Michigan

Monday August 16, 2021.
Temp: 75/56. Humidity: 54/93 %, Top Wind: W9 mph, Precip: none! SUNNY ALL DAY!, Miles Traveled: 73

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I was awake several time through the night, anticipating getting up before sunrise to skeedaddle out of here with the 6:30am bridge opening. I was awake at 5:00, and finally got up at bout 5:45, got dressed, started coffee, and went up to the fly bridge to check the windows. The side windows were still rolled up, which was good, but by golly, the rest were all fogged in with dew. I got out my trusty dew soaker towel and cleared them all, and opened the front windows so we’d be ready to roll. Time out for a quick picture. This was at 6:04, and “first light was officially supposed to be at 6:10. Back downstairs to finish coffee.

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Sunday August 15, 2021.
Temp: 78/59. Humidity: 52/90 %, Top Wind: SW10 mph, Precip: none! SUNNY ALL DAY!, Miles Traveled: maybe 3 on bikes

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A lazy morning with a premeditated plan to eat brunch out. Captain had scoped out a family diner just a little ways out of town, so after a cup of coffee and enjoying the back deck a bit, we got the boys (Speedo & Speedy) out and ready. It was an easy ride to the Flap Jack. Sunday morning had a lot of folks out for brunch, but we only had to wait a few minutes for a table. I had eggs florentine for the first time. It’s like eggs benedict except instead of a slice of canadian bacon, I got spinach and tomato with my english muffin, poached egg and hollandaise sauce. It was eggcellent!

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Sat-today August 14, 2021.
Temp: 74/57. Humidity: NICE! 30/77 %, Top Wind: NW8 mph, Precip: none! SUNNY ALL DAY!, Miles Traveled: none

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Traveling on the weekends is not our favorite thing to do. All the time-travelers and locals are out; coming, going, drinking, zooming, playing,…we’d rather not be in the middle of it. It was just as crazy at the marina in Charlevoix, but at least we weren’t trying to navigate through it. We could just sit and watch. And we did. This place was unhinged with activity today. The weather was a little bit cool on the water, but sitting in the marina was just about perfect. There was a big art show in the park, so there was a lot of activity all around us.

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Friday August 13, 2021.
Temp: 75/60. Humidity: NICE! 43/81 %, Top Wind: W14 mph, Precip: none! Sunny all day!, Miles Traveled: 18

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Today was going to be a fairly short day (except for compared to yesterday!). Only 18 miles to go to Charlevoix. The municipal marina and town are inside a jetty on Round Lake. We can’t get there too early since check out time isn’t until 11:00, but the weather was going to kick up in late morning. I suggested that we just get a move on and get there, and then if we had to drop an anchor in the lake and wait, that would be better than being out on Lake Michigan. So we pulled our lines just before 8:00 for our two hour tour.
This was Harbor Springs, and our spot was on the dock right behind that big white boat. It was beautifully calm here this morning!

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Thursday August 12, 2021.
Temp: 78/66. Humidity: 55/100 %, Top Wind: W11 mph, Precip: none!, Miles Traveled: 4!!

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We were only going to go across Little Traverse Bay from Petoskey to Harbor Springs. We didn’t want to get there too early, so we lollygagged around this morning. Our Michigan neighbors left….. and then came back. They were headed to Mackinac Island, but the farther out the bay they went, the rougher it was. They said it was a good idea to come back. That’s the thing about these Great Lakes. The forecast changes all the time. It all looked good last night, but it all changed this morning. And even if it doesn’t seem bad, the chances of it getting worse are just as plausable as the chances of it getting better. So if it isn’t great, don’t go. Especially when you have a sixty mile day planned!
We finally pulled lines at about 10:40 for our 45 minute, four mile voyage. I’m pretty sure this sets the record for shortest voyage. At least the engines did get warm before we got there.

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Wednesday August 11, 2021.
Temp: 85/68. Humidity: 52/100 %, Top Wind: W15 mph, Precip: evening rain, Miles Traveled: 10 on the bikes

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Today we lazed around awhile, then finally decided to take Speedy and Speedo for a spin. We both needed haircuts really bad, so I found a place up the way that takes walk-ins, as well as appointments. ”UP” the way is key here. 😳. I made appointments for both of us at 4:00. But then I realized that we were supposed to meet Ann & Steve of Hallelujah! for happy hour & dinner, and then go see the Petoskey High School steel drum band at a winery nearby. Parrot Bay Patty told me that if we ever had the chance to see and hear them, DO IT! I was so excited! So I found another place that takes walk-ins for haircuts, but their phone was busy, so we just headed out to go there. The Google gave me a bike route using bike trails, so this would be good. We hadn’t charged our bikes for a few rides now, so hopefully they’d have enough juice to make the journey. UhOh. It’s uphill. But we did ok.

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Tuesday August 10, 2021.
Temp: 76/70. Humidity: VERY! 75/100 %, Top Wind: S8 mph, Precip: 100% FOG 🌫 , Miles Traveled: 57

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This was our view this morning. Our goal was to get out of dodge before the ferrys started running. Most of them arrive here at Mackinac Island before 8:00, with just one scheduled to arrive before 7:00 (I think). So our goal was to leave by 7:00. Then we looked outside. WHAT?! FOG!! Now we REALLY need to get out of here! And you think… What? You WANT to go out in the fog? Some of the boats around us were also going to leave early, but we talked briefly with them out on the dock and they said they were going to wait another hour for the fog to hopefully lift. We decided to just GO! If the fog doesn’t lift, then we’d have to deal with forty seven ferrys IN THE FOG. Nope – we’ll go in the fog without the ferrys. So we tootled out just before 7:00.

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Monday August 9, 2021.
Temp: 76/70. Humidity: VERY! 75/100 %, Top Wind: S8 mph, Precip: Sun, clouds, thunder, rain, Miles Traveled: none

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First off – I just want to report that Murdick’s fudge is amazing! It is so creamy… not even a hint of granularness (good word?). We both loved it, and might have to get another chunk before we leave the island.
Second – yes, we had to move to a different slip. From slip 54 to slip 50. That was easy schmeazy, especially since we were able to time it to move while there were no ferry surges rolling through the marina.
Next, we headed out to go see Fort Mackinac. This is the walkway that goes up to the fort from town. After we were inside the fort, we watched a video, and I think this walkway has been here for over 100 years.

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Sunday August 8, 2021.
Temp: 72/68. Humidity: VERY! 83/100 %, Top Wind: SW10 mph, Precip: Rain, clouds, rain, Miles Traveled: 6!

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It was a soggy doggy morning. Rain, drizzle, sprinkle, stop, repeat. We were only going six miles today, and knew we should be out of our slip by 11:00 for new boats coming in. I went over to Parrot Bay to visit for a little while, then figured that we probably should get on our way. We dilly-dallied around and finally thought it might have stopped raining. We saw several boats coming in, so we pulled lines at 11:30. Mike and Patty came over to help throw lines and give hugs, and she took a picture of us as I sang “so long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, good-bye” 🎶 from the bow of Island Girl.

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Saturday August 7, 2021.
Temp: 73/60 Humidity: 78/100 %, Top Wind: E8 mph, Precip: fog then some sun!, Miles Traveled: a few by car

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Yay for another sleep-in day! 😴. And our friends know we are not morning peeps if we don’t have to be, so they didn’t even send a text until I did first. That’s a good friend, right there. 🥰. We set our exploration departure for about 1:00. Our first destination was to Castle Rock, and we wanted the fog to clear so that we would have a good view. It is another strange rock formation that has been here a zillion years. Mike explained it to us, and it has to do with a huge limestone ridge called the Niagara Escarpment. It runs from the Niagara river up and over to here in a U shape, and back down into Wisconsin. Something to do with unequal erosion of the different kinds of earth and stone resulted in some weird rock towers. Anyway…. my geologist friends would be fascinated. To me – this was a tall rock that we were going to climb up to the top of. 😬

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