Northport MI July 31, 2016

It has been a slow but pleasant day in Northport. It started with Jim making a delicious western omelet. He worked really hard chopping up peppers, onions, cheeses, salami, etc. Marianna was very complimentary on our cooking, so we need to keep working to keep her respect. Earlier she had commented that warming up food that someone else made did not count as cooking - and we had thought we were doing so well!

Tonight we are having butter fried wieners with macaroni salad. This is one of Kerry and my favorite lite dinners. The recipe is from Joe's Diner that was in downtown Akron for years, near O'Neil's.

I have not commented on our new bug zapper yet, but it is a non-qualified success! There have been hundreds on little white bugs all over one side of the boat. Even with screens some have managed to get in. When I pass the zapper over them it sounds and looks like fireworks going off as they explode. Kerry will love it. The guy on the boat next door even asked me what that crackling sound was!

We got the bikes out today and took a nice ride to the boatyard and then on to the end of the bay. We stopped at a garage sale. I made an offer on 2 wood model car kits which was quickly accepted, so Jim and I each have a project car now. I got an old Mercedes and Jim choose an Auburn. I did a second bike ride later while Jim read and snoozed.

Today was the big shower day in Arlington, Va. All was in readiness when I spoke to Kerry early today. Barb sent a picture of the entrance display. Kerry painted the sign for the tea themed shower. She and Marty have been collecting tea cups and pots for over a year. I asked what was going to happen to all the stuff after the shower. Apparently that is undecided at this time.

Tomorrow we go to Leland, where Kerry and Jola will join us on Tuesday. I received a picture of Kerry after the shower was over. The picture says it all. Kerry said the shower was a great success. Everyone had a great time.

Northport MI July 30, 2016

Jim and I made the 8:00 bridge leaving Charlevoix. We both slept great at anchor last night and were up about 6:30.

I got to make the coffee today, thankfully! Continuing our cooking spree, I made blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Jim said they were very good and even moaned while eating them, a sure sign he enjoyed them.

We had no trouble pulling up the anchor, thanks to all the practice we had yesterday. I got up once at night and the lights ringing the lake were very pretty. Charlevoix is a nice harbor. So is Northport. It's very nice actually. It must have been remodeled. The bathhouse is very modern and air conditioned, a real treat. The view from Annie's top deck is beautiful. The trip to Northport was 21.4 miles and took 2 1/2 hours. The winds built as we traveled, but they were behind us making a nice following sea, speeding Annie along.

We took a walk around the docks and were very impressed with the quality of yachts here, and their maintenance. They have a lot of classy unusual boats, some of which we not sure what they were. We saw this sign which was pretty also unusual.

We went to town for lunch. Again we had a big one. Afterwards, Jim wanted to do a project so we did the one thing I had left, which was to replace the nonskid on the transom walk through. It took less than an hour to do, most of which was cleaning the glue left from the old nonskid tape. It's hard to believe that I have a boat and am out of projects.

Jim bought us draft beers at a local micro brewery. We enjoyed that with fresh popcorn, although Jim commented that it was not up to the standards Rudy sets with his popcorn. He really likes Northport and I heard him tell Jola they should visit here when they leave from Leland. We stopped at the grocery on the way back to Annie to get some peppers for the omelets Jim is making for breakfast tomorrow.

Snacks for cocktails on Annie were Doritos and wasabi covered peanuts. We just made sandwiches for dinner as we were not that hungry. We still have lots of food left, especially meats to grill. We are going to sit out on Annie's upper deck and let the day pass to night. The breeze blowing through the harbor is 15-20 knots, and it's just great to be here.

Northport Marina Beach

All is in readiness for Stefanie's shower. Here are pictures of the head table and of the kids table. Should be a big day tomorrow!

Round Lake Charlevoix July 29, 2016

The sunset last night was beautiful. 

Jim usually gets up before me. I think we wake at the same time, but I lay in bed a while listening to Fox and Friends. When I pop out he has his bunk all cleaned up and the coffee on. If I could just get him to like his coffee a bit less strong . . .

No water again in the bilge – yes! Jim took a long walk while I showered. I started to walk to a convenience store and we met. The convenience store was mostly booze and chips, but I got directions to a grocery. Today is a big cook day. Marianna did not give us credit for cooking since all we did was heat stuff already prepared.  So today, I plan to bake a loaf of bread and grill out a steak with baked potatoes. 

We are going back to Charlevoix, but plan on anchoring in Round Lake instead of docking. I was going to buy a pie for desert but I forgot to do so. Jim looked so disappointed. I passed a garage sale on the way to the grocery. I checked it out for fancy tea cups, but there were none. I passed a bunch of Queen Ann’s Lace which I would have picked for Kerry had she been here. She loves freshly picked weed/flowers.

We left East Jordan at 10:10 and were in Round Lake before noon. Jim was captain today and is responsible for our safe and on time arrival. After that things did not go as well. We had to anchor 4 times before we finally got settled where we were happy. The first issue is that the water is deep here, like 50+ feet. Neither of us has anchored in that deep of water. I have 100’ of chain, so for the first time we had to use the rope rode. That was no big deal until we tried to pull up the anchor and reset, and the splice kept coming out of the gypsy.

Our anchor dragged on our first attempt. We had hooked on to an old tree branch, or piece of an old ship or something. On our second attempt we ended up too close to the docks. On our third we ended up too near a powerboat. One boat we ended up too near was a sailboat from Vermilion. Our fourth attempt was successful in all respects. We enjoyed an anchor cocktail to celebrate. We had to get out the book of knots that I bought at a garage sale last year in Venice to learn how to tie a rolling hitch on the rope anchor rode.

It is really beautiful here - bright sun, breezy, blue waters.  It’s a perfect place to anchor and watch the world go by. For lunch we finished up the pulled pork, with chips and bread and butter pickles. I took the bread out of the freezer to rise and the steak out to thaw.

Then it was time to tackle our hardest project, restringing the broken cord on our day/night cabin blinds. We were successful about 1 ½ hours later. Since it was my boat we got to use some of my ideas along the way. Normally when we do projects together Jim only wants to use his ideas – the same way Kerry’s dad was.  

I sat in the sun and read Killing Raegan, by Bill O' Reilly. It was especially interesting as John Hinkley was just released from his psychiatric prison recently.

We had Doritos for cocktail hour tonight. We also had a great "home cooked" dinner tonight. We had grilled steak, baked potatoes and freshly baked bread for dinner, with a perfectly selected jug wine. So delicious! Marianna has to give us credit for cooking today! 

Meanwhile, the ladies are all working on getting the shower just perfect. Kerry is using her military training, Army, to get the duties done. She is having some resistance from Marty, Air Force, who is less disciplined. :-)

East Jordan on Lake Charlevoix July 28, 2016

It started to rain about 4:30 this morning. Poor Jim. I had not planned on it raining and had a bunch of stuff outside that I needed to bring in. I woke him up in the process. It was a gentle rain that lasted until about 8:30. I laid in bed listening to Fox news until about 7. Jim was up and had already made coffee and his bed. Good crew!

There was a Farmer’s Market that was really nice. It was the best one I have seen on this trip so far. We had cereal and bananas for breakfast, plus little white donuts. My morning water check showed no new accumulations – yes! I wrote to Mark at Parker and said to tell Dick Parker that I was filing a warranty claim for my water heater installation at his suggestion - $1.70 for pipe compound and thousands for mental anguish and suffering.  It appears the problem was a leaking fitting at the water heater intake. The leak happened to drop inside the area where the water tanks were located, and drained out from there. This is why I thought it was the tanks themselves leaking.

We did a final inspection of the bilge after our trip today. No water, and I even filled the water tanks today. I am officially declaring our water emergency over! And it appears the AIS and radio are working well together. It's too early to declare that for sure, but we did successfully do a radio check about 6 miles away, much better than before. 

We took a nice walk after our visit to the Farmer’s Market in Charlevoix. If Kerry had been here I am sure we would have purchased several things. Jim bought a t-shirt at a local shop. I overheard him saying that he was replacing my wife for a week. I asked him to rephrase that statement. We passed a home planning business in a little tiny building. Kerry would be good at a business like this.

The trip to East Jordan was 12.4 miles and took 1 hour and 45 minutes. Leaving the harbor we saw the sailboat that almost sunk and was towed in by the Coast Guard. Apparently the rudder broke off and water came in. It was a beautiful trip. Lots of interesting homes and boats to look at. We even passed a cable ferry where if you look closely you can see the cables on both sides of the boat.

The marina is small, but rustic. There are three attendants, although none came to help us dock, not that we really needed any help. One dock boy did recommend the Tilted Skillet restaurant for lunch. It was quite good but we both overate, so minimum food for dinner tonight, after our proper happy hour of course.

East Jordan is quite small, a perfect place to drop out of the world. It is pretty though, and has a big plant, East Jordan Industries. It is a company town for sure. They have a great old train engine right off the marina. It was made in 1908.

Doritos was the major snack with our cocktails tonight. Neither Jim or I was particularly hungry after cocktails tonight. I had a salad and leftover hush puppies from lunch. Jim added a sandwich to that. The East Jordan band was practicing while we enjoyed our dinner. We walked over and listened to them for about 45 minutes. It was a nice way to end the day.

Meanwhile the ladies in the family are off to Arlington VA for Stefanie's shower. Kerry, Anne, Aubrey and our sister in law Barb set sail about 1:00. Marianna and Peter sailed 12 hours from Kincardine to Sarnia today. Wow!

Charlevoix City Marina July 27, 2016

We finally made it to the City Marina, about 1:30. Jola and Kerry brought us over here this morning to sign up for the wait list. It's first to sign up, first come if there is a cancellation. We were the first on the list. They finally called. Since 1/2 of the day was over I should have only been charged 1/2 price I would think.

We got Kerry and Jola off about 8:15. Jim was in the dog house for rushing Jola. She thought she had left her sunglasses at the motel. Kerry was upset with me because she thought I was trying to rush her out. What a relief when we finally kissed them goodbye! :-)

While waiting for the marina to call - they said it would be at 10:00 - we tackled the first project, the leak. I had seen a drip from the water heater intake hose fittings yesterday. The nut was pretty loose so we put pipe compound on it and tightened it. No more obvious leak! There was water on the shelf holding the freshwater and wash down pumps this morning. I had dried it before bed last night. I am hoping it was just leftover leaked water. After our motor here, 1.6 miles, I found just a little water by the stringer. Again, I am hoping it also was leftover water. No new water on the shelf though.

Jim and I also installed the replaced AIS unit. Remember that the problem with the earlier unit ws that it degraded the VHF radio performance. We are not sure how this unit works yet. We could not get anyone to respond to a radio check, but did talk to the City Marina on the way in with success, but the test range was very limited. I was very happy to see that Mark from Parker Marine had pre-programmed it for me with my MMIS number and boat info. Thank you Mark!

We had a nice conversation with a fellow sailor, Bill, who has a Vagabond 47 sailboat. It is beautiful, but requires so much maintenance that Jim and I would run if someone offered to give us one. We offered to help him take his boat to his regular slip about 1/2 mile away if we were still here when it was time for him to go. He accepted our offer about 1/2 hour later. He docks his boat at Northwest Marine Yacht Club. We walked back to the Irish Boat Shop with him. At one time Kerry and I actually wanted a Vagabond 47. We had seen one with a tub in it at a boat show.

Bill's boat had a saying painted on a beam on the ceiling. It reads," Those that would go to sea for pleasure, would go to hell for a pastime." Interesting.

There was a nice newer Nordic Tug 42 in the harbor. We did not get to see in it, but it looked nice on the outside. It's amazing how the lines look so much like those of Annie. Not much change as the years roll and the feet grow.

Jim made our first lunch. It was microwaved pulled pork, Stella beer, spicy olive salad and chips. Yum. We called the ladies and let them know we survived our first scheduled meal. We have decided to go to East Jordan tomorrow, probably anchor Friday night and go to Northport Saturday. East Jordan is at the very end of Lake Charlevoix and Northport is at the top of Traverse Bay.

Jim and I took a kayak ride through the harbor. We timed it great because many racing sailboats were coming in for the evening. They are sailing home from the Chicago to Mackinac island Race. They were so beautiful. One black yacht must have been 70', so sleek looking, with a 4 spreader mast. Wow! Later we had cocktails on Annie's upper deck, and every time the bridge opened a new bacth of sailboats arrived.

Jim cooked again for dinner. This time we had Jola's egg plant parmesan.  It was very good. Two dinner's down and we are still going strong.

We took a nice walk after dinner, going out to the lighthouse at the end of the channel entrance. On the way back we saw a sailboat being towed in by the Coast Guard. It was almost sunk. The only thing keeping it up was the air bags tied to its side. We wondered what happened. They were towing it to the Irish Boat Shop where we were last night. It would have been interesting to see it when it arrived.

No new water in the bilge as we go to bed!

Charlevoix MI, July 26, 2016

It was another beautiful morning in Petoskey. We really like this town. If it wasn't for all the Michigan fans running around it could be a great place to live. But, today is our day to depart. Charlevoix is on the horizon.

I had morning coffee with Art and Steve and Bill, the regular fishing boys. Bill had his small mouth bass already by the time I got out there. He spends as much time as needed to get at least one keeper fish a day. I said good bye to Art as I was not sure our wakes would cross again.

We left Petoskey at 8:20. It was 17.4 miles to the Irish Boat Shop where we are staying as we could not get into the City docks. There is a night and day difference between the two. While the staff here are as pleasant as any we have met on the lake, it is a boat yard, verses the most beautiful harbor you can wish for.

I knew there was a bridge with a 16'8 clearance from LWD guarding the Harbor. I knew that it only opened on the hour and 1/2 hour. I knew that our 13'8" Annie would fit under it. But, what I initially forgot was that the water is 3' over LWD, which meant that Annie might not make it. So, I mistimed the bridge, arriving at 10:05, and had to wait for the 10:30 bridge to enter.

Sailboat passing under open bridge

I decided to take a walk while waiting for the Karpinskis to arrive. I had just started when I saw a 25' Ranger Tug drive into the parking lot. It was Art and Janet. They were supposed to motor their boat here, but decided to trailer instead. They decided to go to town to see if they could get a slip there. DNR said 3 were available, but all with only 10' of width.  I called to be sure we could not get in, and once again we could not.

We are docked right next to a beautiful Pearson Vanguard sailboat. It is the same boat our ASAP friend Steve France has. It is one of the first fiberglass boats, and is nearing 60 years old. I snapped some pictures and sent them off to Steve.

I do have one preliminary bit of possibly very good news. I found a line leaking from the side of the water heater. It was going at a good drip rate. This could explain the water I found on the shelf again today. I am not sure if it is leaking fast enough to cause all my problems, but I can hope. I tightened it and will watch what happens.

Jim and Jola arrived about 2:00. It was good to see them. After some ice water on Annie, we unloaded the AIS, faucet and electronic bug zapper they delivered to us. Then we went to downtown Charlevoix for a lunch for them and a snack for us.

We stopped in the City Marina office to see if we could get a dock for tomorrow, but were told to come back at 8:00 in the morning to sign up for the wait list. If we can't get a dock, we may just anchor in Round Lake where the City Marina is located. Shopping followed the marina office stop.

Kerry made a delicious salad for dinner that we enjoyed on Annie. We took a picture of the snacks and booze that Kerry and Jola got for us. Actually there is a lot more stuff than would fit on this table, but you can see that we are well supplied.

The plan is that Jim and Jola will come by tomorrow at 7:30. We will unload Kerry's stuff and load Jim's and be at the marina office at 8:00 to sign up for the wait list. The girls will be gone shortly after that and Jim and I will be on our own. Oh my! I did not see Art and Janet at the City Marina and they are not here anymore. I do not know where they went. (Turns out they went to Traverse City)

Kerry is so excited to go to this shower. I am very happy that we were able to arrange it so she could attend. She is traveling with Anne, Aubrey Emma, and our sister in law, Barb. Many thanks to Jim and Jola for helping to make this possible.

Petoskey MI July 25, 2016

We woke up this morning to beautiful blue skies and waters, brisk winds and white caps on the seas. The temperature had moderated quite a bit from yesterday. It was a perfect morning.

I decided to stop trying to get into the Charlevoix City Marina and just stay at the Irish Boat Shop where I have a reservation already. The GLCC Harbor Report made it sound very nice. We can bike to the city, about 1/2 mile I think. With that decision made, we decided to spend another day here, and just enjoy Petoskey.

The good ol' boys were fishing again. One chap caught a 17" bass. By 8:00 they said the fishing was done , and split. Art got his fishing poles out of his truck and some lures and we tried our hand. Nothing. Although I did toss my lure into a tree, not my most impressive cast for sure. One guy caught two big sheepshead fish and planned to keep and eat them. Yuck. We decided we needed some night crawlers to achieve success. We got night crawlers, but no fish. The good thing was that we stopped at McDonald's while out, and made the Princess quite happy when I returned with a sausage McMuffin.

After fishing I made up a batch of gel coat and tended to some nicks and cracks in the cockpit. Then it was time for a bike ride. We rode along the lake to the area with the beautiful houses we saw last night. We also got a good harbor view.

We rode through downtown on the way back, just to be sure Kerry had completed her shopping. I talked to Jim while Kerry was in a store. Jola has a big goody basket for us with rum, eggplant parmesan, powdered white donuts, M&M Peanut Candies, and more. Kerry has one for us with wine, chips, M&M Peanuts, pumpkin seeds, ginger snaps, pistachios, nacho chips, Doritos, powdered white donuts, and more. We have steaks, hot dogs, hamburgers, Italian sausages, etc. It could be a very fattening week!

Jim is ready to do projects on Annie. I hope the cordage needed to fix our broken window shade arrives at his house before he leaves. He is bringing up my new AIS unit. I'll get a second opinion from him on my leak. Mark from Parker Marine sent me a lengthy list of things to check and consider. 

Brillig is still in Tobermory. They are going to Kincardine tomorrow, continuing their trip home. They met a new set of friends with a brand new Ranger 29' tug. They must live near Lion's head in the Georgian Bay because Marianna mentioned going their next year. Our new friends, Art and Janet Earl, have a home in Sarasota. We might try to get together again next winter, as they are less than 25 miles from where we stay in Venice.

We fished during cocktail hour. Art agrees with me that every evening needs a proper cocktail hour. We caught a few fish. The biggest was a sheepshead Art caught. I got a little small mouth bass. Here's my fish and a picture of our fishing hole from Annie's top deck. It's the Bear River that empties into this area.

No big dinner tonight. We had the rest of yesterday's pizza plus we finished up some cheese dip, salami and sliced cheese. Kerry is cleaning out the food stores and packing for her trip to Washington DC. We fished a little more after dinner, but with no more success. We plan to depart for Charlevoix about 9:30. It could be a little bouncy tomorrow.

Petoskey MI July 24, 2016

The expected storms did not come last night. The system split in two and bypassed us. Art said that Mackinaw City got drenched with a heavy rain for a couple of hours.  It's been real dry here, so it was needed. We had a little sprinkle twice, but not enough that I had to close the windows.

I watched some fellows fishing this morning, right in front of our boat. Two nice small mouth bass about 16" were plucked out of the water. One fisherman used a regular hook, with a small treble hook about 5" underneath it. He strung out a night crawler, and dragged it along the bottom. The second hook was the one that caught the fish when it tried to bite the end of the worm.

Kerry was fired up to wash the boat today, so for the first time this trip I got out the soap and bucket and we scrubbed. I also filled the water tanks. I will have to fill them regularly since we now leak a steady stream of water. It must not be too fast a leak as the bilge pump does not run frequently. Sure hope it stays that way. It would be a major bummer if all 100 gallons gushed out.

Just as we finished washing the boat Art and Janet came motoring down the channel. They had traveled 39 minutes trailering their boat here. We have become good friends and were quite happy to see them. Art offered to take us to the grocery in his truck, which we gladly accepted. We ended up going to Bed, Bath and Beyond, Lowe's and Wal-Mart.

Cocktails were inside on Annie as a heavy mist/light rain developed. Afterwards we went to Duffy's Garage and Grill for dinner. It is a really unique restaurant, with lots of car part themes. Duffy's is best known for their pizza. We had a 4 topping pizza with a bottle of Chianti special that was delicious.

This chandelier is made of spark plugs, and the sinks in the restrooms are also unique. The urinals are made from beer kegs, but they were in use and I thought better of taking a picture.

After dinner Art drove us through the old residential area of Petoskey. It was really amazing. The homes were old Victorian, Craftsman type, all meticulously maintained and landscaped. One was more amazing than the next. It was so nice to be able to see this part of town. It was like we were transported back into the 1950's. From the deck of Annie we never would have known these wonderful old neighborhoods existed. Thank you Art!

Tomorrow we are going to call the Charlevoix City Marina at 8:00 to see if they have space for us. If not, I will try the Irish Boat Shop where we have a reservation for Wednesday night, and see if they can take us a day early The Karpinski's are coming on Tuesday, so we need to be in Charlevoix then.

Petoskey MI July 23, 2016

I have come to a conclusion about my water leak. I did not want to come to this conclusion. The first thing I did this morning was to open the bilge compartment to see if more water had accumulated overnight. It had. So, I think the water tanks themselves are leaking. I regret that this could be the case. The water tanks are, unfortunately for me, built into the hull. Getting to them is not possible without cutting away some bulkheads in the engine room. Mark at Parker Marine told me to pray that they never leaked. If I am right, this means that Annie will get some heated indoor storage at Parker's again this year for another significant repair. I think I am losing 2-3 gallons a day, maybe less. I will get a second opinion from Jim when he is here next week. Mark - are you ready for this?

After my shower I sat out and talked with Art. He is staying today and driving his boat to Petoskey tomorrow with his truck. Google says it will take him 59 minutes. It took us 5 hours and 40 minutes to travel the 46.0 nautical miles with an average speed of 8 knots. I called Kip on the way to ask him about taking a shortcut around the Gray's Reef Light. He said he did it with no problem, so I saved several miles.

Abandoned lighthouse at the beginning of Gray's Reef.

It was a perfect travel day for a powerboat. No wind and glassy looking water. It was quite pleasant and I sat outside for the majority of the trip. Here is a picture of Art's Ranger 25 coming into Mackinaw City Marina.

The first event of the trip today was going under the Mackinaw Bridge. My loon helped me navigate. As you can see, it stays near the chart plotter. You can see the bridge through Annie's window. The next picture shows a view not many people see - the bridge from the bottom!

It got pretty warm at the end of the trip. Too hot for me to sit outside. I even turned on Annie's pilot house fans for the first time this voyage. When we got to Petoskey I could see that the kids jumping off the breakwall had the right idea. When we tied up the air conditioners were on immediately. That and a rum and coke made the world right.

Petoskey is deep inside Little Traverse Bay. On the way back I think it will be shorter to go from Charlevoix to Mackinaw City so we will bypass Petoskey on the return.

We walked downtown later in the afternoon. It is a good downtown, with "real businesses" as Kerry says. It even has a J C Penney store. Everything at the Chico store was 30% off, so Kerry saved me a bunch of money on some earrings. Other than her teacup, that is the first thing she has purchased on this trip.

Every night it seems we have a different 3 digit bathroom and shower code. That certainly tests the memory of this old captain. It's getting to be a pain!

We had a nice dinner of fresh sweet corn and tomatoes with fresh basil. Lunch on the trip over was pizza slices with a fresh garden salad that was very good. Kerry did a great job of feeding her captain today. We had chilled water on the table served out of our elegant water pitcher, courtesy of Marianna. :-)

Marianna and Peter made it to Tobermory today, officially starting their trip home. They are a bit bummed to be on the last part of their summer cruise which I find quite understandable. We will be there soon.

Storms are forecast for tonight and tomorrow. We would like to wash Annie tomorrow if the weather permits. We have not actually washed the entire boat yet on this trip. We had been unable to get a Charlevoix City Dock reservation so far. I have one for Wednesday at the Irish Boat Shop, but not for Tuesday when we will be arriving. Touch and go at the moment. If need be, we can always anchor in Round Lake where the city marina is located, and kayak to shore.

Mackinaw City July 22, 2016

THE Donald (Trump) kept this Donald up late last night watching his convention speech, so I slept in a little late today. A shower was the first order of business, then coffee. I perked a pot of Traverse City Cherry and then sat outside talking with Art. About 8:30 I got Kerry up and she joined us outside with her tea. It was a very pleasant morning.

We left Mackinac Island at 9:40. We passed the Pearl Mist cruise liner as we left. It came in last night after we went to bed. This is at least the third time we have seen this ship on our voyage. It was 6.7 miles to Mackinaw City and took us one hour. So far we have traveled 594 NM.

The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island

The trip was pretty rough which was a surprise, since the winds were forecast to be light. The wind and current must flow through the narrow stretch of water under the Mackinaw Bridge. That plus the wakes from all the ferry's made it a bouncy, rocky trip. As usual, I had a bunch of water under the engine when we arrived.

We were so pleasantly surprised with Mackinaw City. It is our first time here, and we are totally impressed. The marina is right downtown. It is nice and modern. Kerry liked the laundry room that had three washers and dryers and no one in it. She made short work of our laundry.

We walked downtown while the laundry was washing. It is one of the nicest downtown's we have been in on this trip, if not the nicest. It is totally modern, clean and thriving. There is a great ship's store, fish store, tons of eateries and gift shops, hardware store, etc. All withing easy walking distance. We got a pizza for lunch and took it back to Annie to enjoy.

There is another marina here too, a state DNR marina, called Straits. I rode to it on a bike loaned by the marina. It is beautiful, has great floating docks and was almost empty. Most people use the city marina where we are it seems. I passed the icebreaker ship Mackinaw on the way, which is now a museum.

Kerry spent the afternoon writing her military memoirs for Anne. I sat up on Annie's top deck and smoked a cigar. It was really warm, too hot to do any boat work, even though it was a beautiful summer day. We finished our shopping in the late afternoon. I bought a little loon bird statue for my pilot house. I think loons are really neat.

Art and Janet came over for cocktails about 5:30. They arrived from Mackinac Island about 1:30 this afternoon. They brought some delicious Georgia cheese and summer sausage as a treat for us to enjoy. We visited for a couple of hours. You know it is a good happy hour when you take an intermission and then continue!

While we were enjoying cocktails a fellow boater walked up and showed us a picture she had taken of Annie while we were passing the DeTour Light. Ann Marie was her name, and she is on the beautiful Mainship Trawler named Hydrophilic. She and her husband John and also going to Petoskey tomorrow so we said we would have to meet up for cocktails. That was so nice of her to do that for us. Wow. John is a chemist and hydrophilic means attracted to water.

We would like to stay here another day, but the weather is good for traveling tomorrow, light and variable winds, but not Sunday. 15-25 knot south winds are forecast for Sunday. Art said they are not going to Petoskey tomorrow, but might join us Sunday. I thought no way that would happen because of the weather, but then he reminded me that if it is rough he would put his boat on his trailer and drive it to Petoskey! I had to chuckle at that, which was an alternative I never considered. The trip tomorrow should be about 50 miles.