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)