tuesday brought similar conditions to Monday, with a little less wind and smaller waves allowing Love on the Locks to make a successful run for Ludington and for us to find a local ice cream shop and the hot tub! It was nice to have a down day to relax. We walked the beautiful parks that surround the marina and enjoyed docktails and ‘BYO dinner to grill’ at the pavilion with 5 other loopers. It also gave us the opportunity to compare notes on the weather and all agreed that Thursday was the best day to leave Ludington when the winds will have shifted to coming out of the north, so they will be behind us propelling us south, instead of hitting us right in the face.

Wednesday brought some spitty showers in the morning, so a trip to Walmart to get a new printer and a few provisions was in order. For $1.00, you can get a ride to and from just about any local place on a little transport van…. Walmart was 3 miles away, so it was perfect!

Fall is in the air and you can see the beginning of the changes to the trees, some of the shops are closing or reducing their hours and locals are closing up their cottages and/or pulling their boats. We aren’t done with Lake Michigan yet, and will be here through the first week of October. Thursday we will head to Muskegon (about 50 miles and 5 hours) where we will spend 1 day and then press on to Holland where Carol will leave on 9/11 for a business trip and Gary will hit the links!

Day 101-103; Sept 1 – 3: Our original plan was to leave Leland and head to Frankfort on Saturday, 9/2, but the weather had other ideas. With winds blowing 20-30 knots from the south (the direction we will be headed) and waves at 3-6 feet, we decided an extra day or two in Leland is just fine. Always safety first even though we know Legacy can handle a lot more than other smaller boats. There is really no need to push it and battle the weather. I remember my Dad had this small placque on the boat as a reminder to be safe that said “O God, thy sea is so great and my boat is so small.” It is actually the opening to an old Breton fishermans’ prayer and was inscribed on a small plaque given to President John F. Kennedy by Admiral Hyman Rickover. Kennedy kept it on his desk and Rickover gave it to to all new submarine captains entering Naval service under his command. Our only timeline is to be in Holland, MI by 9/10 since Carol needs to fly out on 9/11 to a board meeting. We still have plenty of time.

Leland is a bit of your classic small beach town with shops, bars, restaurants and galleries. It’s called “Fishtown” because of its commercial fishing roots. Leland serves as the departure point for ferry service to north and south Manitou Islands. In the late 1800’s, commercial fisherman sailed out of the harbor to catch trout and whitefish, building wooden shacks where they processed their catch and serviced their boats. In the early 1900’s, the wealthy from Chicago, Detroit and other midwestern industrial centers began visiting Leland and building their summer cottages, arriving by steamer. This led to the construction of resort hotels and the growth of Leland as a summer resort town. Now the shacks have been converted into shops near beautiful beaches with bright blue water as clear as the Caribbean. We walked the town (several times), hiked the full length of the beach (about 2.5 miles round trip) and enjoyed colorful sunsets as well as the company of other loopers. Several of us are holed up here so there is a forecast of football in the lounge!

The winds and waves rage for a few hours then subside, then rage again. Each time they subside we look at the forecast and know it’s just a short lull that will change quickly, even though we consider making a run for it! Weather is forecasted to be clear on Monday, 9/4. This is our first real weather delay, aside from maybe one day in Byng Inlet, in over 100 days. On Monday, we will head to Frankfort. Until then, God is teaching us patience!

Days 98-100: August 29-31: 100 days on the loop! WOW – in some ways seems like yesterday that we left and as we look at the pins on the map, seems like we’ve gone so far, but so much more to go. All good! What an adventure!!

We arrived in quaint Northport, Michigan on Tuesday, 8/29 – a port many loopers seem to skip but we enjoyed immensely – first because we were looking forward to visiting Carol’s friend Bev who has a beautiful home on Cat Head Bay and second because it was such a well protected, quirky, cute, fun and delicious port! Northport is located near the northern tip of the Leelanau peninsula and has a permanent population of about 500. Originally settled by Chief Peter Waukazoo and Reverend George Smith in 1848, the settlement was called Waukazooville, but the deacon who arrived in 1854 decided to change the name to Northport. I have an image of Dr. Seuss in Waukazooville! The cherry industry was started in 1853 on Rev Smith’s farm and is still one of the largest in the world today.

We arrived in overcasts skies and cool weather around 11:30 am to find a well protected marina and friendly staff. We enjoyed walking the little town and finding cute shops, restaurants and galleries as well as we very well stocked grocery store. Our Looper guides had cautioned that Tom’s Grocery Store wasn’t a great place to provision, but we disagree 100%. It was full service with meats, produce and a full selection of wines, beer and alcohol. Definitely one of the better stores we’ve seen in small towns and highly recommend it.

Bev was kind enough to invite us to her house for a drink and hors d’oeurves with her family (sister, cousins and spouses) before we all (9 of us) headed out to dinner at a fabulous Italian restaurant (Nitollo’s) in Leelanau. The food, wine and company were all fabulous. Fruit flies are a real challenge here this time of year, so we found a new use for our phones – toppers for wine glasses to keep the nasty little critters away. No wine for them!!

Wednesday, Bev let us borrow here car for the day which allowed us to visit a few places we would have otherwise missed. After lunch in Northport, we drove to Glen Arbor to the Sleepy Bear Dunes (a 32,000 acre national park) and did the “Dune Climb”. Pictures just don’t do the size of these dunes justice. We did the smaller climb for beginners and went less than half way across to the Lake Michigan side from the Glenn Lake Side, before we turned around and walked back down. Full round trip is about 3.5 miles and takes 3-4 hours; we did about 1 mile round trip and were quite proud of ourselves! Bev had shared the secret to climbing up – step in someone else’s footprints where the sand is already a bit compacted – good advice!! After our hike, we drove around to the Sleeping Bear Point Trail and coast guard station where we could hike a short way and view Lake Michigan. There was an opportunity to hike a 2.8 mile trail, all in the sand around the dune, but we decided against that….we’re not kids anymore! Even still, it was a great experience!

Now having hiked part of the dune from the land side, when we pass by on the boat in a few days, where the dunes tower 450’ above Lake Michigan, we’ll have a better appreciation. You can actually climb down the dune to Lake Michigan, but it is not for the faint at heart, since you need to climb back up! There is a warning sign at the top that reads “Avoid getting stuck at the bottom! The only way out is up. Rescues cost $3000”…. And they mean cash! Never the less, many make the hike and yes many have paid the fee!

After hiking around the dunes, we headed to Suttons Bay – another recommendation of Bev’s. We found more quaint shops and beautiful waterfront parks. Our next stop was to a beer garden to shake the sand out of our shoes and throats. Hop Lot Brewing Co & Beer Garden was the perfect place. Despite their enticing menu, we limited ourselves to one beer and some smoked white fish spread with crackers and a dozen wings, since the wood fired pizza place in Northport was still calling our name, having missed out on that for lunch (they are only open for dinner). Hop Lot was a great stop with picnic tables, a fire pit, live music and corn hole. We returned to Northport with the sun shining and found a great outdoor table at Mittens. Mittens is the bar with about a dozen taps of craft beer who partners with the wood fired pizza trailer. Mittens asks you not bring in outside food and Wood Fired Pizza asks that you not bring in your own drinks – complete synergy! The evening was topped off by a visit by Bev and crew for a tour of the boat and a beautiful Super Blue Moon – one of the biggest and brightest moons of the year. It’s called a blue moon since it is the second full moon in the same month (nothing to do with the color blue) and a super moon because the moon in its elliptical path is at its closest approach to Earth (its perigee measuring 222,000 miles compared to an apogee, or farthest approach of 250,000 miles) The next super blue moons will be in 2037!

Thursday, 8/31 marked our 100th day on the loop. After breakfast and under beautiful clear sunny skies with completely flat water and winds at less than 5 knots out of the southwest, we left Northport headed to Leland. Passing Bev’s house on Cat Head Bay we gave them a big toot of thanks and look forward to reconnecting with Billy and Mary in Pickwick, TN and Bev in Naples, FL as we continue our trip.

Leland is about a 2 1/2 hour run where we headed north out of northport, around the Grand Traverse Lighthouse point and then south past Cat Head Bay, Christmas Cove Beach, Peterson Park and Onomonee Road Beach.

Leland is another quaint little town nicknamed “fish town” with a whopping population of 410. Leland serves as the departure point for ferry service to north and south Manitou Islands. As early as 1880, commercial fisherman sailed out of the harbor to catch trout and whitefish, building wooden shacks where they processed their catch and serviced their boats. In the early 1900’s, the wealthy from Chicago, Detroit and other midwestern industrial centers began visiting Leland and building their summer cottages, arriving by steamer. This led to the construction of resort hotels and the growth of Leland as a summer resort town. Now the shacks have been converted into shops near beautiful beaches with bright blue water as clear as the Caribbean. We are looking forward to spending a couple days here, then onto Frankfort.

Day 96 – 98; August 27 – 29. Spent 2 nights and 2 days in Traverse City exploring by bike and foot. Who knew we’d find a memorial to the worlds record for the largest cherry pie weighing in at 28,350 lbs with a diameter of 17.5 feet! Yessiree…..July 25, 1987. Of course we couldn’t resist biking out to see the pie plate which is on display in front of the Sara Lee bakery/factory.

A little research was in order and we found out that Charlevoix (you recall we had just come from there) was the first to make a huge cherry pie. In 1976 a man named Dave Phillips convinced local businesses in Charlevoix to bake the World’s Largest Cherry Pie as part of the town’s annual cherry festival. A giant pan was built, along with an equally huge oven. Local farmers supplied the ingredients. The result: a cherry pie weighing 17,420 pounds. It was a world record.

Further south, the town of Traverse City had its own cherry festival. It had perhaps heard one too many boasts from Charlevoix, and in 1987 it decided to do something about it. The Chef Pierre Bakeries went to work, and on July 25 it baked a cherry pie that put Charlevoix to shame. As an added snub, the town had Guinness Book of World’s Records certify its pie as the largest ever. Charlevoix’s days in the spotlight were ended after only 11 years.

But time has a way of humbling the proud. The Chef Pierre Bakeries were bought out by Sara Lee. The cherry farms around Traverse City were turned into golf courses as downtown was transformed by wealth moving in from “downstate” and in 1992, after only five years, Traverse City’s cherry pie crown was knocked clear into Canada when the tiny town of Oliver, British Columbia, baked a colossal cherry pie — 39,683 pounds! Oh the epic cherry pie battle! I don’t even like cherry pie, never mind almost 20 tons of it!

After visiting the cherry pie plate, we decided to get some more experience flying the drone. After viewing numerous YouTube videos to gain confidence for my first solo flight, we headed to an open area in the park right at the marina. With great anticipation, I fired up the remote control, then the drone and then the app in that order, as described in the video. I calibrated the GPS and compass. The ‘oh so smart drone software’, however, had different ideas informing me very quickly this was a ‘no fly zone’ and would not allow me to take off. It seems the park is too close to the local airport…..dang! Complete failure to launch!

We slunk back to the boat disappointed, but not disheartened…. There is always tomorrow and we had searched online and found a Chinese take out restaurant for dinner, so that would salvage the day. Haven’t had Chinese food since we started this trip. We checked out the menu, only a 1.5 mile bike ride, and open til 8:30 pm…. Perfect! Gary arrived around 7:10 where the sign on the door said they close at 7:15 and the two workers inside wagged a finger and said “no Chinese food for you, we are closed.” Double Dang!

Well we still think Traverse City was well worth the stop and enjoyed our stay here. Nice parks, beaches, water sports and downtown. Had the best burger yet at Bubbas. Found a food truck park, but alas they were closed. Great bike paths and very vibrant downtown. Nice marina with a free book exchange – I took a few and left a few. Looks like there will be some rain and winds tomorrow, but nothing Legacy can’t handle. Winds are behind us at about 20 knots and we are headed north to Northport. Maybe a 1 foot sea and overcast weather. Looking forward to connecting with friends there and then turning back south down the coast.

My cousin lived in Wisconsin and had a cabin up on a lake that we visited once (before kids). Wisconsin has the 2nd largest number of lakes in the US with just over 15,000. My sister lived in Minnesota – “Land of 10,000 lakes” (actually 11,842). Having visited there, we appreciated how the homes were set back from Lake Minnetonka and the public still had access, at least where we visited. Michigan has 11,000 lakes (4th in the country behind Alaska (#1), Wisconsin and Minnesota) and of course it’s name sake Lake Michigan (the 3rd largest off the Great Lakes behind Lake Superior and Lake Huron) but I never thought of it as a summer wonderland. Not sure why. I really missed that!

Love the image below that put the Great Lakes into perspective.

Michigan actually touches four of the Great Lakes: Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron and Lake Erie and also Lake St. Clair. We will spend the month of September traveling down her shores. Of course we had the great debate regarding crossing over to the Wisconsin side of Lake Michigan, or staying on the Michigan side. With the Gordon Lightfoot song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” playing in the background, we researched the crossing of Lake Michigan (even though the Edmund Fitzgerald sunk on Lake Superior) and found we’d need a good weather window of 4 or 5 hours. At this point, and loopers will make their own decisions, we will stay on the Michigan side the whole way since we’ll actually leave the boat for over 1 1/2 weeks while we are away, limiting our time for a crossing.

Loopers joke about “the fear of missing out (FOMO)” and this one certainly has caused us some angst (missing out on the Wisconsin side) but there is also the reality that it gets mighty cold up here and lake conditions worsen after September. The yellow pins below show where we’ve travelled in the month of August and the Red Arrow is where we are headed today. We’ll start a new color pin on Friday when September rolls around, and travel down the western shore of Michigan, eastern side of Lake Michigan.

Some time after October 1st, we will exit Lake Michigan south of Chicago on the Illinois River and traverse through the Illinois Waterway Locks (which are currently closed and under repair until October 1st.) Between loopers and commercial traffic, the expected traffic jam at those locks when they re-open will be great so we’ll hang back and look to go through a few days later. You can see where I’m going with this….. it’s complicated and each decision, opens and closes doors!

Anyhow….. all that being in the mix, the shores of Michigan have been absolutely beautiful and a great delight, so we will stick to the eastern side of Lake Michigan and hope our Wisconsin family and friends forgive us!

We left Charlevoix around 10:00 am and arrived at Traverse City around 2:00. There was a sailboat race happening in the bay just north of the marina that we had to navigate around and also saw 2 double masted schooners out sailing. Once settled in the marina, we jumped on our bikes to explore a bit and found another very vibrant downtown with shops, restaurants and bars.

Traverse city is larger and busier than Charlevoix or Harbor Springs, but again a very nice set of parks, bike paths and beaches making the waterfront accessible to the public. Grand Traverse Bay got it’s name from French traders when they made “the long crossing” – la grande traverse – from present day Norwood to Northport. Chippewa and Ottawa tribes lived in the region a mission established in 1839 by Peter Dougherty paved the way for white settlers. It was Doughtery’s mission that planted the first cherry trees. Traverse City was founded in 1847 as an important center for lumbering and has subsequently become famous as the nations cherrry capital. The first National Cherry Festival was held in Traverse City in 1925. It was first called “Blessing of the Blossoms” and held in the spring to attract people during the blooming season. Legislature moved the date of the festival to the summer, and it attracts tourists from around the state. During the week the festival takes place, the population of Traverse City rises from about 15,000 to about 500,000. In 2004 the legislature added “Blossom Days” as a spring festival, not to miss out on an opportunity.

We found some live entertainment and a bar with craft beers for a safe arrival drink and snack. Then it was back to the boat for an online search for a Chinese restaurant for dinner tomorrow night, since we didn’t seem to pass on in our travels. Grilled some steaks on the boat and enjoyed a book and people watching from the boat.

Tomorrow we will explore a bit more by foot and bike then head back up Traverse Bay to Northport to visit Carol’s friend Bev who has a cottage there.

Day 93-95; August 24 – 26: Been on the loop for 3 months! We anchored for 2 nights in Oyster Bay of Lake Charlevoix instead of staying in the marina, but we did dinghy into town for the day on 8/25. Chatted with Jeff and Lisa on Boomerang and met Ruth and Tim on Margin, who will cross their wake in the next couple days. Charlevoix is another lovely waterfront town with a great marina adjacent to a very large park complete with benches, picnic tables and a bandshell for outdoor concerts. For the boaters there are very nice facilities including showers and laundry. It was refreshing to see how the waterfront had been set aside for the public with the street and shops sit well back from the water. Downtown was also very vibrant with restaurants, shops and galleries. Each alley has a name as well as tables to sit and lawn games for entertainment.

We found a nice waterfront place for lunch then walked the quarter mile or so to see the mushroom houses designed and built by Earl Young in the early 1900’s. Young didn’t use blueprints. As an artist, he created homes that fit the site, rather than forcing the landscape to accommodate the design. Charlevoix considers them to be architectural treasures, quite a few are for vacation rentals.

Over his 50 year career, Young would build 26 residential houses and 4 commercial properties. His structures are made mostly of stone, using limestone, fieldstone, and boulders that he found throughout Northern Michigan. Each of these houses is uniquely different and was designed to blend in with its surrounding landscape. Earl Young’s houses feature his signature design of wide, wavy eaves, exposed rafter tails; cedar-shake roofs; and a horizontal emphasis in design. These buildings are creatively known as Gnome Homes, Mushroom Houses, or Hobbit Houses.

We found Lake Charlevoix to be super relaxing so spent an afternoon with a book on the bow, a half day cleaning the boat from all the little gnats and spiders, and enjoyed watching other boats come and go out of the cove including one twice the size of Legacy! We decided to head into the marina for our 3rd night and find a local restaurant for dinner. Seemed like a better idea than a cold ride back from dinner on the dinghy, since the temps at 12:30 in the afternoon were only in the mid 60’s and the forecasted low of overnight was 48. Once we were settled in the marina, the sun came out and warmed things up… actually hit 70 degrees so we were off on a bike ride to check out the area. Found the beautiful homes along the water along with several private clubs and weddings. Dinner tonight is at a restaurant designed by Earl Young (Weathervane)…. Want to see what the inside looks like.

Tomorrow we head to Traverse City, about a 4 hour run south into Grand Traverse Bay. The waters and shores of Michigan are absolutely beautiful and temperatures very mild – upper 60’s/low 70’s. We certainly see why people vacation here – a great escape from the heat of places like Chicago and Dallas, but winter beware…. Brrrrrr!

Days 91 – 93; August 22 – 24: Arrived Harbor Springs around 1:45 pm after about a 5 hour run to beautiful sunny weather (67 degrees) and a gentle breeze. A couple hours into our ride, we had about 30 minutes of 1-2 foot waves and 15-20 knot winds on the bow, but it calmed right down as we turned the corner around Sturgeon Bay heading south. Beaver Island gave us lots of protection from the wind and it was an easy and pleasant ride to reconnect with Puffin at Harbor Springs. Many loopers go to Petoskey, which we hear is also lovely, but larger than Harbor Springs. Tony and Shirley had been to Harbor Springs some years ago and really loved it, so we followed their lead. It was absolutely beautiful, very friendly and super relaxing with all we needed at our finger tips.

Harbor Springs takes its name from its deep water harbor, known as one of the finest on the Great Lakes, and from its beautiful springs that can be seen bubbling up in water fountains and garden water features throughout the village. Most impressive were the well tended flowers in the parks, on the streets and at literally every one of the gorgeous Victorian homes on the water. As parts of the USA sizzle in the heat, the coast of Michigan is hovering in the mid/high 60’s to lower 70’s during the day and dropping to the high 50’s/lower 60’s at night for great sleeping weather. We can certainly see why people love to summer here!

Had a little corn hole game in the park with Tony and Shirley. Gary’s experience carried the Z’s to a victory, but a good time was had by all. Harbor Springs boasts a very active downtown with great shops, restaurants, art galleries and even a movie theater. Farmers Market is on Wednesday (perfect since we were out of veggies) and Saturday with offerings of flowers, fresh breads, homemade granola, veggies, turkey various ways, jams & jellies, pies and pastries, cheese and more. The grocery store was about half mile away, which we walked to and carried our goods back in our canvas bags, only to find out from David sitting in the Chamber of Commerce Information booth right there at the marina, that the grocery store would have come and picked us up and dropped us off! Oh well, the walk did us good!

Wednesday was mostly overcast and a little spitty but it didn’t dampen our spirits. Time for a good book and catching up on other things. We enjoyed a great dinner with Tony and Shirley at the ‘New York’ followed by a movie. I promised not to reveal the movie we saw as it may threaten Gary and Tony’s “man cards” …… we’ll just leave it at that!

Thursday was looking to be a good travel day with no rain and only light winds in the forecast. After a BOD call in the morning for Carol, we were off to pump out the black water tanks, refill the fuel tanks (first fuel since Brewerton, NY so we avoided the much higher Canadian fuel prices) and head out to Charlevoix around noon. Puffin planned to stay a few more days and enjoy the bike trails.

Charlevoix is about a 2 hour run where we plan to anchor out and grill some of those nice fresh veggies from the farmers market and enjoy the sunset. We anchored in well protected Oyster Bay in Lake Charlevoix – super quiet and calm. Only noise is the kids playing on the beach in front of one of the houses, the seagulls and a bit of home building in the distance. All good! Blessed!!

Day 89 and 90; August 20 and 21: Spent the day on Mackinac Island riding bikes, strolling, shopping, checking out the Grand Hotel (and their ice cream) and touring old Fort Mackinac. The island celebrated 125 years of no motor vehicles making it a truly unique experience! Weather was a little chilly topping out around 62 degrees on Monday, so we were in sweatshirts/jackets most of the day. Took the advice of June and David on Lake Effect and made reservations at The Woods for dinner, which is about a 30 minute “taxi ride” from the marina…. read that as horse drawn buggy ride! We stopped at the Grand Hotel to pick up others headed to the Woods who had reservations at the same time. Check out the video below

Hard to believe it’s the 3rd week in August and we donned our pants and sweaters plus brought a jacket for the night to head out to dinner. Turns out the Woods restaurant is an old estate from the early 1900’s and the dining room is the former rec room Dad built to keep the kids entertained and away from the shenanigans that happened downtown. The old bowling alley, where you set up your own pins and manually retrieve the balls, was still there. Dinner was very good but Gary was disappointed they were out of their signature Elk dinner (so unique) and he was forced to choose a schnitzel. Oh well!

Grand Hotel as in fact grand. It reminded us of the Greenbrier in West Virginia, built in the same era with support from the railways to attract the same upper crust crowd. Very ornate in its decoration and proud of it’s formality. After 6:30 pm, men are required to wear a jacket and tie while women should be appropriately dressed. We rode to the Woods with the manager of all the bars at the Grand Hotels and asked him what would happen if this rule were violated. He said basically you wouldn’t be served and would be asked to leave!

Mackinac is a summer destination from early May until the end of October. Most of the hotels and restaurants shut down at the end of October. We were told that the grocery store, one restaurant and one bar remain open. Lake Huron does freeze over making ferry travel impossible, so the locals shift to snow mobiles over the lake and on the island. The 600 horses are relocated to the mainland where they rest for the winter. Rumor has it there’s also a lot of truck activity with all the maintenance and building going on during the winter, but that’s just a rumor!

We toured Fort Mackinac, the site of the first “battle” of the war of 1812 between the USA and Great Britain. It actually wasn’t much of a battle since the commander of Fort Mackinac, who only had about 60 soldiers at the fort, didn’t even know war had been declared when the British, reinforced with warriors from the local Indian tribes, showed up with about 600 troops. He surrendered without firing a shot giving control to the Britiish. The Americas attempted to retake the fort when 5 warships sailed into the harbor where we stayed. Their cannons couldn’t reach the fort perched high on the hill, so they went around the backside of the island to attack by land. Well that didn’t work out so well either, and retreated in defeat. The British held the fort until the end of the war when it was returned to the US as part of the peace treaty.

Good bye Mackinac from the water! We had a lovely time! We headed out of the harbor around 8:00 am on Tuesday morning, cutting our trip short by about 1 days since today looked like a good travel day but tomorrow’s forecast was not as conducive to a 5 hour open water run. We are off to Harbor Springs, Michigan; starting our trek south on Lake Michigan.

Day 89; August 20: We enjoyed a safe arrival beverage and snacks with Tony, Shirley and Sophie followed by a walk downtown for the “best burger in DeTour.” For the price ($9.50 loaded), no one was disappointed!

Puffin was up and out early headed to St. Ignace and we were about an hour behind them, leaving DeTour around 9:00 am headed to Mackinac Island. Mackinac, pronounced MAK-e-naw, is a 4.35 square mile island with its Ojibwemowin name meaning “great turtle” located in Lake Huron in the eastern Straits of Mackinac, between the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan. Yesterday we met a couple who lives on the Straits so they gave us some great tips of where to go and what to see. Tourists are called “fudgies” since the Island is known for its fudge (18 shops on one little island) and most tourists can’t resist buying some.

We passed DeTour Reef Light as we left DeTour

Our 3.5 hour run started of sunny but we quickly found a patch of fog thick enough where we set our auto fog horn to sound every 3 minutes or so. It didn’t last long, but it’s a safety precaution particularly for small boats with out radar.

As we entered the fog, I saw Marin Reef Light. What was so cool was I could see the lighthouse from the fly bridge, but when I went to the main level of the boat to take a picture, it disappeared into the fog. The pics below show it “floating” in the fog. As quickly as the fog came up, we came out of it in about 30 minutes to see Mackinac ahead of us and the 2 lighthouses that guide the boats in and out of the harbor there.

Mackinac island was long home to an Ozawa settlement and previous indigenous cultures before European colonization began in the 17th century. It was a strategic center of the fur trade around the Great Lakes. Based on a former trading post, Fort Mackinac was constructed on the island by the British during the American Revolutionary War and was the site of two battles during the War of 1812 between the US and Great Britain. The treaty of Ghent settled the war along with the northern border with Canada where the US gained this island as part of the agreement.

In the late 19th century, Mackinac Island became a popular tourist attraction with many of the structures on the island having undergone extensive historical preservation and restoration. The entire island is listed as a National Historic Landmark well known for numerous cultural events; a wide variety of architectural styles, including the Victorian Grand Hotel; and its ban on almost all motor vehicles, with exceptions only for city emergency vehicles (ambulance, police cars and fire trucks), and snowmobiles in winter. More than 80 percent of the island is preserved as a state park. There are only 500 full time residents but more than one million people visit every year arriving by ferry, private boat or small airplane. The Governor of Michigan’s summer retreat is here and you know when he/she is there if the flag is flying.

We arrived around 12:30, got ourselves tied up in one of the best slips to people watch at Marquette Park and the Pink Pony bar/restaurant. We’ve heard many a sailing tale are told there. We also get to experience the ferries coming in and out – they do create a bit of a wake. The harbor is well protected from all winds except from the southeast; we were thankful winds were out of the west. After a quick lunch, we headed out to check out the downtown area and take a horse drawn carriage tour of the island. Learned many things including there are over 600 horses on the island in the summer, but they return to the mainland in the winter. LOTS OF BIKES and lot of tourists! Tomorrow, we have a dinner reservation at the Woods (run by the Grand Hotel but dress is casual versus jacket and tie at the Grand after 5:00 pm). We will visit the Grand Hotel during the day.

Day 87: August 19: Enjoyed celebrating Barbara’s Bday last night with a fabulous dinner and German chocolate cake. Steve and Barbara on Coda will head out early tomorrow morning on their sprint to Mackinac City, where they will catch flights to the west coast on Sunday.

While portions of the US continue to sizzle in the summer heat, at 8:00 am we donned our hoodies in 58 degree weather with sunny skies and flat seas to leave Meldrum Bay, Ontario Canada and begin a 4 hour run that would take us back into the good ole USA.

We crossed the international border around 11:30 am and switched out the Maple Leaf Flag for Old Glory in the “position of honor.” Can’t say enough about the beauty of Lake Ontario and the Georgian Bay as well as the friendliness of the Canadian people, but return we must. We are feeling we cut the North Channel a little short skipping some ports we thought we’d visit, but with our schedule in September having us away from the boat for almost 2 weeks, it was the best we could do.

We cleared customs online just as easily as we entered Canada on July 3rd. Canada challenged us with shallow waters and narrow passages on the Trent Severn Waterway then showed us the beautiful granite cliffs and deep waters of the Georgian Bay. We were blessed with very little bad weather but didn’t expect to have this summer, the one we were on the boat full time, be the one with the fewest days in a bathing suit or in the water! Just too dang cold!

Arrived DeTour, Michigan around 1:30 pm. DeTour village is at the extreme eastern tip of the upper peninsula of Michigan, the turning point for the shipping channel connecting the St. Mary’s River with Lake Huron and the straits of Mackinac. Originally an Ojibwe settlement, it was connected with the fur trade and is surrounded by water on 3 sides. Quite a small town with some basic provisioning and a couple restaurants, but that’s all we need. It’s sunny and a little hazy, but beautiful blue water where we are sitting on the bridge watching the tankers go by. One night here, our last dinner with Tony and Shirley for a while, then we are onto Mackinac Island.