Going Backward--Mackinaw to Leland

Terrapin finally made it under the bridge!!

Friday, Aug. 23^rd, we left Mackinaw City traveling under the bridge with Tom and Nancy Rea aboard Terrapin.  Around Grey’s Reef we were contacted on the radio by Marty and Suzanne aboard Alizann, the 48' Kadey Krogan that had been in front of us at Thunder Bay.  They too had just crossed under the bridge returning home to Charlevoix from their Superior adventure.  After visiting for a bit, they invited us to come to their home for dinner while we were in Charlevoix—an offer we accepted with delight. 

Alizann

Terrapin heading for Beaver Island

Shortly after clearing Grey’s Reef, Terrapin turned toward Beaver Island and we headed south to Petosky.  John and Mary Morgan aboard Passport were already at Petosky and we had a good visit with them that night in addition to wishing Mary  happy birthday a day early.  Susan and Chuck aboard Blue Moon and the crew of Barefoot'n (both loopers)  joined us for docktails.

 

Enchanting mushroom houses

Check out the landscaping!

Saturday we ventured on to Charlevoix which has to be one of the nicest stops in northern Michigan—beautiful town, wonderful marina, great beach.  Just has it all.  The landscaping around the mushroom houses on Round Lake was in full bloom, fun to compare to how it had looked when we were last here in mid-June. Tom and Nancy Rea were docked two slips away.  We talked them into dominoes and had a good time playing partners, except the men won all the games. 

l-r  Rusty, John, Tom, Jimmy, Zita, Barbara, Macy

Beautiful wooden boat in the boathouse
under Jimmy and Macy's condo.

Sunday, Jimmy and Macy, who we had met on the south shore of Lake Superior, invited us to cocktails at their summer condo home that evening.  Jimmy provided taxi service with his dinghy.  Their other guests were friends from Texas (Jimmy and Macy's winter home), Barbara and Rusty, and Charlevoix neighbors, John and Zita.  John and Zita’s boathouse has been featured on HGTV and the segment on their home is scheduled to air in October.  John was one of the founders of Four Winn’s boats.  All were very interesting and enjoyable people.  We later ate at Grey Gables and had a delicious meal.

Grey Gables

Winn's boathouse

During the afternoon Monday, Tom and I walked to the beach and hunted for Petosky stones and finally went for a dip.  The water was 68 degrees. Tom seemed to gravitate to the Petosky stones.  I found only one, but it was a beauty!  Petosky stones are prized finds here.  The Petosky is Michigan’s state stone—a marine fossil that was a colony coral.  The hexagonal pattern is due to the internal structure of the coral.  Shops feature jewelry made from fine examples.  President Obama even has one on his desk in the Oval Office.  ( http://www.petoskeynews.com/news/featured/pnr-white-house-courtesy-photopete-souza-20130121,0,6701849.photo)

Tom hunting for Petosky stones.

A couple of our finds.

 Monday  evening Marty (from Alizann) picked us up in his ski boat and took us to their home on an arm of Lake Charlevoix. 

Marty and Suzanne's home

Marty and Suzanne

They have just retired from East Lansing and moved full time to the Boyne City/ Charlevoix area.  It was such fun to ride in a small, fast boat and see a section of the lake we would not have seen otherwise. Suzanne prepared a fabulous meal with fresh farmer’s market veggies.  We ate on the terrace enjoying  a great sunset over the lake while comparing anchorages and adventures on Superior.  We have truly been blessed to meet amazing people all along this journey. 

Tuesday we headed off with Terrapin, destination Leland.  Plans changed when we reached the top of Traverse Bay and the weather radar screen started becoming mostly red and orange with lightening strikes popping up frequently.  We ended up ducking into Northport on the east shore of the Leelanau Peninsula just ahead of the storm.  Most of it went south of us, but we heard that Leland was taking a pounding so we were glad to have made the decision we did.

Wednesday the weather calmed and we went on to Leland.  Leland is such a neat little town.  We enjoyed it with Alice and David earlier this year and again on this stop.  We went to dinner with Tom and Nancy, eating at a restaurant right next to the roaring river that runs through town.

Thursday Lake Michigan was forecast to be smooth, so we said good-bye to the Reas and headed across to Wisconsin.  Tom and Nancy have been another wonderful part of the trip.  We are hoping to meet up with them on the river system somewhere.