"CHARLEVOIX THE BEAUTIFUL"

We came to Charlevoix on Monday through a few rough seas.  Emery is never happy when there is water coming over the top of the boat!!  But now the weather is just lovely…bright blue skies, 65 degrees, and two blankets at night…what’s not to like!!

Charlevoix is just beautiful.  There are beautiful flowers everywhere.

 And gracious old houses with big porches in the front and Lake Michigan in back.

 

 And the beach that goes for miles.

 And the marina that is new and busy and fun.

 We had a concert in the adjacent park last evening.  And then there is the fountain which is a draw for lots of kids during the day and a light show in the evening.  All in all, we like it here.

Leland is Lovely

Today we are in Leland, one of our favorite towns a bit farther north along the Michigan coast line.  We decided that we’d have lots of time in Frankfort, so off we went to enjoy other ports before we move into the house on July 3.

Attached is a picture of Leland Township’s new marina.  The docks are lovely new floating docks with plenty of cleats for tying down and lots of electrical and water connections.  The harbormaster’s house has showers, washers/dryers, and a great boaters’ lounge with wifi,  which is good because neither our phones nor computer air-card work here.  Verizon is definitely the stepchild carrier in this part of Michigan.  The marina has many energy saving features that are so annoying…….very low wattage lights, low flow toilets, slow diesel pumps…but not nearly as bad as the new Straits marina in Mackinac City that we encountered last year.

Town is fun, full of restaurants and shops and summer visitors.  We ran into a man who lives in Toano, VA and summers nearby here.  He also is trying to escape the Williamsburg heat.  Small world!

We are planning to move to Charlevoix tomorrow.  Boat is running well, weather is pretty nice with intermittent rain…even Emery is glad we aren’t in the Virginia 100 degree drought.  Have fun.

Moving Across the Lake

We’ve crossed Lake Michigan from Sturgeon Bay to Frankfort, and it was a smooth crossing.  Bay Marine did a good job of fixing all the “beginning of the season” issues and the boat runs beautifully.  Attached is a picture of the man-made channel that connects Sturgeon Bay to Lake Michigan, the first leg of the trip across.  The crossing was uneventful, Emery’s favorite kind!  The Jeep is coming over on the car ferry today (Friday) and we will pick it up in Ludington, MI tomorrow.  We had planned on taking the boat to Charlevoix on Saturday, but looks like wind is moving in and waves will be 2-4 for a few days.  So we shall see.

Going back a few days: on Tuesday Bill and Leslie and Sara were still in Sturgeon Bay and we went to Egg Harbor for lunch and boat trip.  Sara piloted the boat both ways; Bill and Leslie watched for fish nets and other hazards, and Emery and I napped until it was time to dock!!  The town of Egg Harbor and the Wisconsin DNR are jointly rebuilding the municipal marina with beautiful floating docks and a substantial breakwater.  Attached are pictures from that trip and the construction project.

Wednesday evening we went to the Sturgeon Bay Yacht Club for dinner.  Bay Marine gave us guest passes to use while we were docked at their facility.  While we were at dinner a huge storm swept quickly through……high wind and lots of rain.  It was awesome to see it move in and turn calm water into a raging caldron, and then move on.  The sailboats at anchor outside SBYC really strained at their moorings, but none broke loose.  Great dinnertime entertainment!

If we have to stay here a few days we plan to haul the jet skis over to big, inland Crystal Lake and run them there.  We can familiarize ourselves with the public launch site and the lake.    Attached is a picture of our summer dock site, the wonderful Jacobson’s Marina Resort, so we are having fun now!

The Family Reunion

Well, it has been four days and counting as my family reunion rolls along!!

Last Friday (June 18^th) sister Julie (the bride from Durango, CO) and her husband Daryl joined us in Sturgeon Bay. We took the boat up to Egg Harbor for a drink and a nice ride, then we came back here to Sturgeon Bay and went to Woldt’s for dinner. Woldt’s is an “unfancy” restaurant here in town that has the best Friday night fish…walleye, perch, blue gill….served with rye bread/butter/raw onion sandwich on the side. Great fun. Unfortunately I never opened the camera, so there is no photo of that day.

Saturday we drove 145 miles to Wausau. Did a lot of prep work for the big Sunday reunion and then gathered up Pete and went off to dinner at WISH, a wonderful steak house owned by Pete’s daughter Michelle’s high school friend.

Let me introduce you to the family members who attended the reunion on Sunday. My parents are the late Velma and Barney. Their children (the Sibs) are Peter (Wausau), Mary, Julie, Bill (Hawaii) and Joan (northern Wisconsin). We were all there and attached is a picture of us. Grandchildren in attendance were Michelle (the hostess), Ryan, Matt and Sara. Great grandchildren are Brigitte, Anika and Henry. In addition were six spouses, all of them demanding combat pay for putting up with the exuberant Sibs and their offspring, but none-the- less joining the fun that was had by all. The 18 of us had a wonderful time catching up…. and celebrating Ryan’s new masters’ degree, Sara’s graduation from Northwestern, Matt’s 25^th birthday, Michelle’s 40^th birthday, and Father’s Day for the seven Dads in attendance. We ate bratwurst and fruit salad and cole slaw and birthday cake and rhubarb pie and lots of other fun stuff. A great time was had by all!

Today (Monday) we all split for separate destinations, with Bill and Leslie and daughter Sara coming to Sturgeon Bay with us to spend a few days in Door County. Tonight we went to a Fish Boil in Fish Creek, a little way up the peninsula further into Door County. Attached is a picture of the three of them (Leslie and Sara with their Hawaiian lei’s) watching the “show”; and one of the “boilmaster” moving away after throwing the kerosene on the fire. It was raining a bit, so he is wearing his slicker and hat. Emery ate ribs, but the rest of us loved the fish. We all had the cherry pie…..all in all a fun night. Great way to celebrate the official first day of summer.

The First Boat Trip of 2010

We took the boat out today for the first time this year. It was a glorious day, 72 degrees and sunny, and all work is done on the boat, so we went to Menominee, MI for lunch.

Menominee is on a river that forms the border between Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and Wisconsin. It is about 25 miles from Sturgeon Bay (the city) across Green Bay (the body of water). So it’s a nice easy run. Attached are a few pictures from our trip, including the port of Sturgeon Bay, and the band shell in city center park in Menominee.

When we came home we filled up with diesel (at $3.23 per gallon). The first tank of the year always causes sticker SHOCK. Then off to the West Marine to buy toilet paper and other boat necessities. Finally time for cocktails on the rear deck of the boat; and there was a sailboat regatta going on right in front of us. Lots of fun to watch and attached is a picture of that also. One or two mishaps as the boats ran the course, but all ended well.

So it’s been a fun day. Tomorrow starts many days of Wynhoff family reunion adventures, both here and in Wausau. Everybody will be there…Julie the bride from Colorado and her husband Daryl; Bill and Leslie from Hawaii; Joan and Bob from Minneapolis; and Pete and Sue from Wausau. Emery can hardly wait!!! Stay tuned.

THERE IS A HOLE IN THE BOTTOM OF THE BOAT!

And that is not good!!!!

Let me set the stage. At the end of last season we noticed that the black water holding tank (50 gallons) was filling up in a day or two, rather than the 5-7 days we had previously experienced. Didn’t seem right, but maybe it hadn’t been correctly pumped out, or an inexperienced kid pumped it, or the marina’s pump out system wasn’t working……bottom line is we didn’t worry about it a lot.

So now comes this year. We noticed the holding tank was full when we moved aboard a few days ago, so we had it pumped out. We are at Bay Marine, and they have a portable pump system that comes to the boat. It is easy to see what’s happening, so we saw 50 gallons of clear water coming out. Well, within 12 hours the tank was full again. We pumped again; 6 hours later it was full. So now we know there is water leaking into the tank. We figured it wasn’t from the fresh water tank as it was full, so Emery started searching around.

Bottom line?? There is a seacock at the bottom of the boat which allows the holding tank to be dumped into the ocean when you are way offshore. It is illegal to dump anywhere else; as a matter of fact, the Coast Guard requires the handle be removed from the seacock and it be wired shut. Apparently our seacock was open the tiniest bit; over the years the ball inside wore away a bit and water pressure outside the boat was forcing lake water into the holding tank (which is below the water line) and doing so faster and faster.

Bay Marine answered our call quickly and first thing this morning hauled the boat and fixed the whole thing. You can see pictures of the boat out of the water and being fixed. We are back in the water now and the holding tank is empty. The captain is drinking bourbon, and I am wondering

what tomorrow will bring.

Today is definitely a day when BOAT means Bring Out Another Thousand!!

And that is not good!!!!

CAR FERRY TRIP

Friday we came over from Michigan to Wisconsin on the car ferry.

The S.S. Badger is a 410 foot long car ferry built by the C&O Railroad in 1953 to carry fully loaded railroad cars across Lake Michigan. It was the last (the earliest was built in 1875), and largest (620 people, 180 vehicles of all types, two 7,000 pound anchors), coal-fired, steam engine car ferry built in the U.S. But, the efficiency of railroad service around Lake Michigan improved, and in 1980 the C&O got Interstate Commerce Department permission to abandon cross-lake service. After some interim ventures, the Badger and two other car ferries were sold to a business man who created the service as it runs today….transporting people, cars and commercial vehicles. The pictures show the ferry being loaded in Ludington, MI, and the smoke plume from the stacks as we cross Lake Michigan.

Our crossing was smooth, wet (lots of rain) and 4 hours long. Such a wonderful way to avoid a 10 hour drive around the bottom of the Lake and through Chicago, Milwaukee and endless summertime highway construction!! So on to Sturgeon Bay where we reconnected with The Emerys. Bay Marine had pulled the boat out of the water to clean and polish it all up for us. The attached pictures show the boat as we got to see it hauled from the warehouse back to the water. It looks great!!

Just as we were about to load the boat, the heavens opened up and it just poured rain. So we made an executive decision, and headed for a hotel for one last night. Today we will move onto the boat for the summer. Whoopee!!!

A final note: we had dinner at a local fish restaurant and had fabulous walleye. And, ran into two couples we know from last summer’s adventures. Jerry and Cathy, Ron and Marlene keep their boats at Quarterdeck, where we stored The Emerys over the winter and where we docked last summer. They are all here for a long weekend. So it was fun catching up with friends, and the chance meeting foreshadows another fun summer on Lake Michigan.

Now we are off to load up the boat and lighten the load in the Jeep. Cheers.

JET SKI DROPOFF

We have made it to Frankfort!!

We left Williamsburg on time on Tuesday and drove 440 miles. Pulling the jet skis turned out to be much easier than we anticipated, and even in the mountains of West Virginia the Jeep had no problems whizzing along. A bit of a challenge pulling in and out of parking lots, but other than that, hauling the trailer was no problem.

Wednesday we drove 400 miles, mostly in the rain, and arrived at Roger and Jean’s house in East Lansing in time to go to dinner at The Hall of Fame Café. Whose Hall of Fame? The Michigan State University’s Spartans, of course. MSU is the alma mater of Roger, and three of four Lehman/Conyers offspring (not Kate), as well as favorite son-in-law Mark. Roger and Jean are pictured with Mary in front of their home in East Lansing.

After a great breakfast we drove another185 miles to Jacobson’s Marina Resort in Frankfort where we left the jet skis with Harbormaster John. Then we moved over several blocks to check out 202 Forest Avenue, our rental house for July and August. It is beautiful and I know we will enjoy our time there. At the far end of this block is the gorgeous Lake Michigan beach….so the location is perfect.

Now we are in Ludington for the night. Tomorrow we will take the huge Badger car ferry across Lake Michigan to Wisconsin and Sturgeon Bay where The Emerys awaits us. So Friday evening we will sleep on the boat!!

All in all it has been a great trip to here. Bodes well for Summer, 2010.

GETTING STARTED

We are almost underway! Tomorrow, Tuesday, is our departure date for the 2010 boating season. And a different type of season it will be.

Emery announced a few months ago that he did not want to move the boat so often and as widely as we have done in the past. So we rented a slip at our favorite Jacobson’s Marina Resort in Frankfort, Michigan for the summer. Then we decided it would be fun to have a house in town as well as the boat. So we have rented (for July and August) a restored Victorian house on Forest Avenue, a block from the beach and downtown and four blocks from the boat.

Then we decided we should bring “toys” to keep us busy for the summer. So we have jet skis and golf clubs and beach towels and coolers and, and, and…… You can see we are fully loaded for the trip. Thanks to our friend Nelson, we have two jet skis for the summer. Thanks Nelson for letting your jet ski vacation in Michigan with us!!! We will pull the jet ski trailer with our Jeep. Mary is pictured getting everything ready to go.

So tomorrow we start to drive across country to get to Frankfort to drop off the jet skis in Frankfort before getting on the car ferry across Lake Michigan to pick up the boat which is stored in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. We’ll stay in Wisconsin for a few weeks before going across to Michigan about the first of July.

Read the blog for this summer’s fun, and come visit us in Frankfort…we have lots of room. Cheers.