Mackinaw City/Mackinac Island

We were all set to leave Mackinaw City on Tuesday morning……but not so fast! The starter in the starboard engine “froze up”, so we needed to have it replaced. As we know, parts take a day or so to get delivered, so on Wednesday we went to Mackinac Island on the ferry while we waited.

Attached are a number of pictures from that fun day. The first is Emery and I sitting on the steps of the Episcopal mission that was established in 1865. Then comes a busy street scene from the downtown tourist part of the island which is mobbed with people, bicycles and horse drawn vehicles of all sizes and shapes.

Then we walked up to the Grand Hotel, a lovely quiet oasis in the chaos which is Mackinac during high tourist season. The third picture is of the back entrance to the famous porch. That big porch with the fabulous view and the flowers and rocking chairs and snapping flags was virtually deserted on Wednesday afternoon. We sat for an hour on the porch, then moved to the grill at the Grand Hotel’s golf course and had a great lunch/dinner. The final picture is of a gorgeous topiary at the hotel sheared into a horse and carriage……the teams of matched horses and carriage are ubiquitous around the Grand Hotel.

Today, Thursday the mechanic came with the part at 8 A.M. and we were underway by 11:30 A.M. We are now in DeTour Village, a remote Michigan Upper Peninsula port just west of the North Channel. We are going to run tomorrow to South Benjamin Island and join John and Jean Conyers and anchor out. Stay tuned for further adventures.

New Marina in Mackinaw City

We have left our favorite Frankfort. Left the car at Jacobson’s Marina with John the harbor master; and come 120 miles to Mackinaw City, and we are at the brand new State of Michigan/DNR docks. It is built with EVERY energy saving, environmental protection and “green” device ever conceived. We chose it because we wanted to see what it offered plus we could not get into Mackinac Island because this week is the Port Huron to Mackinaw sailboat race (last week was Chicago to Mackinaw).

Interesting place to say the least. The floating docks are beautiful and the electricity is on and working. Part of the electricity comes from a small wind farm adjacent to the marina, a picture is attached as the first above. The water is in, but not working because the ONE inspector of water connections on docks has gone on vacation, so the water remains shut off. There is gas and diesel….but!!! Low flow pumps take FOREVER to fill a boat and were installed so no DROP of fuel EVER gets into the water. The dock guys are untrained, unsupervised and completely inexperienced. The showers have no water temperature adjustment, one temperature fits all and it is warm-ish. The shower runs for 15 seconds with each push of the button, so there is a lot of button pushing. Low flow toilets of course, and many do not work in the men’s room already (think about it). The laundry has energy/water efficient front loading washers which call for special laundry soap and very little of it, so already half of those do not work. As one sailboater said, “And these guys are going to run health care?????”. Interesting concept here, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired.

Also attached is a picture of a 1950’s wreck on South Manitou Island. We stopped there again on the way here to test the anchor (still needs a little work) and a picture of the wake off our boat. It is so big, really!!! Swamps the sailboats if we aren’t careful. Anyway, cheers to all.

Surrounded by Chicago-to-Mackinac Sailboats

Hi all - Mark here (the FSIL-type guy). Attached are a few shots of the boats (not overly great - it was choppy). Click on the photos to enlarge them and get a better view of the sailboats. As we left our lunch in Leland, I think I was at the helm and started seeing a few specks on the horizon. As we got closer, the specks got bigger and there seemed to be more of them. Then, of course, we realized what we were in the middle of and that we were going to be surrounded for the next hour or so. But I'm happy to report that all of the expert captains on board did a superb job of weaving in and out of traffic. At least on our part, the historical, tenuous relationship between power and sail is no better/no worse because of The Emerys.

Kate's Visit

Now, as part of the attempt to catch up on a busy week of activities, here is an update on Mark and Kate’s visit.

As you can see from the attached photos, Lily is a beautiful 5 and ¾ year old; Caroline is almost two and always busy; and everyone had a good time in the pool in Frankfort. Mark is not shown in the pictures, but he was here and added to the general fun.

Mark’s Mom managed the girls most of the time while they were in Midland for Kate’s high school reunion, which was a big success. But we saw everyone lots of times and had fun with yet one more Midwest get-together. Kate and Mark flew back to Seattle on Thursday; we have been using the time since then to provision the boat and get ready for the trip to the North Channel.

Yesterday we drove the 100 miles to Charlevoix to attend the annual Venetian Festival. That is essentially a blowout summer week of entertainment in the bandshell, sidewalk sales in town and a lot of parties by all. The fun is capped off by Saturday’s events, which we attended. A street carnival was set up on streets blocked off and vacant lots. Rides (ferris wheel, hammer, carousel, bumper cars, etc), games of chance, sno-cones and elephant ears to eat, and general hoopla were followed by spectacular fireworks and a lighted boat parade after dark. We ate dinner at our favorite restaurant (delicious whitefish) and ran into the guy who took my place as manager of real estate for Dow (he loves the job), and all in all had a great day.

Tomorrow we start north, so onward we go for the summer. Hope to blog in a more timely fashion, but frequently we have lousy computer and phone connections in Canada, so we shall see. Cheers.

Elk Rapids and Friends

During our busy week in Traverse City, we re-vistited Elk Rapids. That is a small town at the south end of the east bay of Grand Traverse Bay. It is a long way by boat from Traverse City because you have to first go north along Old Mission Point, then south down the other side. By car it’s a straight shot, so we made the quick car trip.

Why should you care about Elk Rapids? ….because that’s where we got married in 1996. We got married in the Presbyterian church there, and the first picture is that church. Stepping over the fact that the lovely Emery cried throughout the entire ceremony, our visit brought back great memories.

And we met up with our Dow friends Ron and Kay. Ron and I jointly ran Dow’s calcium chloride business for a few years, and we have been friends ever since. Ron and Kay recently bought a 1960’s house that is right on Old Mission Point on Grand Traverse Bay. The property is spectacular with a view all the way up the Bay. Kay is managing the renovations as Ron keeps working for a market research firm to pay the bills (so he says, but he does like the work). We had dinner at the terrific Bowers Harbor Inn with them and their daughter Allison on Friday evening.

The fun continues. Next post I will talk about the visit with Kate and her family. Cheers to all.

It has been a busy week for us, so I will write a few separate blogs in order to keep them shorter and more interesting. Following is the first of those.

On July 17-22, the 101st Chicago to Mackinac sailboat race was staged by the Chicago Yacht Club. 337 sailboats of all sizes competed in a number of classes. All but 33 boats finished, and the finishing crews partied hardy at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. The race is 333 statute miles long; the biggest, fastest boat finished in 56 hours, and the average boat took 80 hours. This was the slowest race ever as the winds were very light for the entire race.

We ran into the sailboats twice. On Monday, July 20th, Emery, Mark and Kate and three of their friends from Traverse City moved The Emery’s from T.C. to Frankfort (I drove the car over later after spending time with Lily and Caroline at the beach in T.C.). Their trip took five or six hours, including a fun stop for lunch in Leland. After lunch, they ran through a large number of the boats in the race. Those pictures are on Kate’s camera, and Mark will add a blog with those in a few days. But that encounter added a lot to the fun trip for everyone.

Then,Thursday evening in Frankfort, a number of the sailboats stayed over in our marina on their way home. John the harbor master rafted about twenty of them up off his shore. The first picture attached is of the boat raft when about 15 of the boats were in. The boats are “bare bones” racers, so the crews are always hungry and dirty. John has a cook/dockhand named Roary who worked, literally, all night cooking to feed the boats who came in through the night. Lobster, crab, shrimp, ribs all went early and then the hot dogs and hamburgers flew off the grill. The second picture is of John manning the grill after dark; enlarge it for a better view.

This morning, all the boats were gone by 8 A.M. and life at the marina is settling down again. It was a real hoot last night, and the sailboat crews are fun to talk with. Lots of nationalities are represented, and this is a big prestigious race that all sailors want to experience once in their lives.

More stories to follow.

Old Mission Peninsula, Traverse City

Traverse City, Michigan is a fun place to be. It is at the bottom of the west arm of Grand Traverse Bay, and one of the major vacation destination places in Michigan. Lots of water for summer, and snow mobile trails and ski hills for winter. The only downside is the unbelievably bad traffic; we have the car here so it is pretty dreadful getting anywhere.

Kate and Mark are here with Lily and Caroline. Mark’s Mom Pat lives here; Kate’s 20th high school reunion is being held this weekend in Midland; they are busy and three grandparents are taking care of the girls while they are gone for the weekend. The first picture attached is me at the beach with L and C yesterday.

We came here Tuesday. The municipal docks are very nice, and all of downtown T.C., with its great restaurants and shops, is within walking distance. Before Kate’s family arrived we explored Old Mission Peninsula, the arm of land that bisects Grand Traverse Bay into the east and west arms. The Peninsula was settled in about 1850; settlers began planting the orchards that are now everywhere after clearing away the forests.

There are cherry orchards (both sweet and tart cherries) and grapevines all around the Peninsula. If you “blow up” the picture of the cherry tree above you will see how laden with fruit the trees are right now. Cherries are beginning to be harvested and the grapes are growing nicely. New wineries are popping up, and many restaurants serve the local wines. Some of the wines are wonderful.

At the northern end of the Peninsula is a small lighthouse and a relocated log house, both from the 1850-60 timeframe. Attached are pictures of both. There are lots of trails and beaches all around the area and many people, but everything is surrounded by water so nothing seems crowded.

The last picture is of Emery inside a re-creation of the Presbyterian Mission that was the beginning of white settlement in the area. It and the school were the center of Peninsula life for a very long time. The area and the Peninsula are beautiful and there are tons of homes and docks and boats and people, so this is a great stop.

We plan to be in Traverse City till Monday or Tuesday when Kate and Mark will help Emery take the boat around to Frankfort (95 miles by boat, 45 miles by car), and Pat and I will manage the little girls. Should be a fun time. Cheers to all.

Anchoring Out All Night

Last night we anchored out at South Manitou Island. It is 15 miles west of Leland in Lake Michigan and part of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Note: Pictures are loaded backwards yet again....sorry about that!!!

South Manitou has the only natural harbor on Lake Michigan between Leland and Chicago. The 100 foot lighthouse shown in picture #1 above was active from 1871 to 1958. The island is about 7 miles across at its widest point, and is part of an island chain that stretches north to Mackinac Island. Glaciers carved out the Lake Michigan basin, and these islands are the peaks of a ridge left behind.

We were in a big cove with about 10 other boats; one of them is the Denis Sullivan, a three-masted schooner used as a hospitality and training ship out of Milwaukee, WI. Attached is a picture of that ship. The wind was blowing at 15-20 miles per hour, so everyone moved around their anchors a lot. We re-anchored several times before being satisfied, and held through the night, but didn’t sleep a lot. We have a new anchor, and wanted to try it out. Needs a bit of tinkering before it is right I an afraid.

Also attached is a picture of the boat we took from the dinghy as we were motoring in to the island, and one of Emery and I. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the experience.

We now are in Leland. Another small Michigan port town with lots of summer traffic, good restaurants, ice cream and no Verizon service. The docks here are new, and they are beautiful floating docks so we can easily get on and off the boat from the swim platform. Fun after weeks of climbing onto the boat from high fixed docks.

Enjoy your summer, we are loving ours.

Visiting An Elk Farm

We’ve been in Ludington for a few days and have really enjoyed the town, the beach and Ludington State Park. The Park is miles of beach strung along a road. There are turnouts for parking, campgrounds and big dunes all along the coast. The first attached picture is Emery at the beach.

On Wednesday we went to the Amber Elk Farm just outside of Ludington with Roger and Jean Beck and their friends Doug and Jan. We weren’t sure what to expect, but it was fun. The herd is 195 animals strong right now, with most of the elk being males of all ages. Big breeding bulls, and younger males that are either slaughtered for food, sold to other breeders, or sold to hunting preserves as game are everywhere and quite a sight with their big horns. I’ve attached a few pictures from the Farm, which we toured in wagons drawn by a tractor. You haven’t lived until a big elk has eaten corn out of your hand!!!

Later on Wednesday, Roger and Doug helped Emery move the boat to Frankfort; Jean, Jan and I moved their car and our Jeep. So we now have the boat and the Jeep in Frankfort’s Jacobson’s Marina, one of our favorite ports. We are planning on lobster for dinner tonight, straight from the Marina’s grills as they cater dinners to us boaters.

Weather is spectacular here, and we will stay till Saturday when we plan to move to some of the Grand Traverse Bay ports….Leland, Northport, Elk Rapids and Traverse City. Cheers to all.

The Gill Family Reunion

We have been to the Gill reunion, and it was fun. It never stopped raining for the event, but we had a huge tent that held all 96 attendees, so it was fun anyway. It was a potluck event with ham and fried chicken; many salads and deviled eggs; plus enough wonderful desserts to serve an army.

Gill is Mrs. Conyers maiden name. She and her two brothers had 22 Gill first cousins. This reunion was organized by two of those cousins, one of whom is 90 years old. The attendees included 10 of the cousins, and descendants of many of the original 25 Gill cousins.

The first picture is of Emery and the 10 first cousins that were in attendance. The second picture is of Emery’s generation, i.e. children of the cousins. There was a lot of conversation about whether the members of this generation are “second cousins” or “first cousins, once removed”. No consensus was reached on the burning question but all agreed they are related. The final picture is of Emery and me, the sole representatives of Roberta Gill’s “line”.

This event was a great way to spend the 4th of July. Late afternoon we drove to Kentucky and visited with Emery’s sister Marie in Cynthiana. Tomorrow we head back to Michigan and the boat to take up the water adventure again. Stay tuned.

The Ludington Car Ferry

We are now in Ludington and in a marina that is VERY close to the car ferry. Which leaves at 8 A.M. each morning with a very loud blast of its horn. Yesterday it blasted us out of bed with a jolt….too funny. Attached are a couple photos of the ferry as it pulled in on Wednesday evening. We took the shots from the bow of our boat in its slip, so the channel the ferry uses is quite close.

I forgot to tell you that while we were in Saugatuck we went to a live theatre production of The Full Monty. That is a funny, poignant play about a group of out-of-work Buffalo, NY steelworkers who end up in a Chippendale-style chorus line to earn money. Terrific production that played to a sold out audience and we loved it.

Today we are near Cincinnati preparing to go to the Gill family reunion tomorrow. We are taking a Honey Baked Ham as our “favorite covered dish” to share with everyone. Should be fun.

Again, have a happy, safe 4th of July.

We've Come to Ludington

Hello from Ludington, MI. We came 85 miles north from Saugatuck today in a little rain, a little fog, 2-4 foot seas to this port. We were two days extra in Saugatuck due to bad weather, but what a fun place to be.

Saugatuck is called the “Art Coast of Michigan”…..there are more art galleries in its downtown area than any other we have visited. Seeing we were there so long we also got to walk into the pretty tree-lined neighborhoods off the main drag. Huge trees and so many perennial flower gardens, really pretty.

Some highlights of the town: a Victorian era, hand-cranked, chain-link, passenger ferry that takes pedestrians across the channel leading into town from Lake Michigan; the SS Keewatin—a Titanic-era steamship which is now a museum (picture taken from the lake while we were on a dinghy ride); a long boardwalk that winds past all the marinas and is prime territory for everyone’s after dinner ice cream cone stroll; all those art stores/galleries; and a terrific choice of restaurants.

So today we came to Ludington. We have picked up the Jeep, it came across Lake Michigan yesterday all by itself on the car ferry. Our boat broker from Sturgeon Bay drove it to Manitowoc on the Wisconsin side and put it on the car ferry for us and now we have it. We are due in Cincinnati for a Gill (Mrs. Conyers maiden name was Gill) family reunion on the 4th of July. So good we have the Jeep. We will be off the boat for 4 or 5 days and then we will continue of trek up the Michigan side of Lake Michigan.

Happy 4th of July to everyone.