Lake Michigan

The waters of Lake Michigan are bordered by four states, and include Michigan, Wisconson, Illinois and Indiana.For most cruisers a trip on Lake Michigan includes a run down the lake from the Strats of Mackinac to Chicago as part of the Great Circle Route. What we did was the eastern shore from Harbor Springs, MI to Ludington MI and then crossed over the lake to Maniotwoc, WI and continued down the western shore to Chicago.

We arrived at Harbor Springs on August 18th , tied up at Stafford's Pier, had lunch at Dudley's Dock, shopped the great little stores, bought a Petosky stone and turned in pretty early. We seem to wear ourselves out in the little towns!!! The harbor was quiet and very pretty.

The next day we moved on to Leland and found it to be so different from what we have been experiencing. Leland Harbor was constructed by placing a breakwater diagonally along the shoreline with openings at both ends. The town is located just a couple of blocks to the east of the marina. Within a few steps of the Marina is a re-creation of a fishing village right on the water complete with dining, fish store [where we purachased white fish to cook for supper - yummy!!], cheese shop, wine, ice cream, and just about anything else you might want. Leland Mercantile was an awesome place to purchase groceries so we stocked up. We actually stayed a couple of days and wished we could have stayed more. It is definately one of those places to which we would like to return.

John was able to put battery and alternator temperature sensors in and fix the compus light. Both are great accomplishments that are making the journey easier.

Frankfort provided an opportunity for John to get another "high fade" haircut. The Marina is right off the main street on a beautiful park with a natural spring fountain. The next morning we awoke to the alarm at 5:00AM and a heavy rain storm that caused a sail boat to be towed in by the Coast Guard with a terribly splintered, broken mast.

We therefore delayed our south departure but were underway at 8:15 for Ludington in heavy swells that diminished as we entered the deep water. This is no small gift because we have found Lake Michigan no lady to take for granted. She can be intimidating at times.

We layed over in Ludington several days, rented a car to "do" Walmart, eat at Hamlin Huse, visit Pere Marquette Memorial and the beach where we met a Charter boat captain with his german short hair pointer who retreives like a lab in the Lake Michiagan surf. 0n Friday the 23rd we drove to South Bend and visited John's parents graves, Notre Dame Basilica [where Dad always wanted to go to mass as a boy], 1826 Donald Street[ to see the house that Dad built and John and his family lived in when he was a child], and then passed by Saint Joseph Hospital where he was born. It was actually a pilgramage. We prayed at the graveside and the Basilica and felt a real presence of Dad and Ada. It was difficult to leave. We placed a beautiful angel and plant on the headstone and then added some small pebbles as we left that we had found on the beach.

0n Saturday the 25th we drove to Alma, MI for a family reunion of Julie, Jake and Mitch's new family. We were so very pleased to be included and really enjoyed the whole family. They are a great bunch - warm, loving and fun to be around. The boys are absolutely awesome and spent some quality time catching John up with all their interests and adventures. The whole experience left us joyfilled and hopeful that we will do it again in the near future. Thank you, Wayne and Julie!!! Grandad and "Grandma Gail" loved it!

Next blog we will share our "crossing" and hopefully, bring us up to date. As we write this ,we are sitting on the boat in Chicago looking out at Soldiers Field.