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.