We headed back to the boat to meet up with family--Allen,
Amy, Vail and Von. Our plan was to stop at several of the great locations
on the Michigan lower peninsula. The kids visited the Maritime Museum and
the replica of the Icebreaker Mackinaw WAGB83.
We met the owners of Something Special, Sid and Evenlyn. They have the same Mainship 40 with a blue hull that we do--very unusual to dock next to the same boat.
We also "considered" going in to the local Haunted House until the gentleman at the ticket booth scared everyone out of it ! This city is fun with lots of walking, ice cream, fudge, toffee and caramel corn !
After spending the first day visiting Mackinaw City, we headed out into Lake Huron for the short hop over to Mackinac Island for one day and night.
It is a beautiful island with a huge tourist population during the day. We ate at the Ice House--a little restaurant Allen and Amy found which was back off the main path with good food and nicely removed from the bikes and tourists. Only bikes and horse drawn carriages are available for transportation on the island--lots and lots of bikes. We took one of the private carriage tours of the island and saw the new carriage museum and some of the rural back streets while our driver told us about the properties and life on the island.
The marina is also very busy with the ferries coming and going all
day long but everything quieted down after the ferries stopped running. We had
dinner outside at the Pink Pony and in the morning I took a beautiful walk
before the bikes and carriages came out to play.
We left early for Petosky and the four plus hour trip. Everyone was impressed with the size of the Mackinac Bridge as we traveled under it and crossed into Lake Michigan. Luckily, the water was nice and pretty flat for the whole trip. The downtown of Petosky is very nice and we had a great lunch at Chandler's Restaurant where Von (age 4) entertained us through lunch with his humorous antics. Later, Ken and I ate pizza with the kids so Amy and Allen could go out and have a nice adult dinner.
In the morning, we hit the Farmer's Market and had breakfast at Julienne's Tomato Restaurant. Ken went to find somewhere to print out a contract to sell Seventh Sun II in Santa Barbara. I headed up to the Crooked Tree Art Center and the gallery of local artists next door before heading back to the boat and heading out at 10:30am for the short run to Charlevoix. There was a lot of help navigating the boat.
The kids enjoyed riding on the bow of the boat and were able to watch the bridge opening for us to enter into Round Lake and tie up in the Charlevoix City Marina right in the heart of downtown. We launched the dinghy and toured Lake Charlevoix while Vail tried his hand at steering. This lake goes all of the way to Boyne City. After enjoying the tour, we headed back to the boat and the kids spent time at the splash pad at the marina and feeding the new best friend ducks.
We had dinner at Scovie's Deli and walked around town before
heading back to the boat to listen to music from one of the outdoor bars.
One of the "mushroom" houses designed by architect Earl Young was
visible from the marina. During my walk the next morning, I saw a few
more.
In the morning, the Charlevoix Waterfront Art Fair was in full swing so
we were able to view all of the booths before our 10:30 planned take departure
time.
We had a longer trip today heading over to Traverse City for two
days. Again, the trip was smooth and enjoyable. Allen and family
spent a great deal of time sitting on the bow enjoying the journey. Amy
finally figured out that sitting on the back deck was a quiet and relaxing
place to read. Somehow, I didn't get a picture of that.
The Duncan Clinch Marina in Traverse City is a very nice marina in the best location. This is a larger city than we've hit so far this leg. We found a good restaurant for a late lunch/early dinner. The kids were able to play at the beach area next to the marina and later we headed out to find ice cream for dinner !
In the morning, Ken picked what turned out to be one of the most unique breakfast restaurants that we've found--The Remedy. I think everyone really enjoyed their food choice. Afterward, I headed downtown to visit the Michigan Artists Gallery and Amy tried to check out some of the nice gift stores for ideas for the Little Exchange.
On Sunday, we had to do the car shuffle. This is the first time that we have driven our car instead of a one-way rental. Both cars were still in Mackinaw City and we were finally able to get a rental car to drive over to retrieve them. Michigan had been hit by a bad storm the day before we got up here and with all of the damage there had been no rental cars available until today. While we were driving, Amy was able to gather all of their stuff and let the kids play at the nice splash park adjacent to the marina.
They packed everything up and headed out for the seven+ hour drive home. Whew--they had to be tired after their vacation.
We left the next morning hoping to get a slip in Leland....but sadly they were full. We headed on down the lake to Frankfort which was another 40+ miles. We passed the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park on the way and the view of the dunes from the water is spectacular even on a foggy day.
We arrived
into Frankfort early enough to be invited for docktails by a Gold Looper
couple, Carol and Dennis from Reunion on their second
loop. We had met last year on the Trent while they were on their first
loop. The boat next to us was another Looper couple, Bob and Melinda on
the tug Melinda.
A good day to relax in Frankfort--for me--while Ken took the Benzie Bus to Traverse City to pick up the car and then toured the land side of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park on his way back.
He said that the dunes were more beautiful from the water. Carol and I visited artist Ellie Howard in her home art gallery and enjoyed both her and her work.
All three couple went to dinner at the Stormcloud Brewing Company. It's always interesting the hear about other Loopers stops along the route.
We headed out around 7:00am for the southern trip to Ludington where we will be leaving the boat for about a week.
Melinda got in a couple of hours after us and Reunion came in late afternoon after having waited in Frankfort for a week to have some paperwork catch up with them. Later, we had drinks and snacks aboard Melinda B while the four of them planned their next few stops. After dinner, Carol and Dennis joined us for dessert. I had been trying to find a cherry pie--north Michigan's favorite fruit and finally found one at a local bakery.
Our car was driven to Ludington from Frankfort by the dockmaster, a sideline business, so we had a car available. This doesn't happen often for a regular Looper. We all piled in and went to see "Mission Impossible-Rogue Nation" and then had a very nice dinner across from the marina at PM Steamers.
We headed south the next morning and I dropped Ken at the Detroit airport to fly out to finish cleaning out our personal items from Seventh Sun II. The sale on the boat closed on Friday and it will head to Newport Beach on Aug. 17th. Knowing it needed to be done didn't make it less sad !
We met the owners of Something Special, Sid and Evenlyn. They have the same Mainship 40 with a blue hull that we do--very unusual to dock next to the same boat.
We also "considered" going in to the local Haunted House until the gentleman at the ticket booth scared everyone out of it ! This city is fun with lots of walking, ice cream, fudge, toffee and caramel corn !
After spending the first day visiting Mackinaw City, we headed out into Lake Huron for the short hop over to Mackinac Island for one day and night.
It is a beautiful island with a huge tourist population during the day. We ate at the Ice House--a little restaurant Allen and Amy found which was back off the main path with good food and nicely removed from the bikes and tourists. Only bikes and horse drawn carriages are available for transportation on the island--lots and lots of bikes. We took one of the private carriage tours of the island and saw the new carriage museum and some of the rural back streets while our driver told us about the properties and life on the island.
We left early for Petosky and the four plus hour trip. Everyone was impressed with the size of the Mackinac Bridge as we traveled under it and crossed into Lake Michigan. Luckily, the water was nice and pretty flat for the whole trip. The downtown of Petosky is very nice and we had a great lunch at Chandler's Restaurant where Von (age 4) entertained us through lunch with his humorous antics. Later, Ken and I ate pizza with the kids so Amy and Allen could go out and have a nice adult dinner.
In the morning, we hit the Farmer's Market and had breakfast at Julienne's Tomato Restaurant. Ken went to find somewhere to print out a contract to sell Seventh Sun II in Santa Barbara. I headed up to the Crooked Tree Art Center and the gallery of local artists next door before heading back to the boat and heading out at 10:30am for the short run to Charlevoix. There was a lot of help navigating the boat.
The kids enjoyed riding on the bow of the boat and were able to watch the bridge opening for us to enter into Round Lake and tie up in the Charlevoix City Marina right in the heart of downtown. We launched the dinghy and toured Lake Charlevoix while Vail tried his hand at steering. This lake goes all of the way to Boyne City. After enjoying the tour, we headed back to the boat and the kids spent time at the splash pad at the marina and feeding the new best friend ducks.
The Duncan Clinch Marina in Traverse City is a very nice marina in the best location. This is a larger city than we've hit so far this leg. We found a good restaurant for a late lunch/early dinner. The kids were able to play at the beach area next to the marina and later we headed out to find ice cream for dinner !
In the morning, Ken picked what turned out to be one of the most unique breakfast restaurants that we've found--The Remedy. I think everyone really enjoyed their food choice. Afterward, I headed downtown to visit the Michigan Artists Gallery and Amy tried to check out some of the nice gift stores for ideas for the Little Exchange.
On Sunday, we had to do the car shuffle. This is the first time that we have driven our car instead of a one-way rental. Both cars were still in Mackinaw City and we were finally able to get a rental car to drive over to retrieve them. Michigan had been hit by a bad storm the day before we got up here and with all of the damage there had been no rental cars available until today. While we were driving, Amy was able to gather all of their stuff and let the kids play at the nice splash park adjacent to the marina.
They packed everything up and headed out for the seven+ hour drive home. Whew--they had to be tired after their vacation.
We left the next morning hoping to get a slip in Leland....but sadly they were full. We headed on down the lake to Frankfort which was another 40+ miles. We passed the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park on the way and the view of the dunes from the water is spectacular even on a foggy day.
A good day to relax in Frankfort--for me--while Ken took the Benzie Bus to Traverse City to pick up the car and then toured the land side of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park on his way back.
He said that the dunes were more beautiful from the water. Carol and I visited artist Ellie Howard in her home art gallery and enjoyed both her and her work.
All three couple went to dinner at the Stormcloud Brewing Company. It's always interesting the hear about other Loopers stops along the route.
We headed out around 7:00am for the southern trip to Ludington where we will be leaving the boat for about a week.
Melinda got in a couple of hours after us and Reunion came in late afternoon after having waited in Frankfort for a week to have some paperwork catch up with them. Later, we had drinks and snacks aboard Melinda B while the four of them planned their next few stops. After dinner, Carol and Dennis joined us for dessert. I had been trying to find a cherry pie--north Michigan's favorite fruit and finally found one at a local bakery.
Our car was driven to Ludington from Frankfort by the dockmaster, a sideline business, so we had a car available. This doesn't happen often for a regular Looper. We all piled in and went to see "Mission Impossible-Rogue Nation" and then had a very nice dinner across from the marina at PM Steamers.
We headed south the next morning and I dropped Ken at the Detroit airport to fly out to finish cleaning out our personal items from Seventh Sun II. The sale on the boat closed on Friday and it will head to Newport Beach on Aug. 17th. Knowing it needed to be done didn't make it less sad !
