Island fun, now island waiting

Fun on Mackinac Island, and now we’re waiting at Beaver Island until the weather clears.

Top line – we had three days of relaxing, sightseeing, restaurant-eating, and general frivolity on the tourist island. Janet and Cheryl flew home on Wednesday. Thursday morning Rick and I took Bob and Linda over to Mackinaw City, then sailed west 40 miles here to Beaver Island, which is out in Lake Michigan. It was great weather and calm seas. But last night the predicted strong winds come up and we must remain here until the stormy weather clears for our long cruise farther across the lake to Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula (the one sticking out from Green Bay).

As I type this, the weather is entirely different than when I took this photo last evening. I’m on Breaking Away anchored out in the bay and it’s raining hard, and it's dark as the worst of the storm approaches. Based on the forecasts, we’ll be here today and possibly tomorrow. At least it’s a well-protected bay.

Last evening it was so totally calm. After anchoring, we took the dinghy into the village to stroll. Cute little place. A ferry brings day-trippers here during the summer, when their population increases from the 500 full-timers. The island is most famous for the Mormon settlement here in the mid-1850s, when a fellow named James Jesse Strang broke away from the church and tried to establish a competing branch. He was assassinated by two of his disgruntled followers and mainlanders drove the remaining followers away.

The homes are quite nice along the waterfront, and so was the pub where we enjoyed a Michigan-brewed beer. We later returned to the boat, grilled hamburgers, enjoyed the setting sun in calm weather, and watched another All in the Family on DVD. We kept saying, "It doesn't get any better than this!"

Now, I’ll go back to Mackinac Island to bring you up to the present time…

After I posted my blog last Tuesday morning, I went for a long scenic hike with Bob Foley and Linda Young while my siblings did their own individual sightseeing. There was much to choose from on Mackinac Is. The homes are incredible, and this is one on the West Bluffs overlooking the straits that connect Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. Bob and Linda are Nestle/Carnation friends, now retired and living in Jackson, CA. They were going to vacation here this summer, and were kind enough to schedule their trip for when I was going to be here too.

Th funniest thing happened just as we began our first walk together. A woman passing us going the other direction suddenly stopped us and declared, "I've been reading your blog! I recognize you!" She and her husband were doing the Great Loop too, and she had been following my blog since we were just a few days ahead of them. It made me feel pretty special to be "famous", especially in front of two old friends! hahaha

Here are some more of the beautiful homes on the island. As many of you know, cars have been prohibited here since the “horseless carriage” days of 1902. Bikes are everywhere, as are horse-drawn carriages. There are even “buses” with three horses pulling. This gives the island a particular scent, but it’s all in the fun.

On our hike we went to Arch Rock, over-looking the lake to the east where we had suffered the day before. It was not as bad on this day. There are trails everywhere, and the weather was perfect and we enjoyed our exploring. Later in the afternoon, I rode my bike around the island (8.2 miles) a couple times. There were thousands of cyclists out and about, but I was the only one in cycling garb so it seemed a bit strange.

Another famous site is the Grand Hotel, where they filmed Somewhere in Time. Apparently there were so many tourists swarming the hotel and its grounds that they began charging non-hotel residents. I thought this sign was pretty funny. Only Cheryl among us paid the $10 and explored the hotel. She had been looking forward to seeing it ever since she found out we’d be on this island since Somewhere in Time is one of her favorite films, and sure enough, she loved her visit.

Fudge is another Mackinac Is. tourist staple, and about every second shop along the street sells it. I broke down and bought a slice, and then Rick and I bought three more before we left. Hmmmm, let me try a bite right now….

We all enjoyed the sights, the historical markers, the food, the drinks, the walking, the biking (Rick and Janet did lots of biking too), and chumming with Bob and Linda.

Here we are just before Cheryl and Janet departed. We four had a marvelous time during our 18 days together. So much fun and reminiscing and adventure and thanking Mom and Dad. Interestingly, I don’t know when will be the next time I’ll see my sisters.

Even the airport shuttle is a horse-drawn carriage! Here are Cheryl and Janet getting aboard with their luggage. Their little plane took them a short ways to another airport on the mainland, where they then flew to Detroit, then Salt Lake City, then Sacramento.

Later in the day, Rick and I did three loads of laundry, reorganized the boat, and cleaned up. I changed the fuel filter, tightened the alternator belt (again, the first time being June 1), and added a little water to the batteries. The four of us had a nice dinner at an Irish pub, followed by some more strolling to enjoy the mood.

What a change of weather we had Wednesday night! It POURED rain all night long and blew like heck. Normally, we can say “I’m glad we were inside the cozy boat.” However, Rick was sleeping on the flybridge, and despite all the curtains being closed, he and his things got all wet. It’s just not water-tight up there, and the storm raged and water got in, and he was too sleepy to want to move downstairs while it was pouring. We heard that the island got 5 inches of rain overnight!

It rained off and on during the morning, but finally ended about 9 am. So, Bob and Linda brought their luggage to Breaking Away and we departed our little haven port. We were taking them only a few miles away, to Mackinaw City on the mainland to the south, but it was a rough little crossing. Side-hitting swells rolled us pretty significantly, and it was not helped by all the ferries passing us and leaving big wakes. But we eventually got into the marina. Bob retrieved their rental car and we drove to a grocery market to stock up for the first time in over a week.

This photo shows us heading under the 5-mi-long Mackinac Bridge that connects lower Michigan with its Upper Peninsula. Its suspension section is the largest in the western hemisphere. We had said goodbye to Bob and Linda after unloading our bags of “man food” (hahaha) and doing a few other chores. It was still a little choppy but had improved greatly since we arrived a couple hours earlier.

We headed west toward the Wisconsin side of Lake Michigan. Along the way we passed this lighthouse, one of many on the lake. I heard there were 900 of them, the most of any of the Great Lakes.

As the afternoon wore on, the seas got calmer and smoother until it became glassy!! Wow, what a change!!! We hadn’t had it this nice since our return to Sault Ste. Marie across Lake Superior the previous Saturday. So, with Otto Pilot taking the helm, we could relax a little, as I was here.

It stayed totally placid the rest of the day. Now we have our bad weather, although the rain has stopped for now. It’s still blowing pretty hard. I just checked the extended forecast on the computer and tomorrow is now predicted to be much better, and importantly, the wind is predicted to be coming into us instead of from the side. If that holds up, maybe we can sail on tomorrow and reach Sturgeon Bay in Wisconsin.