M/V Nearly Perfect: August 2015

Monday, August 31, 2015

August 30-31, 2015 - Grand Haven

Finally a beautiful day. We left Ludington at 8:00 Sunday and arrived at Grand Haven at 2:45. The trip down was beautiful – smooth waters with a little cloudy sky. All area Loopers got on a call on the cruiser's radio station at 9:00 to discuss locations and conditions of the water – Spirit, Aunt Aggie, Tranquility, Fugitive, Palmetto Paradise, Bayou Gypsy, and Field Trip (through relay). Grand Haven is a great waterfront town. There is a great park all along the canal. The sun was out and there were people and boats everywhere. We docked at the city marina (with free laundry) and were entertained with a concert that evening. Following the concert, there was a light show on the hill across from the marina. It was a very unique show with about 7 fountains with various heights, configurations, and colors all to music. We spent Sunday relaxing and catching up on chores. We moved over to the free dock around lunch time, and then spent the afternoon wandering the interesting stores we found on the main street. We spent a nice relaxing evening aboard Spirit and stayed awake to watch another great light show. Evidently they have these light shows every night from Memorial Day to Labor Day. We have thoroughly enjoyed our two days here.

Nice smooth water

Docked at the municipal marina

Docktails with Spirit, Bama Dream, Fugitive and Camelot (they're hidden)

A view of the light show

Large ship going down the channel beside us - there were

several nervous small boats in front

Some of the art décor along the main street

View of the park and the hill across the channel where the light show originates

Spirit, us, Bama Dream and Gud Nuff

Big, beautiful spruce trees all over Michigan

Sunset over the canal

Aug -27-29, 2015 - Frankford, Manistee, Ludington

Our main goal right now is to get off of Lake Michigan. When the wind picks up, it is not friendly to boaters. We left Charlevoix at 6:45 am Thursday for a long, bumpy ride to Frankford. We arrived at 2:45 and were exhausted from the wind and high seas all day so we didn't see much of the town. We traveled with Spirit, Field Trip, Palmetto Paradise, Mazel Tug and Fugitive. Penny Pinchin' left earlier that morning and was waiting for us when we arrived. Aunt Aggie and Patriot were also there. We had our final (really, our final) docktails with Bob and Martha. They were leaving from Frankford to head across the lake to home in Wisconsin. On Friday we checked the weather and left Frankford for a 3-1/2 hour trip to Manistee. The seas were a little better and by the time we docked, the sun was out. Brian and Janice (Fugitive - new Loopers from Canada) were also with us. We had a nice evening aboard Spirit educating them on the Looper lifestyle. After a check of the weather on Saturday, we decided to delay leaving, so we walked into town for a great breakfast and then found a wonderful farmer's market. We then left about 9:45 for a 20 mile run to Ludington. The sun was out and we were finally back into shorts and t-shirts. Tranquility was there, and Aunt Aggie and Palmetto Paradise came in later. Ludington was a little bigger town, so we walked around for a while, had docktails with Tranquility and Aunt Aggie, and then headed back to town to dinner.

Lake Michigan is really deep (number at bottom left corner)

A lot of sand dunes along Lake Michigan

Jack, Martha, George and Martha - last docktails with Martha and Bob

View of Frankford docks

Entering Manistee channel

Janice and Brian (Fugitive) with us for dinner

Channel through Manistee

More lighthouses and sand dunes

Nice docks at Ludington (and pretty flowers everywhere)

Thursday, August 27, 2015

August 22-26, 2015 - Charlevoix, Traverse City, Harbor Springs

We left Mackinaw City around 8:00 for a fairly bumpy ride to Charlevoix. At first the seas were 1-3 ft, but later turned to about 3-4. It just meant we didn’t do much moving around on the boat and lunch was cheese and crackers. We docked at Irish Boat Marina around 2:30. Field Trip, Penny Pinchin', Palmetto Paradise, and Mazel Tug (Ralph and Linda) were all docked at the city marina, but it was full when we went by. We all met at Grey Mansion for a very nice dinner (the restaurant was very accommodating by sending a car to the marina to pick us up). On Monday we were able to move over to Charlevoix City Marina which is right in the downtown area. We were still dodging rain and cold but Jane and I walked around the downtown area and then walked by the "mushroom houses," designed by an architect named Earl Young. There are about 8 in Charlevoix. It turned out it was a perfect night for our chili dinner. The weather is keeping us here for a few days, so if you can't boat, you rent a car and visit places by car. Tuesday we went to Leland (where we ran into Martha (Aunt Aggie)) and Traverse City. The weather was still cool and rainy. We stopped at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and Jack (Spirit) and I climbed up one of the dunes. It was quite a climb but the views from the top were great. On Wednesday, we drove to Harbor Springs and Petoskey. We ran into Chuck and Vicki (Patriot) at Harbor Springs. We walked around there for a while and then drove to Petosky for lunch. After a stop at West Marine, we headed back for a Looper docktail party at the marina clubhouse.

Going under Mackinac Bridge - entering Lake Michigan

This was our view from Mackinaw City to Charlevoix - miles and miles of miles and miles

Welcome to cold, rainy Charlevoix

A hotel on the channel entering Charlevoix

A rainy day - had to duck into a bar while the rain passed

Huge, beautiful library

Big butterfly statue in front of the library

One of the mushroom houses

A very large mushroom house - currently being renovated

A small mushroom house next door

View of Charlevoix harbor

Main street in downtown Charlevoix

Climbing the sand dunes at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

A view from the top of the dunes

A view to the bottom (the two red dots at the picnic table below are

Jane and Jack waiting at the bottom)

Downtown Harbor Springs

Our lunch stop in Petoskey

What a Looper docktail table looks like (there were 24 people at this one)

Monday, August 24, 2015

August 21, 2015 - Mackinac Island

We finally woke up to a day of sunshine and little wind, although it was cold enough for us to turn the heater on in the boat for a while. Today was our day to explore Mackinac Island so we boarded the ferry for a 16 minute ride over to the island. There are only 2 motorized vehicles on the island - a fire truck and ambulance. No other cars are allowed. Bicycle rental is a big business there. Our first stop was Fort Mackinac which was the site of the first land battle in the war of 1812. It was under British control during the war. After walking through some of the stores and eating lunch, we hopped aboard a horse drawn carriage for a ride around the town and into the state park. We went past the famous Grand Hotel which is known for having the largest covered veranda in the US. The town was very quaint and was very crowded with tourists. Both Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island are known for the fudge. You can’t pass more than 2 stores without coming to a fudge/ice cream/candy store. The weather was great and we had a great time exploring this famous island.