TIM PATTI RILEY BIG ADVENTURE

8/22/17

We are in Leland, MI. Arrived Monday the 21st. We are weathered in & will probably be here until at least Thursday. The wind is roaring out of the WNW & the waves are boasting 6-8 footers. Temp is hi 60's to low 70's when the sun comes out. "Fish Town" is a National Landmark District. Next to the marina are old ice & fish shanties that are now specialty shops & an operating fish house. They sure draw a lot of tourists. On our walks with Riley we have seen large beautiful houses (summer homes?) & once again the flower gardens & the size of the trees continue to amaze me. We met Steve & Rae, who are on their 2nd loop. They kindly shared helpful information.

A little update on Mackinaw. We did take the ferry to Mackinaw Island. Once again due to Riley, we choose to walk around the island. It was a good day for it. Cool, windy & no sun. Eight miles. Riley was fascinated with the horses as he has never seen a horse before. He did well & just stared. I commented to Tim about the lack of birds (except seagulls) & small animals. When we got to the half way point, there was an information center, which showed numerous birds & animals native to the island. Never saw one. Talked to people that docked there & they would not do it again. With the wind & all the ferry traffic, they rocked constantly & never had a good nights sleep.
Once again, fudge is king.

Now for the stops on the way to Leland.

On Saturday 8/19/17 we arrived Petoskey, MI. We met some loopers that were about 1/2 thru as they started in FL. While walking the docks, we saw a port of call Sheffield Village, OH.(for those of you that don't know, Sheffield Village is pretty much next to where we live). We stopped to talk. David & Germain summer on their boat at the Petoskey Marina. He told us all about buying & bringing his boat back from FL. He also gave us much information about the ports along the MI coast & insisted we take his DNR Michigan Harbors Guide. It has proved very useful. We are hoping to cross his path when we return home.
Bear Creek runs thru Petoskey. We walked the trail along it & stopped to watch a fisherman pull in a King Salmon. WOW. It was quite a fight.
It seems Petoskey has some sort of festival every weekend & this was no exception. Food trucks, music & arts & crafts vendors. Great hand cut fries!
This marina differed from the others we stayed at, as it had a party going on, on almost every boat.

Sunday 8/20/17 we went to Charlevoix. That required running up a small river & waiting for a draw bridge to open. We narrowly averted disaster. A small boat cut in front of us just before we entered. He appeared to have no clue we were there. He was talking to his passengers & weaving all over. Our horn was not charged,(that will not happen again) Tim yelled at the top of his lungs & the guy got out the way just in time. Tim was able to use one of his favorite words...MORON. We were in neutral just waiting for the bridge & the rest of the traffic. Scary. 😱
Charlevoix is a nice town. We were able to put the dinghy in & go for a ride on Lake Charlevoix. The beach had a row of very colorful cabanas, but try as I might, was unable to spot any cabana boys.👀 Darn.
We were docked next to Richard. He bought his sailboat from Bob Seager. When he bought it, the only thing it didn't have was a radio!
Riley got a bath & now smells better. That is important in these close quarters.
Had breakfast at a small place where everything was homemade. Sausage, bacon jam, challa bread & jelly. It was good, but we still miss our breakfasts at Bay Diner. Hi to everyone there. See you when we get back.