August 8, 2017
We left Killarney for the short hop to Little Current. This was more of a real town with some great
shops and a grocery store. We met some
other Loopers when we got in and were invited to Docktails. There were some new people and some we had
seen before. Unfortunately one of the
couples we had met in Trenton at the start of the Trent Severn Waterway was
there because they had gone aground a little farther north on the North Channel
and had to be towed back to Little
Current to get their propeller
fixed. We all went to dinner together
and had a good evening. Did I mention
that in Georgian Bay and the North Channel when you go aground it is usually on
rocks and damages the boat? That’s part
of what has made us a little leery of wandering off the beaten path into
anchorages. Also, anchorages are about scenery, trees, rocks, water. I like the marina life.
August 9. 2017
After Little Current we headed for Gore Bay. Both of these stops are on Manitoulin Island,
the biggest fresh water island in North America. The cute little shops were highly overated but
there was a big arts center where artists made and displayed their works for
sale which was interesting. And a good
restaurant, good enough that we had to wait an hour for a table.
August 10, 2017
This was used by the women in the logging towns! |
That evening there was a free concert in the park put on by the Rotary
Club, pretty lame with two guitarists sort of Karaoke to 50’s and 60’s song
tape, but friendly atmosphere and a lovely evening in the park.
There was a good golf course and we had tee times for the next day, but
Dad got nervous about the weather report so we headed out to get closer back to
the states.
August 11, 12, 2017
Long run back across the North Channel in the rain, but not too rough
seas, and we reentered the US and got inspected by customs at Drummond
Island. Then ended up 10 miles further
at De Tour Village. The state of
Michigan has spent a lot of money helping to fix up marinas in the state as a
form of economic development for a lot of these small towns where logging,
mining and fishing have really died out.
De Tour was a nice little town, one good tourist shop with local stuff, and
old Catholic that had a convenient 7 pm Saturday Mass. The churches around here are very ethnic so
they had four churches in four pretty close towns that they had consolidated
into one.
Looping lifestyle |
The marina was right on the maid channel between Lake Superior and Lake Huron |
August 13, 2017
Trying to figure out where to go until our reservation at Mackinaw city
for Monday night we realized that we could back track to Drummond Island and the
marina there would rent us a car to drive to the golf course. There were courses around DeTour but no way
to get to them. Uber hasn’t quite made
it to the UP. Really nice golf course
and friendly people who let us play through. Drummond Island is an old but nice
resort island, only accessible by boat or ferry. In this whole area there are a lot of places
that aren’t open. One person blamed it
on kids not wanting to work the summer season.
Maybe the weather was so bad in May and June that some decided just not
to open this year. We did find one
restaurant that seemed to be a pretty going concern and open year round. We had their Sunday chicken special and
headed back to the boat to finish watching the PGA.
North Woods Inn |
August 14, 2017
Another long day across Lake Michigan to Mackinaw City. Everyone says Mackinac Island is a must see
and we couldn’t get a slip reservation on the Island so we stayed on the
mainland and took the ferry over.
Mackinaw City wasn’t much, about 10 fudge and candy stores and 10 T
shirt stores and not much else. There
was a small museum about the building of the bridge over the Straits of
Mackinac, built in 1957 and the longest suspension bridge of its time. The museum was really a tribute to the iron
workers who built the bridge. Pretty
impressive. One bookstore did have a lot
of local books. I just finished reading
a murder mystery set on Mackinac Island that I got there. Dinner was at the Dixie Saloon, so named at
it was the northern terminus of a string of highways that led to Florida in the
days before the interstate system. The
fish you get up here are whitefish, or walleye and perch. The walleye is really good, the whitefish not
so much and we get a lot of Lake Michigan perch from our Wisconsin hunting
friends.
August 15, 2017
Got up to catch an early ferry to Mackinac Island with our
bicycles. It’s an old fort that went
back and forth between the British and Americans in the 18th and 19th
centuries and then after being a really nice posting for US troops in the late
18th century was given to the state of Michigan for a park. In the meantime lots of wealthy people from
Detroit and Chicago built summer homes here in the nineteenth century. Think Cape Cod or Cape May.
When the army left in 1885 the people of the
village voted to ban automobiles from the island, and they really kept to it. There are horse driven carriages for people
and delivery vans and garbage trucks.
And bicycles everywhere. We took
our bikes and cycled the eight mile road around the island first thing. Then John decided to play golf at the Grand
Hotel golf course while I toured the fort, had a lovely lunch up at the tea
room at the fort with a beautiful view and checked out the shops. Again, lots of fudge and Tshirts but not much
else. I also had noticed that the
Catholic Church, St Anne’s had a daily Mass at 11 am so after John teed off I headed
down there, not realizing until I walked in that it was the Feast of the
Assumption of Mary, so the church was full and good music and singing. And a great mural on the ceiling of St Anne,
the grandmother of Jesus!
I can't believe I didn't take a picture of the horses. They are beautiful percherons and other draft horse breeds and mixes. You Tube had some good pictures if you're interested.
Gorgeousgardens. This is a 19th century house. The newer mansions are back in the hills. |
St Anne's Church |
Bad selfie but a great view |
Lighthouse marking the Mackinac Straits |
We met up again for dinner. John
had gotten a flat tire so we had to walk to the end of town to get it
fixed. Thousands of bicycles on the
island, and one repair store. A
delicious dinner at the Carriage House with a view of the harbor and exhausted,
we caught the ferry back to the boat.
Mackinac Island is a nice place to visit once, but unless you have one
of the huge old homes and spend the summer, one visit is enough. But I guess its quite a tradition in
Michicagn.
The island gets pretty isolated
in the winter when the lake freezes over and the ferry stops running, though if
the ice is really good then can drive across.
August 16, 2017
After finding a really classy little tea shop (and lattes) and bakery
and eavesdropping on some of the locals having coffee, that morning, we headed
out the Straits of Mackinac and into Lake Michigan.
It was 45 miles across to Beaver Island, a more modest, but lovely, summer island in northern Lake Michigan, part way to the Wisconsin side of the lake. We got to the dock just as the wind picked up and hard a tough time docking, but with some help from people on the dock and John’s improving skills we got in just in time. The wind really picked up overnight and we were really rocking and rolling all night. In the morning we understood the island’s nick name, “the Emerald Isle” since the weather was straight out of Ireland. Its actually named that for all the Irish that came here after the Mormons assassinated their leader, King Strang, who had gotten some delusions of grandeur, after breaking off from the church that Brigham Young led west and setting up shop on the island.
It was 45 miles across to Beaver Island, a more modest, but lovely, summer island in northern Lake Michigan, part way to the Wisconsin side of the lake. We got to the dock just as the wind picked up and hard a tough time docking, but with some help from people on the dock and John’s improving skills we got in just in time. The wind really picked up overnight and we were really rocking and rolling all night. In the morning we understood the island’s nick name, “the Emerald Isle” since the weather was straight out of Ireland. Its actually named that for all the Irish that came here after the Mormons assassinated their leader, King Strang, who had gotten some delusions of grandeur, after breaking off from the church that Brigham Young led west and setting up shop on the island.
We’re stuck here until the wind dies down, but had a nice breakfast at a
local bakery/deli and even got to play the nine hole golf course when the sun
came out for a few hours.
August 18, 2017
The wind has now completed a circle coming first from the NE as we came into dock, switching to south, then SE and now its from the West. Waves on the lake are 4-6 feet and intermittent to 8 ft. Waves are measure from the bottom of the trough to the top of the next wave. I'm not crazy about 2 ft. waves! Dad went to play golf. They picked us up yesterday but he decided to try to carry his clubs on his bike this morning. No moderation in that guy. From non biker to crazy biker in months. I'm doing laundry, watching the Solheim Cup and headed out to the shops and art galleries after lunch.
August 18, 2017
The wind has now completed a circle coming first from the NE as we came into dock, switching to south, then SE and now its from the West. Waves on the lake are 4-6 feet and intermittent to 8 ft. Waves are measure from the bottom of the trough to the top of the next wave. I'm not crazy about 2 ft. waves! Dad went to play golf. They picked us up yesterday but he decided to try to carry his clubs on his bike this morning. No moderation in that guy. From non biker to crazy biker in months. I'm doing laundry, watching the Solheim Cup and headed out to the shops and art galleries after lunch.