After this job, which took hours, Jean and I were exhausted. We were both hungry but had no interest in cooking. So...we took a Lean Cuisine meal out of the freezer—fettuccine alfredo with chicken. It was easy and good. For dessert we finished off the strawberry low fat frozen yogurt. Very good.

 

Wednesday, August 16 th

DeTour Village, Michigan to Mackinaw City, Michigan

Today was a perfect day. The sky was a gorgeous blue, the seas were calm and the temperature was 68 degrees. We had a 40 mile run to Mackinaw City and we knew that the ‘ride' would be wonderful. Cindy and Dan from Triomphe were also going to Mackinaw City—so we would have friends both on the route and at the marina—which was very nice. We were off the dock at 9am and happy to be back underway. We immediately passed by many small fishing boats—the most boats we've seen in a long time. Shortly after this, we came to the Detour Reef Lighthouse—which was gorgeous.

I noticed on the charts that there is a Gaffney Point not far from here—hello to my friend Mary.

The cruising was so-o-o-o-o wonderful. The water was so calm—it was weird—especially after the winds of the past two days. The sun was shining and the scenery perfect—all's right with the world.

Part way through the trip we heard from some of the other boats from the Flotilla. It was so nice to hear some familiar voices calling us from different ports. We learned that several of the Flotilla boats had spent the previous night at Mackinaw City and were now moving on. I hope that we can somehow stay in touch with these boaters.

We passed Mackinac Island on the way to our marina. This is a favorite stop for boaters and very popular with tourists. Ferries run to this Island from Mackinaw City very frequently bringing many, many ‘fudgies' (tourists) to visit. I took a couple of pictures of the different ferries on their way to the island.

There are also a good number of lighthouses in the waters near Mackinaw Island—so here are some lighthouse pictures—of course.

We won't be stopping at the Island because Jean and I spent three days there just a few years ago. We had flown to Traverse City, Michigan to visit Lisa, my sister, who had just moved there. We then flew to the Island for a few days. I did, however, take some pictures of the Grand Hotel and Fort Mackinac.

We were in the marina and docked by 1pm. The docking was particularly easy—the weather was still perfect and the docks were very high—we could walk right off the boat onto the docks. That doesn't happen often. After getting settled we took a walk into town. There are one MILLION fudge shops in town—what's the deal here????? This town is cute and has many shops—more than we've seen in a long time. We even saw a Dairy Queen and quickly ordered two Blizzards!!!!!

We were back on the boat by 6pm and ready for dinner. Tonight's meal was excellent. We had grilled swordfish, baked potato and Caesar salad. And…of course, garlic bread!!!!!

 

Thursday, August 17 th

At port in Mackinaw City, Michigan

Today was a lazy day. The weather was nice—clear skies and warm temperatures. I went back into town and did some more shopping. I bought a great foul-weather slicker on sale and a nice warm fleece jacket—also on sale. Jean did some work in the engine room—changing the primary and secondary fuel filters on both engines!!!!!

In the afternoon I washed the boat—which it desperately needed. It was a pretty quiet but productive day. For dinner we ate at a nearby restaurant. Jean ordered calamari as an appetizer followed by lasagna. I ordered no appetizer but had a ‘sampler' for dinner—a portion of each of the following: lasagna, fettuccine alfredo and chicken parmesan!!!!! The meal was excellent and we had plenty of food to take back to the boat!!!!!

Friday, August 18 th

Mackinaw City, Michigan to Charlevoix, Michigan

Today we were off the dock early—at 7:30am. We had a long, sixty mile run to Charlevoix and wanted to get an early start . Triomphe left with us and would also be stopping at Charlevoix. The morning was a bit overcast following a beautiful sunrise. The temperature was a warm 65 degrees. The sunrise was gorgeous—so I took a quick picture.

Immediately after leaving the marina, you come to the Mackinac Bridge. This bridge is the third largest in the U.S. (I'm not sure which are numbers 1 and 2) and spans three miles across the Straits of Mackinac offering 135 feet of clearance for boats passing underneath. The Bridge was designed by David Steinman who described his creation as “a symphony in steel and stone, a poem stretched across the Straits”. It's very impressive.

This bridge marks the official separation between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. The Chippewa Indian word for a large lake is “Michigama'. This word is the basis for the name given to Lake Michigan. With a maximum depth of 923 feet, Lake Michigan is the second deepest of the five Great Lakes, with Lake Superior being the deepest. Lake Michigan is 307 miles long, 118 miles wide and has 1640 miles of shoreline. Lake Michigan provides ample water to cruise on with 22,300 square miles of surface area, more than any other Great Lake.

The ride was very easy—the waters were very calm and it was clear motoring across Lake Michigan. We had been told that the Lake could be difficult but this crossing was fine.

Since we were heading south several miles from the Lake's eastern shore, the scenery was limited. For the most part we saw only Lake Michigan itself. As we got closer to Lake Charlevoix we quickly noticed the increase in boating activity. Lake Charlevoix is a large lake, 13 miles long and over 1 mile wide, located at the junction of the Little Traverse and Grand Traverse Bays. Boaters like this area.

As you enter Charlevoix itself, you come into its channel, marked with its lighthouse and breakwater walls. Its channel is long and there is a low bridge immediately outside the downtown area which opens every half hour. Once through this bridge you enter Round Lake, which is where the marina is situated. You then move through Round Lake which leads into Lake Charlevoix. Round Lake is somewhat small, but very interesting due to the large number of houses and boathouses which make up its shoreline.

The Charlevoix Municipal Marina is very popular and is immediately downtown—which makes it very difficult to get a dock space. The marina does NOT take reservations—it works on a first-come basis. We knew from the radio that it was busy there already and that several other Looper boats were headed in there. We never expected to get a slip there. But….when we arrived, the marina told us to wait 30 minutes and they'd have a spot for us. We waited. They then called us to say that the slip, their last available slip, would be ready in one more hour. They then called and said that we could temporarily tie up and wait ….. So we went into the marina and tied up but… that spot was then needed so… we decided to give up on staying at the municipal marina. As we left, they promised us the first available spot on Saturday morning.

We immediately headed around the corner, into Lake Charlevoix, and we stayed at the Irish Boat Shop Marina, about 2 miles away.

On our way, we passed by the Belvedere Beach Club with its pretty colorful cabanas lining its beach.

While at the marina, we did fun, exciting things. We did laundry and paid bills.

 

Later, before dinner, Dan and Cindy came by in their dinghy to say hello. They had anchored in Round Lake which was next to the municipal marina. It was nice to spend some time with them.

For dinner, we had leftover calamari, lasagna and chicken parmesan. No dessert!!!!!

Saturday, August 19 th

At port in Charlevoix, Michigan

Happy Birthday to me!!!!! Luckily, I've been counting backwards for years and I'm now just hitting 37!!!!! We left Irish Boat Shop at 9:00am and headed back over to the municipal marina where they had a beautiful, large dock slip just waiting for us. It was perfect!!!!! My sisters Lisa and Carla and Carla's husband, Mark, are arriving this morning so it was good to be settled and ready for our guests. We took this picture of downtown Charlevoix and the marina as we came back in on Saturday morning.

In 1836, with the signing of the Treaty of Washington, The U.S. government acquired what is today Charlevoix County. The territory covered the northwest area of the lower peninsula of Michigan and was known as Michilimackinac. In 1840, the territory was separated into several regions, with the area now known as Charlevoix County named Keskkauko. In 1843, the region was renamed after the French explorer Pierre Francois-Xavier de Charlevoix.

At about 11am the ‘gang' arrived, driven to Charlevoix by a co-worker of Lisa's named Bruce. We got all of their ‘stuff' unloaded including the many provisions that I had asked Lisa to bring along (Kashi cereal, decaf coffee etc). By noon, we were having lunch and deciding on our afternoon activities. By now it was pouring rain outside but we went into town and checked out the shops, Chamber of Commerce and other ‘must sees'. This town is quite charming with interesting architecture and history. There is a low bridge just outside of town which opens every 30 minutes all day long. We had come through this bridge yesterday when we entered Charlevoix. Even the bridge has historical significance.

We made early dinner reservations at the Weathervane Inn downtown and arrived at 6pm knowing that we would not be eating outside as we had hoped. For dinner, I ordered grilled perch and Jean had oak planked whitefish!!!! Very good. After dinner we went for a walk—the rain had stopped. We headed over to one of Charlevoix's beach and waterfront areas—a neighborhood with a series of houses built and designed by Earl Young.

Mr. Young was a dreamer, a designer and a builder of unique and fascinating stone houses. Starting in the late 1930's Mr. Young constructed several unique stone houses in a triangular block of streets. Each house was designed to accommodate the site and has unusual stone fireplaces and unique chimneys and cedar shake roofs with flowing curves. Various stones were used in construction including local quarry limestone, field stone, boulders and local Onaway quarry stone. These houses look like little fairy tale homes—where munchkins might live. We decided to go and see these houses.

Also, while walking, we came across one of Jean's other favorite toys—a motorcycle. This three-wheel motorcycle was sitting outside a garden shop where its owner—a woman—and her daughter were inside shopping. Well…we managed our way onto the bike—and then took a picture. Jean's already planning her next adventure!!!!!

We also came across this lovely little café, Acorn Café, with a sign that said, “Hemingway never ate here”….we loved it…

As the sun was setting and we were finally headed back to the boat. Lisa and Carla stopped at a local drugstore for a candle for the birthday cake and ended up meeting an incredible young worker, only 15 years old who was proficient in tri-nominal equations and a variety of other things. She offered to transfer all of Carla's pictures from her camera to a CD and gave Carla some other helpful hints (Carla felt very old).

On our way to the boat, we got some great pictures looking back at Charlevoix's lighthouse and entrance channel. It was beautiful.

We came back to the boat for birthday cake (carrot cake) and ice cream—my favorites. We had plans to play Trivial Pursuit but….by now it was bedtime. The weather was iffy for our departure in the morning but we were hopeful.

 

Sunday, August 20 th

At port in Charlevoix, Michigan….mostly

This morning we got an early start—we made the 8:30am bridge opening. The skies were blue and the winds were gusting at about 15 mph out of the northwest. The weather predictions were for seas of 2-4 feet becoming better as the day progressed. We definitely felt that we could make it to South Manitou Island—our destination—without great difficulty. Ocean Flyer handles well in seas of 2-4 feet—so off we went.

I got a great picture of our three new crew members enjoying our exit from Charlevoix.

I also got some pictures in the channel as we heading out onto the Lake—the clouds looked beautiful so I should have known something was about to happen….

Well….We got out into the Lake and found that the waves were much more active than had been predicted. In fact…as we continued along it became clear that the Lake was very bad with waves over 5 feet on the beam with a wave period of about 4 seconds. The boat was rocking and rolling badly and everything on board was moving—food, furniture and us. It was bad.

Carla went down to the galley to check on things and found everything in disarray. Food was everywhere. The grapes had dispersed to every part of the boat along with the apples and oranges. In securing the galley, Carla actually used a loaf of French bread to line the door to the front cabin to prevent grapes from rolling in!!!!! Above in the flybridge we were holding on for dear life. The boat was really rolling from side to side. At one point, I slid off the seat completely and went into the window…Lisa slid right behind me and we both crashed into each other. We weren't hurt but…..I couldn't see keeping this ride up for thirty miles!!!!!

Jean made an easy decision to head back to the marina. We called back to the Charlevoix municipal marina and asked to get our ‘old slip' back—they were happy to get us back. We made the 9:30 bridge opening back into Charlevoix and were settled in by 9:50am. What an experience.

There were several other Loopers in Charlevoix who had been listening to us on the radio as we spoke to the dock master at the marina. They said that when they heard that we were coming back so they immediately booked in for another night.

We decided to go for a long walk around town—around the perimeter of Round Lake and through some very lovely neighborhoods. The sun was shining brightly and the day was gorgeous. Charlevoix is so picturesque. The streets are wide, the houses are adorable and almost every house has a porch. It's a quintessential middle America town. It's both a walker's and a runner's paradise. We all loved Charlevoix.

It was so protected in Round Lake that it was hard to imagine the difficult conditions on Lake Michigan. We found our way to a K-mart to get a collapsible chair—and we were

I know we'll be back for a Blizzard.

We went back to the boat for lunch and then decided to take the dinghy down and go for a ride around the lake. We hopped in and took off looking at all of the gorgeous houses along the lake shoreline. There's one house in particular—an Earl Young wanna-a-bee that looked just like a gingerbread house. Goldilocks must live there—if she can afford it.

We went by some other houses and boathouses which were really quite spectacular.

There was even a schooner in Round lake—one of the educational schooners with its students aboard.

While at the marina, we saw a very interesting boat. A 110 ft Feidship named Mitch Mate. It was truly beautiful—both in size and condition. It's owned by someone in the ‘automobile' world and its home port is Frankfort, Michigan. One very unusual aspect to the boat was that it carried an aqua-car on it—a sporty little red car—quite cute. The boat and the car were the topic of conversation for everyone at the marina. It had arrived on Saturday and was leaving today. I got a few pictures… I knew you'd want a look.

Dinner tonight was excellent. Jean made her famous fettuccine with asparagus and chicken. With this we had a Caesar salad and garlic bread. Our dessert was more birthday cake and ice cream. Yum Yum.

 

Monday, August 21 st

At port in Charlevoix, Michigan

Today was another bad winds day so we decided to stay in Charlevoix one more day. We also decided to take advantage of this situation by taking a commercial ferry to visit Beaver Island for the day. We had a blast. We caught the 8:30am ferry for the two hour, 32 mile ride to the Island. The ride was definitely lumpy which made us feel good about our decision NOT to get underway on Ocean Flyer . The ferry is quite large and holds many cars as well as passengers. While on board we called to rent a car for the day so that we could see as much of the island as possible.

We arrived at Beaver Island by 10:30am and found our car waiting for us. We took some pictures as we entered the harbor—it's a cute island—somewhat less populated than we expected. We later learned that its full time permanent residents number only 600.

Beaver Island is the largest island on Lake Michigan and is rich in history. It was originally settled by the Ojibwa Indians more than 1,000 years ago and called “Kitchi Miniss” for ‘large island'. The French later colonized the island in their search for beaver pelts and thus today's name for the island. The Irish came along later and left their imprint on the island. Beaver Island is also known as “America's Emerald Isle”.

We immediately went to the Chamber of Commerce and learned about all of the sights on the island. The island is approximately 13 miles long and 3 miles wide and has an area of 53 square miles. It is generally wooded with some beautiful, natural sandy beaches. The island has several nature preserves which looked very interesting. It also has a lighthouse attached to a schoolhouse which we knew we wanted to visit. After a short walk through town and after getting some box lunches for the trip we were off on our journey.

After driving for a few miles we came across the Sandy Bay Reserve which had a walking trail leading to the beach. We decided to walk the trail and have lunch on the beach. The trail took us through a heavily treed area with many downed trees—it was pretty eerie.

We kept hearing noises which we couldn't identify and then realized that it was the sound of the trees rubbing against one another. The trail was barely marked and we went through several swampy sections where there were some wooden planks laid to aid in getting out to the beach. We kept on going and finally reached the beach which was just gorgeous. The water was deep aqua and there were sand bars for as far as you could see. The coast itself was very sandy with a few scattered rocks here and there. It was a perfect lunch spot. We saw some kayakers along the shore—also stopping for lunch. It was so picturesque—definitely a post card setting. We ate our sandwiches, played in the water for a while and then made our way back up the trail to the car.

We continued our ride on the lookout for an island lighthouse connected to a schoolhouse. After some interesting searching, we found both.

We climbed the very narrow and very steep spiral staircase to the top of the lighthouse, which is no longer in operation. The views were blurred because we were unable to go outside for pictures. Jean did take a great picture of the staircase as we stood at the top.

We also took the long stairway down to the beach—it was a gorgeous setting.

After this activity, we decided to take a road which looked like it would wind around the outer stretch of the island. Well…it did cover the outer rim of the island but…it was basically a one lane road (if that) which was very narrow, windy and from which we could see nothing. We saw no houses, no shoreline and no water. We saw trees, trees and more trees. When we finally emerged from the woods, we were very happy to see a real road again.

We made our way along to Miller Marsh, another Nature Reserve, which was very beautiful. It was a small area abundant in water lilies and where we saw a large beaver home and dam. The tree damage created by the beavers was also very evident. From here we moved on to another Nature Reserve on the Island. Here we saw a beautiful Monarch butterfly and several small boats—someone else was also enjoying the view. We resumed our drive around the Island and stopped at Beaver Island Lodge. This lodge sits on one of the most spectacular settings I have ever seen and was just magnificent. The Lodge has 14 rooms for overnight use and an excellent restaurant and bar. It sits right on the water overlooking three islands and its own private sandy beach. There was outside dining as well as outside seating and several hammocks. This is definitely a place to come back for a visit.

We continued back into town after following some roads along the water. We were back in town just in time to get the 5:30 ferry back to Charlevoix. This ride was even bumpier than the ride in the morning with huge water sprays coming over the bow. We watched and laughed as several young boys deliberately ‘hung' at the bow and waited to get soaked!!!!

We got back at 7:30pm and decided to get pizza for dinner.

I took two great sunset pictures—one of Round Lake and one looking back on the Charlevoix channel and lighthouse—take a look.

 

Tuesday, August 22 nd

Charlevoix, Michigan to Frankfort, Michigan

We were off from Charlevoix early so that we could make the 8:30am bridge opening. Immediately in front of us was the Beaver Island Ferry on its early run.

Carla and Mark posed for a Christmas card picture and I also took one of them with Carla on the bow of the boat as we left Charlevoix.

We got out into Lake Michigan and realized that the waters were perfect. We had a 60 mile journey to Manistee and the entire day turned out to one of our best traveling days ever!!!! It was just gorgeous. Jean had some help on the flybridge—quite the team.

I even got a picture of the Charlevoix Lighthouse in the daylight.

While underway, we passed both the North and South Manitou Islands which stood majestically in the water. The scenery was so spectacular. We then started to pass along the dunes of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore where Lisa is a ranger and Chief of Interpretation. Towering some 460 feet above Lake Michigan, the sand dunes of Sleeping Bear form one of Michigan's most beautiful and distinctive natural wonders. More than 70,000 acres and two offshore islands—North and South Manitou—form this park. Sleeping Bear Dune, the most striking of the lakeshore dunes, geologists say, developed from the action of the southwest winds against the glacial shoreline. Ever changing and moving through the action of wind and water, it is believed to be the largest live dune in the United States. We passed dunes for miles—they were mesmerizing and stretched endlessly along the shore. The sun was brilliant and the water was aqua. What a scene.

Carla went out to sit on the bow and was quickly joined by Lisa. There was an occasional spray from the water but…otherwise it was perfect.

There were more dunes along the way which were just spectacular. The views from Ocean Flyer were just magnificent and it was a wonderful opportunity for Lisa to see her park from the water. She's been working at Sleeping Bear for more than two years and she was thrilled to see so much of it from this perspective. As I mentioned earlier, when Lisa first moved to Michigan, Jean and I flew to Traverse City to see her. We then flew to Mackinaw Island for a visit. Well…as a part of that flight we specifically flew around the dunes of Sleeping Bear so that Lisa could see them from the air. So...now, she's seen the dunes by land, by air and by sea!!!!!

We continued our travels and soon saw the entrance to Frankfort in the distance. The Frankfort Lighthouse is very picturesque and anchors the end of Frankfort Harbor's 1,400 foot-long breakwall where fishermen cast their lines to catch Chinook, Coho salmon and lake trout. We could see many fishermen at the wall. The setting was easy to spot and made the entrance to Frankfort easy to navigate.

Around 1855, Frank Martin built a home on the northern shores of the swamp delta of a small river the French referred to as “Aux Bec Sies” or the “River of the Merganser Duck”. Later this became Americanized to “Betsie”. Meanwhile Frank built a wooden stockade around his home to keep the large winter snowdrifts away. People called his home “Franks Fort”. Eventually that was shortened to Frankfort and the town had a name.

We got into Frankfort by early afternoon and stopped at the fuel dock before going to our dock slip. When we tied up for fuel we realized that Larry, another Looper from Missy B and Denny, a Looper from Daddy's Farm , were the two guys tying us up!!!! It was great to see them both!!!! We also got to see Buddy, Denny's adorable dog who is Denny's only boat companion. We also realized that there were several other Looper boats in Frankfort.

We got settled and walked into town. Frankfort is very cute with some interesting architecture and shops.

Frankfort has a beautiful beach within two blocks of the marina and quite a few walking trails and paths. We stayed at a downtown marina which was very convenient to everything. Jean and I returned to the boat early so that Denny could join us for drinks. While the three of us were busy chatting, Tom and Marbeth, also Loopers on Change of Pace, came by to say hello. We all enjoyed some drinks and snacks and schmoozed about the Great Loop route. It was fun!!!!!!

Carla and Lisa went for a swim in Lake Michigan (Lisa's first) and Mark went for his daily run. By 7pm we were all back on board and ready for dinner. Dinner tonight was delicious—grilled steaks, rosemary potatoes, green beans with onions and bacon and garlic bread. Yum Yum!!!!!

After dinner we got out Trivial Pursuit and began the challenge. The teams had already been chosen—me and Jean against Lisa, Carla and Mark. Jean and I knew that this would be a tough match-up. Mark is an avid reader—always with a book. His knowledge on a variety of topics is strong—so coupled with Lisa and Carla—we knew they'd be tough. The game was evenly matched throughout with both teams getting weird questions and difficult questions. The game went along pretty quickly because of the speed with which both teams answered—it was amazing. In the end, with Jean answering the final Entertainment question (about Jay Leno), we won!!!!!! But it was close!!!!!

By the way….our friend Denny had casually mentioned that on the upcoming Friday, he was going home to Tampa for a week and concerned about having to leave Buddy at a kennel. Well…after thinking about it for a while, Lisa said that she would be happy to ‘dog sit' Buddy for Denny. Denny was thrilled and he and Lisa made arrangements for her to pick up Buddy on Sunday after she drops Mark and Carla off at the airport for their flight back to Boston. Buddy's such a cutie—this is a good outcome for both Lisa and Buddy!!!!!

 

Wednesday, August 23 rd

Frankfort, Michigan to Manistee, Michigan

There was some concern about the weather so we got underway at 8:35 am. We had been scheduled to go on a tour of Frankfort with Denny because Frankfort is his hometown. But….the weather conditions were iffy so off we went. While underway, the weather was cloudy and overcast. The winds were 15 mph coming at us from the south. Thus the ride was relatively comfortable. We were NOT rocking and rolling. It was only 28 miles to Manistee so we knew that we'd be in early and out of the bad seas. Bonas IV , a Looper from NJ, was traveling with us which was also fun.

Each one of these towns marks its channel entrance with a lighthouse (or two). They're always very picturesque and a good way to find the town. Manistee's lighthouse—the North Pier Lighthouse and Catwalk—is one of only four remaining lighthouse catwalks on Lake Michigan's shore.

We made it to Manistee by 11:10am and quickly got settled at the downtown Municipal Marina. It started to rain immediately so we waited until after lunch to head into town.

Manistee began as a lumber town around 1840 and by 1855 there were no less than 40 sawmills operating in the area. Many men got rich and Manistee thrived. In the mid-1870's there were many lumber barons who had become millionaires and they started investing in salt wells. While drilling for salt they hit oil and merely capped the well. After all, they were looking for salt, which they saw as the next big industry. By 1896, with a population of nearly 10,000 Manistee was one of the richest cities in the U.S. per capita due to lumber and salt industries. By 1899, Manistee's wells had produced almost 16 million bushels of salt and styled itself “The Salt City of the Inland Seas”.

By 2pm the weather was better and we headed into Manistee. This is a larger town than most with a Victorian influence in its architecture. There's a nice Riverwalk in town, which runs for 1.75 miles along Manistee River and which really frames the town. The entire downtown shopping district is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

We found our way to a downtown museum which had a collection of just about everything. In particular there were many, many photo albums, all catalogued, showing Manistee houses, bridges, fires, people and anything else. Someone worked very hard organizing those photos.

Carla , Mark and Lisa took a walk through town and found a great place for ice cream cones. The workers even admitted that they were better than the local competition because they ‘scooped with love”.

Jean and I ran into two more Loopers, Bernie and Brigit from Freebird , who finished the loop in the last month. We also ran into Larry and Doris from Missy B. It's nice to keep seeing familiar faces—it's reassuring.

We were all back on the boat by 6pm and had a dinner of shrimp scampi, garlic bread and a salad with gorgonzola cheese, walnuts and cranberries. No dessert!!!!!

After dinner we decided to have another Trivial Pursuit match. Lisa, Carla and Mark were determined!!!! Again, the game was very close all along with some very strange questions. Jean fascinated everyone as she ‘figured' out the number of cars needed to answer one of the questions. We also failed to figure out what ‘product' could stretch across the Grand Canyon if there were 10,000 of them!!!!! (we said cars, the answer was brassieres)!!! Well…we got to the middle first with all six wedges and answered the question correctly. But….Lisa, Carla and Mark then got their sixth wedge, went into the middle on their first try and answered their question correctly!!!!!! It was a tie!!!! Jean and I have been playing this game for almost 30 years and this is the first time that we've ever had a tie. We were all thrilled!!!!

While we were playing, we heard our neighbors getting back from a day of fishing. They asked us if we wanted to see what 400 pounds of salmon looked like. We then looked in their cooler and saw the salmon—all 400 pounds of it. They were heading over to the cleaning station and, after we mentioned that we'd love some salmon, said we could have some when they returned. Well….they never returned. When we got up in the morning they had already left the marina. Oh well…stay tuned for more info on our efforts to get some fresh salmon.

 

Thursday, August 24 th

Manistee, Michigan to Ludington, Michigan

This trip would be a short one—only 30 miles. We were again concerned about the weather—the seas were expected to be 2-4 ft in the morning getting worse in the afternoon. We were off the dock at 7:50am and underway. The skies were overcast, with a slight rain and the temperature was a cool 65 degrees.

As we were leaving I took some more lighthouse pictures—the view is so beautiful in the morning.

Bonas IV left with us but had decided to travel a longer day and stop somewhere south of Ludington. They've been good traveling companions—we expect to reconnect somewhere in the Chicago area.

The scenery was once again very interesting filled with high dunes and sandy shore. We passed the Little Sable Lighthouse which was very picturesque. We also saw the Ludington State Park come into view—for miles before we entered Ludington Harbor. Ludington State Park is 5,300 acre park which boasts miles of pristine dunes, surrounded by Lake Michigan, Hamblin Lake and Sable River. Its dunes were spectacular. It is known as the “Queen of the State Parks”.

As we entered Ludington, we went by the Coast Guard station which is rather sizeable in this town. Many of these towns along the Lake have significant Coast Guard stations—this town is no different.

Ludington's greatest claim to a niche in American history lies in the life work of the French Jesuit missionary, Jacques Marquette. Many scholars are convinced that Marquette was buried on a pine-covered hill at Ludington in May 1675. The river at Ludington bears his name. Almost two centuries passed before the town of Ludington was founded.

We were in by 10:15am!!!!! We quickly got settled and headed into town to check out everything. Immediately adjacent to the marina is the beautiful Waterfront Sculpture Park overlooking Pere Marquette Lake and the Lake Michigan car ferry dock. The Park is gorgeous. It sits right on the waterfront and is quite large. This town's history is based on the lumber industry and one of the sculptures depicts a horse and wheel—symbolic of the contribution that horses made to the lumber business. Horse-drawn carts carried huge numbers of cut trees to the mills for handling. The size of the wheels was instrumental in

the horse's ability to carry many logs. This sculpture is entitled “ Ludington's Lumber Era ”.

Lisa had fun with one of the other sculptures entitled “Follow the Leader”.

There was a beautiful, modern-looking sculpture of a sail that was very handsome.

Ludington is larger and more established than many of the small ports that we've been visiting. There's quite a bit of growth and development along the waterfront—especially condos and townhouses. The downtown is also well established—quite a bit of commercial activity.

We walked around for a while and then returned to the boat for lunch. This is a busy fishing town and there are recreational salmon fishermen everywhere. There were many, many boats in the Lake—they completely lined the horizon as we were coming into Ludington. In the marina there's an area for fish cleaning and filleting and it's always busy—from 8am until after midnight. The fishing boats start ‘going out' at 4am and the marina is busy all day long. On our way back to the boat, we hung around this area hoping that someone would offer to give us some fish but….no one did. We did take some pictures of some of the fishermen and their catches.

Later in the afternoon we went back into town and did some light shopping. But...on the way back, Lisa asked a woman who was busy cleaning her fish if she would sell us some. Instead, the woman, Kitty, gave us three huge pieces of King salmon. We were thrilled.

Later, Kitty came by to see us on the boat. We thanked her again for her generosity and we gave her a bottle of wine. She was very grateful. She and her husband take three weeks of vacation every summer and come to Lake Michigan for fishing. They catch their full allowance every day and go home with a winter's worth of salmon. They were very happy to share their salmon with us.

After Kitty left, Jean, Carla and Lisa went over to the harbor to see the S.S. Badger coming in and docking. The ship is a coal-burning vessel and is huge at 410 feet long carrying 620 passengers and 180 vehicles—including RVs, motorcycles buses and even large trucks. It crosses between Ludington and Manitowoc, Wisconsin daily with a four hour crossing time. It's HUGE.

Mark was the chef tonight and dinner was wonderful. We had grilled salmon (of course), jasmine rice with mushrooms and peppers, spinach, and a wonderful salad of greens, tomatoes, cheese and a light Italian vinaigrette dressing. All of this was accompanied by garlic bread, of course. The entire meal was excellent.

After dinner we continued our Trivial Pursuit match. The questions seemed to be more arcane and Jean and I definitely struggled. Carla, Mark and Lisa were playing their “A game” and were on a roll. Within a very short period of time, they had five wedges and Jean and I had only one. Every time Jean and I landed on a wedge, the question stumped us—it was horrible. When Carla, Mark and Lisa got their final wedge Jean and I still had only one wedge. But….we made our way around the board picking up four more wedges while Carla, Mark and Lisa were unable to ‘land in the middle'. They finally made it to the middle and answered the question correctly immediately!!!! They were the winners!!!!!! The two teams are now heading to the rubber match!!!!

 

Friday, August 25 th

At port in Ludington, Michigan

Today was a fun and lazy day. We decided to stay put and visit Ludington for one more day. We all slept late and then had a HUGE breakfast. Around noon, Jean started to work on some charting issues and Mark went out for his daily run.

Carla, Lisa and I decided to go to White Pines Village—a historic village outside town. The Mason County Historical Society opened Historic White Pine Village in 1976. It is a community of over twenty-five buildings/sites of history on 23 acres dedicated to preserving and presenting Mason County's history. The buildings contain thousands of artifacts that help interpret their setting in the history of the area. We had a lot of fun touring the Old Farm House, the hardware store, the Time museum, the doctor's office and many other areas. The hardware store was very authentic with high shelves filled with just about everything. There was even a maritime museum which was small but very interesting.

We went into a very small and lovely chapel sitting high on a hill. The setting was beautiful. It was specifically designed to fit into this historic village. Inside the chapel there was an intricate stained glass window. The church steps were framed by large flower pots in pristine condition.

One of the highlights of the visit was our stop at the General Store. It contained an authentic ice cream parlor which was ‘self serve'. Carla loved this and immediately jumped behind the counter. She made ice cream cones for me and Lisa and looked like a natural.

We went into the old schoolhouse and loved it. It even housed a 44-star American flag. While ‘in school' we decided to fool around a bit. The desks ranged greatly in size—from very small to adult sized. We really had fun sitting at these desks and writing with the chalk and chalkboards.

By the way…in the picture with me and Carla where my slate board says ‘hello Mom'…Carla actually wrote ‘help'...she was NOT saying hello to our mother!!!!!

The entire afternoon was fun and we enjoyed all of it. I got to see yet another Fresnel lens while in the maritime museum. It's funny to remember the first Fresnel lens that I saw on this trip—way back in Norfolk, Virginia. I had no idea of the significance of the Fresnel lens….

We went back into town and met Mark and Jean for a late lunch/early dinner. We had found a great bakery which was also a restaurant—Chef John's—it was great. It made some of the best baguette bread we've had on the entire trip. I had French onion soup followed by a grilled chicken sandwich. Jean had a brie and ham sandwich and then had bread pudding for dessert. Everyone's meal was great. We then all split up—some went shopping, some went back to the boat and Jean went off to West Marine.

We all met up again on the boat and continued our Trivial Pursuit challenge. This game was the rubber match. Jean and I were set to regain our lead and Carla, Mark and Lisa could smell a victory!!! The game started in a very balanced way—each team was getting good questions and figuring out the answers. There was also a sampling of strange questions—How long is a course for a maggot race????? Luckily for us, Carla, Mark and Lisa hit a dry spell where they were consistently stumped by the questions—Jean and I made up some ground here. Jean and I then collected all six wedges and made our way to the middle. With one ‘pink' (Entertainment) question—which was an easy one for me—we were declared the champions!!!!

 

Saturday, August 26 th

Ludington, Michigan to Grand Haven, Michigan

Today was overcast, foggy and dreary with just enough rain to be a pain. The temperature was a cool 68 degrees but the ‘waters' were supposed to be decent (1 to 2 feet) on the route to Grand Haven. We were off the dock at 8am following the Badger as it made its way out of the harbor.

The journey was fine—but we were unable to take any pictures. It was just too overcast and dreary. We were not far from the shoreline and we definitely saw more dunes and trees—very picturesque. We were hoping to get into the Grand Haven Municipal Marina but knew that we'd have a problem. This harbor is very busy and the marina is not very large. We had cancelled our reservations yesterday thinking that the weather would prevent us from getting to Grand Haven. But…..

We made our way into the harbor but quickly learned that the municipal marina was fully booked. We continued along and got settled at the Grand Isle Marina—about 2 miles from town. Lisa's friend Lois was picking everyone up here and taking everyone back to Lisa's house in Lake Ann. Carla and Mark's return flight to Boston was scheduled for 8am on Sunday morning. Lois was kind enough to take us downtown for dinner where she dropped us off and headed off to attend a family event.

We had dinner at a wonderful Italian restaurant. I had my favorite—chicken parmesan and Jean had calamari (of course) followed by an entrée of lasagna. After dinner we walked down by the marina and topped off the evening with a great ice cream cone. Lois rejoined us after awhile and we all said our goodbyes. Jean and I were sad to see Carla, Mark and Lisa leave. They've been great boat guests—a lot of fun—we all had a wonderful time.

 

Sunday, August 27 th

At port in Grand Haven, Michigan—well, almost

This morning Jean and I made our way over to the municipal marina where we had reservations. We called ahead and then went directly into our slip with no problems. We were pleasantly surprised to see that Change of Pace —Tom and Marbeth were in the slip next to us. We quickly decided that today would be a lazy day. The skies were blue and it was actually very hot—low eighties. The seas were supposed to be rough out in the Lake so a lot of the weekend boaters were staying put or just cruising around the harbor. The area around the Grand Haven Marina was actually very busy—there were local boaters everywhere.

Grand Haven evolved in the same pattern as many Lake Michigan towns lying north of the Grand River: Indian village, fur trading center, thriving sawmill town, county seat, shipbuilding and commercial fishing port, resort center and industrial town. Both the lake and the Grand River, which flows into Lake Michigan at Grand Haven, have played major roles in shaping the town's development.

I went downtown to shop for food and things while Jean spent time on the boat. While in town, I went by a nautical shop that had some spectacular window boxes. I took some pictures—of course. Grand Haven is a cute town with quaint shops and galleries. It's a popular town for tourists and there were crowds everywhere. There is a 2 ½ mile boardwalk from its pier to Grand Haven's two distinctive lighthouses.

Jean and I ate dinner early—at about 3pm and we had leftovers from our dinner on Saturday at the Italian restaurant—chicken parmesan and lasagna.

After dinner we went over to Change of Pace for cheese and drinks—it was fun. There was some sort of a religious concert going on in the area immediately adjacent to the marina so we were serenaded all night long. This part of Michigan is VERY religious!!!!! This concert was attended by hundreds of people—all singing along and thanking the Lord for life.

Following the concert, we watched Grand Haven's Musical Fountain. This is an automated music and water fountain show which plays each summer evening and which is set into the hillside directly across the waterway from the Grand Haven Municipal Marina. There are bleachers set up for seating, and this show draws a huge crowd. We could see everything from our boat—we had great seats. This show, which is quite famous, is choreographed to music and brilliantly colored lights has 1,300 nozzles which spout jets of water to heights of 125 feet. A variety of musical themes are presented every night including Broadway tunes, vintage rock, songs for kids and many other themes. It was rather elaborate. We were unsuccessful in capturing any of this on film. I've never seen anything like it. I wasn't sure if it was magnificent or weird!!!!!

 

Monday, August 28 th

Grand Haven, Michigan to Saugatuck, Michigan

First thing in the morning, Jean and Tom spent some time trying to fix Ocean Flyer's autopilot—no luck. So...we were off the dock and underway at 9:35am. The temperature was mild at 70 degrees with some blue skies but mostly overcast.

We made it out into the channel and past the Grand Haven Lighthouses—both of them.

We could see calm waters but expected that the seas would get worse the further south we traveled. The shoreline was a composite of two scenes—one of more spectacular dunes looking quite magnificent as well as several sections of highly populated areas with houses everywhere. These were our two views for the ride to Saugatuck. There were very few boats out on the water other than small recreational fishing boats. We heard no other Loopers on the radio which rarely happens.

About an hour before we got to Saugatuck, it started to rain and it continued to rain all the way to Saugatuck. The entrance to Saugatuck is well marked and puts you on the Kalamazoo River for a several miles in somewhat winding and shallows waters. This is one of the longest stretches of waterway before you get to a marina or town that we've encountered. As we docked, at 12:40pm, it was still raining. This is how the entire day went—rain, rain, and more rain!!!!! This town is truly adorable but…we saw it all in the rain.

On our way into the marina we did see the chain ferry. Saugatuck has one of the oldest hand-cranked chain ferries in America. It operates only in the summer and takes visitors across the Kalamazoo River by an operator cranking it along a chain that stretches across the river. Saugatuck has had a ferry crossing on the river since 1838 and it's the last of its kind on the Great Lakes. We saw the ferry in front of us and didn't know what it was—especially in the rain. But…as it moved along…we quickly figured it out. Unfortunately, due to the rain, I did not get a picture of this.

Chris Crawford, vacationing at her cottage in Holland, Michigan came by to see us in the afternoon. Chris is married to Tom, a good friend of mine from Prudential. She and Tom completed the Loop in 2002-2003 timeframe. We spent the afternoon together as she gave me and Jean a personal tour of Saugatuck and Holland as well as the surrounding areas. We stopped by her new cottage and even went to the marina to see her vintage 1953 Chris Craft boat. Later on, Chris was kind enough to loan us her ‘cottage car' to go grocery shopping. We didn't get back to the boat until about 8pm and it was still raining!!!!

We had dinner at a local restaurant—a sirloin steak for me and a shrimp and pasta dish for Jean. We had no dessert—we're cutting back.

 

Tuesday, August 29 th

Saugatuck, Michigan to St. Joseph, Michigan

Today would be a long day and an early day. We were off the dock at 7:10am not knowing exactly where we were headed. We just knew that we were going south—the further the better. The day was really dreary—more rain. It was cool, wet and gray—ugh!!! The seas were supposed to be calm in the morning—getting worse in the afternoon and also getting worse as we went south. We were out for about an hour and all was going well. Once again, we saw very few other boats—except fishing boats. We were hugging the shore where the waves were supposed to be the lowest.

By 10:15 the seas had gotten progressively worse and so we headed in for refuge at St. Joseph—a lovely harbor town with a sister town—Benton Harbor. We were docked early—by 10:30 and were helped by two other Loopers who had decided to stay put for the day. After getting settled we took a walk into town.

Settlement of the village of St. Joseph began in the early 1830s. The village on the hill prospered as a trans-shipment point, especially

after Congress began harbor improvements in 1835. Incorporated in 1834, St. Joseph became a busy port, receiving wheat, flour, pork, cranberries, whiskey, lumber and shingles from upstream for transportation onto lake boats bound for Chicago and elsewhere.

St Joseph is very pretty and has a beautiful bluff park running along its channel. We went through the park and took some pictures of its sculptures. One fountain… “Maids of the Mist” was built in the mid-1800's and is rather formal and beautiful. Another sculpture, a tribute to the area firemen, was erected in 1896.

Each year St. Joseph sponsors an artwork exhibit with an animal theme—this year that animal is bears. There are a large number of bears all around town, all decorated beautifully. Of course, I had to take some pictures of these bears. So BEAR with me…..

We stopped at the Art Museum while in town and saw a beautiful glasswork exhibit—stunning glass flowers. There was also a very fascinating exhibit of trump l'oeil paintings. Outside the museum was a HUGE hippo—and I mean huge. I knew you'd want to see her… Lotus is her name…so get ready.

We also stopped at the Priscilla Byrnes Heritage Center. The Heritage Center had a very interesting exhibit on display depicting the importance of the fruit market to the Michigan area. For the period of the 1930's through the 1950's the St Joseph/Benton Harbor area was particularly important in the production of apples and other fruit. They also had a beautiful display of colored canning jars sitting perfectly on display shelves.

We made our way back to the boat by 4pm—in the rain. At 5pm, we were visited by Ed and Julia Jordanich—some friends from New Jersey. Ed and Julia now live in South Bend, Indiana (Ed is a Notre Dame grad) and drove here to see us. We were also lucky enough to see their two-year-old daughter, Lauren, and their three-month-old daughter, Mia. They're a lovely family and it was great to see them. After a quick tour of the boat we all went out to dinner at a local restaurant. Jean had grilled whitefish and I had a hamburger!!!!! No dessert!!!!

 

Wednesday, August 30 th

At port in St. Joseph, Michigan

Today's weather was going to be bad again—raining and gray—and the seas were also going to be bad so…. We rented a car and headed back to some of the towns that we were unable to see earlier this week due to either rain or bad waters. By 10:30am we were on our way to Holland, Michigan. Surprisingly…as we drove north the weather improved substantially and by the time we got to Holland the skies were very sunny and blue and the temperature was in the high eighties.

Holland was very pretty and we were both happy that we stopped here. It's a town that is far from the local marinas and thus is not visited by many boaters. Holland was founded by immigrants from the Netherlands nearly 160 years ago and has a decidedly Dutch influence. The town is undergoing significant renovation and is already very beautiful. It's a thriving community with a full-time population of approximately 20,000. When we saw Chris earlier this week we drove through Holland but did not stop in the downtown district. Chris grew up in this area and the cottage that she and Tom recently purchased is in Holland. It's a lovely town.

We were amazed to see so much construction in the downtown area and even more surprised to see that the construction included laying heating coils under the sidewalks. We spoke with one of the construction engineers and he mentioned that it gets so cold that it's actually cheaper to heat the sidewalks than to shovel them.

 

We quickly noticed a series of outside sculptures and especially one by Glenna Goodacre, a famous sculptor. She did the sculpture in Washington, DC honoring women who served in Viet Nam. In Holland, her work shows children saluting the American flag. A similar sculpture is situated outside the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California.

We also saw a sculpture of a musical band which was quite lifelike. It was really beautiful.

We came across Ben Franklin sitting on a town bench and Jean just had to join him.

We loved our visit to Holland and found a wonderful outside restaurant for a lunch/dinner. I had an incredible tomato basil soup and chicken Caesar salad. Jean had chicken enchiladas. Wow!!!!

We decided to continue driving and head back to Saugatuck. We had arrived by boat in Saugatuck on Monday of this week but it rained the entire day. When we left on Tuesday it was still raining. Today... the weather was just perfect. We had very blue skies and warm temperatures. Saugatuck is known as the art capital of Michigan with good reason. There were galleries everywhere and most of the work was just gorgeous. There were paintings, pottery, metal work and a lot of jewelry. Surprisingly—I bought nothing. I must be sick.

In this town, as in Holland, we found quite a bit of outside sculpture. One of my favorites is the bicyclists—I love this. It was in an outside garden right in the middle of downtown Saugatuck.

In another park, we found this fish—which we also liked very much.

We made our way back to the marina so that we could get a couple of pictures of this picturesque harbor.

We left Saugatuck and headed to South Haven which would be our last stop of the day.

This is another marina town, and while we hadn't stopped there on our journey, many other ‘Loopers' told us that South Haven was pretty. So…since we had the car... off we went.

We walked out to South Haven's lighthouse which was very pretty. You're probably very tired of seeing lighthouses but…here's another.

On the way to the lighthouse, we saw this schooner in the channel. It was really beautiful—and stately. It's the Friends Good Will replica tall ship, which arrived at the Michigan Maritime Museum in 2004. Its home port is South Haven.

We were back on the boat by 6pm and noticed several new ‘Looper' boats had come in from today's bad seas. Jean then started checking the satellite weather to see if we could leave for Chicago tomorrow. Right now, things still look iffy. We'll check again in the morning. We're hoping to be off on the 60-mile crossing to Chicago soon!!!!! Stay tuned.

Read the new log - ST. JOSEPH, MICHIGAN TO ALTON, ILLINOIS

AUGUST 31 ST THROUGH SEPTEMBER 13TH