Ludington and the Travis Family

AWEIGH left Frankfort Sunday on a beautiful clear day. The ride south to Ludington was smooth and enjoyable and on our approach to Ludington, we were able to cruise close enough to the shoreline that our friends the Travis’ could see me waving to them at their cottage, the Summer White House.

Harborview Marina, where we docked, is one of the nicest facilities we have stayed in during our entire trip. There are many amenities including a pool, workout room, separate library room and a nice large clubhouse.

Sunday evening Ed and Irene came for happy hour on the boat, followed by dinner at a popular local restaurant, Steamers. We had lots of catching up to do with the Travis’.

Monday was spent at Epworth at the Summer White House. It is tournament week so we watched Lynn Kavanaugh (Travis’ daughter) play her first match which she won. The picture is Lynn and her Dad. By the way, Lynn and our daughter-in-law Julie are best of friends. Ed, the master “barbecuer”, prepared wonderful chops for dinner and we were joined by Tracy Cain the daughter- in-law of our good friends Ann and Dan Cain.

Today (Tuesday), we were up early to see the S. S. Badger pull out of port and take it’s picture. The designation S.S. is for steam ship and it’s the only large ferry still operating in all the Great Lakes that is coal fired with original steam engines. It has been designated as a historic site and is truly a sight to see as see sails back and forth from Ludington to Manitowoc, Wisconsin twice daily. Badger at 410 feet long was and still is, the largest ferry to ever sail the lakes and was designed and built to handle railroad freight cars, but now only automobiles and passengers.

After breakfast, we called for public transportation—what a deal—they arrived in ten minutes and for one dollar each (senior citizen rate), took us to the clinic where I had my stitches removed in very little waiting time. The doctor thought my foot looked very good and it is much more comfortable without those eight stitches. Irene was going to take us there but we wanted to try the public transportation system and it is slick! I say this about every town, but Ludington is another charming, clean, friendly Michigan town. Later this afternoon we’ll get together with Ed and Irene, to have dinner together.

Today, Tuesday, is our grandson, EVAN’S third birthday! We’ll call him later today.

Wednesday morning we head further south to Musegeon. It has been quite hot here the last few days and I think the warm weather is preparing us for our return to St. Louis.

Judy

After leaving Grand Travis Bay, AWEIGH cruised leisurely down the coast of Michigan to the town of Frankfort. We passed the white cliffs of Sleeping Bear Park, which because of the partial fog and rain, we were unable to see and enjoy. Frankfort is a harbor of refuge which means that the entrance and inner harbor are protected from the storms on the lake. The light house marking the entrance is a 72 foot tall light and must have been a welcome sight to mariners of years ago.

The town of Frankfort is a charming small town with the ‘downtown” located just a short walk from our Jacobson Marina. We had dinner at a local restaurant last night and returned again this morning to wander the street sale which had the whole downtown area blocked off. (The picture of the street sale is interesting if you double click on the picture. That corner building was built in 1868). Of course, we had to visit the town bakery for coffee and a special local pastry…good. Further down the street by the municipal marina, there were about three dozen tents set up for an old time “Trapper Rendezvous” which was interesting to visit and view some of the rustic crafts available. Local musicians entertained the large crowds wandering the town.

Judy headed back to the boat to take advantage of the clean laundry in the marina and catch up on some laundry chores. (It’s hard to do sheets in our tiny washing machine), I stopped in the local drug store and who should I run into, but our neighbor and condominium president, from Country Club Terrace, Jack Taylor. The Taylors have been coming to this area for years and enjoying the cool summer weather and charming town of Frankfort.

We plan to stay again tonight and then head toward Ludington tomorrow morning.

Ned

Visiting Friends

Friday, July 27th –

This week has been a lot of fun traveling from one charming Michigan town to the next and visiting friends along the way.

Monday we were in Boyne City where we hooked up with our Florida neighbors, Ed and Nancy Weise who were in the area in their Motor home. They were kind to race up to Boyne City from Traverse City and take me back to Petoskey to see the orthopedic doctor about my foot. Ned had tried to get a rental car but none were available in the small town of Boyne City. After sitting in the doctor’s office for two plus hours, we enjoyed lunch and toured Petoskey before returning to the boat.
The next morning, after breakfast together we went to Charlevoix with Ed and Nancy and enjoyed shopping and seeing the unusual stone mushroom houses. Of course, we forgot the camera and so did not get any pictures of these unusual homes.

That afternoon, Jim Johanson picked us up in Charlevoix and took us to visit their lovely new home on Torch Lake. Jim and Katie are old friends, in fact, he was best man in our wedding almost forty five years ago! Jim is a long time competitive sailor and had to take Ned out on his new E boat. But with no wind, they quickly returned and we all took a ride up Torch Lake in Katie’s old (but completely rebuilt) “woody” power boat. After a great dinner together, they drove us back to our boat. Unfortunately, we had not taken our camera to Charlevoix and so did not have it with the Johansons, so we don’t have their picture to post.

Dale and Kathy Frost, longtime Kirkwood friends, also entertained us at their wonderful cottage on Elk lake. AWEIGH had pulled into the town of Elk Rapids and they came by and picked us up. We had a wonderful dinner there at their cabin, with steaks and fresh corn on the cob, followed by Kathy’s special blue berry pie for desert. Dale is quite a wine expert, with a wonderful cellar of outstanding wines, and provided special wines for the evening.. Dales’ sister Jeanette was visiting them and she was most enjoyable company for the evening. Their Michigan home is decorated by Kathy and reflects her many artistic talents.

We also had a nice visit with Jerry and Sandy Bedacht and their grandson Bradley who have a cabin at Suttons Bay. Jerry and Sandy are Gulf Harbour friends and it was fun to enjoy cocktails and watch the sun set as we looked out over the lake from their house. The five of us enjoyed a great dinner in Leland at the “Bird”as the popular Bluebird Restaurant is called. Jerry and Sandy wanted to be sure we didn’t lack for fresh fruit so they supplied us with wonderful Michigan cherries, blueberries apricots and red raspberries. Ned has “pigged out” on all the fresh fruit!

After this week, I can certainly see why people head for Michigan in the summer---ideal temperatures, beautiful lakes and small charming communities. Does it get any better?
My foot is healing nicely and I should get the stitches out early next week. AWEIGH is now in Frankfort, Michigan. This part of our trip is winding down and I am anxious to get home to St. Louis to see our grandchildren and to go to Coldwater. We should be there by mid-August.
Judy

Slight accident for Judy

This also is rather old, and written four or five days ago, but unable to post it on the Internet. Very slow dial up connections.

This morning (Sunday, the 22nd), we left elegant Bay Harbor after having real strong coffee in one of their coffee shops, and had to buy some scones for breakfast for tomorrow. We were headed for Boyne City at the end of Charlevoix Lake to meet several friends and to have the oil changed. It was a relatively short trip, so we cruised along slowly on a beautiful day with perfect weather and sea conditions.

Reaching Boyne City, we were backing into the assigned slip, when a gust of wind caused the boat to head toward an adjoining boat. In attempting to control the boat, I bumped the swim platform into a piling. Judy was standing on the platform to hand off a line to a waiting dock hand and was barefooted. Unfortunately, her fourth toe (next to the little toe) on the left foot got pinched between the swim platform and the rear of the boat as I bumped the piling. It was not until she saw the blood running between her toes that she realized what had happened.

One of the college students working at the marina, drove us immediately to the nearest large hospital back in Petoskey, about twenty miles away. At the emergency room, the doctors gave us the verdict as they stitched her up, that she had lost the tip of the toe and some bone structure. After several hours in the hospital, she is back aboard AWEIGH, with her bandaged foot up in the air waiting to visit the orthopedic doctor tomorrow. Stay tuned for future developments. By the way, we were most impressed by the professional and friendly service in emergency room and she didn’t have to wait at all.

Here's an update, since we wrote this several days ago. She is doing fine and the toe seems to be healing properly. She did have eight stitches and did loose the last or top bone in her toe. I call her Stumpy now. We added a picture of the sunset that evening, just to prove that we still enjoyed the sunsets, even after the accident.

North Channel to the U.S.

O.K., we are very delinquent with the website, but the Internet connections have been poor or almost non-existent. Many of the small towns only have very limited dial-up service which prevents uploading of pictures. These notes were written about a week ago and we could not get them into the blog site.

As an update, we last talked about the Georgian Bay and we left you in Kilarney, Canada. We cruised the North Channel which many believe in perhaps the finest cruising area in central Canada. The area is beautiful with crystal clear water, pine covered hills and scenic views around ever corner. Because of a break in the weather and reduced winds, we elected to move right along and did not visit all of the North Channel that we originally planned. Monday, we spent a quiet night, eating aboard in Drummond Island which is just inside the United States boarder. Visiting Canada was very special and we loved the people and places, but it was also good to get back to the U.S. and not have to think metric anymore!

The next day, Tuesday, we were underway early and headed down the Detour Passage from the North Channel into Lake Huron. As we entered the lake, AWEIGH ran into a solid fog bank. Since there were large freighters sounding their fog horns around us, we quickly hurried back into a small bay and anchored to await the fog burning off. After about two or three hours, we decided to continue into the fog, sounding our horn at two minute intervals as required. It was a bit of a white knuckle trip, but eventually the fog cleared and we made it into Mackinaw City and all the tourists.

The first picture is the Mackinaw bridge which is fifty year old this week. We went under the bridge and passed from Lake Huron to Lake Michigan.

After an evening among hundreds or perhaps thousands of tourists in Mackinaw City and the tee shirt shops and fudge stores, we headed out into Lake Michigan on a very windy and bumpy ride south to Petoskey, Michigan. There was no room in the municipal marina, so we elected to seek dockage in the Bay Harbor area. This is a very exclusive community about four or five miles from Petoskey, which boasts huge homes around the entire bay. Supposedly, Madonna and the founder of Ebay have homes here. There were three large hotel complexes, and eight or nine restaurants. The pictures really don’t do justice to this exclusive complex. The pictures are of some of the homes around the edge of Bay Harbour.

Thursday evening we headed to bar/grill at the end of our dock, expecting not much of a crowd. Wrong, the place was jumping and we barely got in. The next evening, we celebrated someone’s birthday in a very nice restaurant in Bay Harbour. It’s no fun having some “big” birthdays.

Friday we took a cab to town and walked all over this historic town (on the National Historic Registry), including having lunch at Jepsenson’s Café and Pie Shop, which has been serving food continuously for 104 years. Best slice of coconut cream pie I’ve ever had.
Saturday morning after breakfast at a Bay Harbor pancake house, we decided we were brave and wanted to go back into town for the Art Show in Petoskey. Only this time, we elected to ride our bikes, which sounded easy since it’s only about three miles. Wow, did we fight those hills and traffic, but we made it and enjoyed the show. Fortunately, because we were on bikes, the purchases were limited, but they really had some very good items in the show. Returning by bicycle did us in and we decided to stay aboard for dinner and a quiet night. Bay Harbor is quite a place and we hate to have to leave.

Ned

From Locks to Rocks

( We're having trouble uploading pictures on very slow internet site )

After completing the forty eight locks of the Trent-Severn waterway, our next challenge was the small craft route of beautiful Georgian Bay. We had planned to leave Midland on Saturday morning however, there were heavy rains so we stayed in port and did menial but necessary jobs like laundry and bill paying.

Sunday, the skies cleared and we headed north for Killbear Park. The route wound around coves and in and out of some rather narrow passages, but the scenery was magnificent and the shoreline was dotted with cottages in many areas. There were however, large rocks or boulders in the water so it was necessary to keep a sharp look-out. At several locations, the channel markers were only twenty or thirty feet apart, indicating a very narrow opening between the rocks. One channel was so narrow that it was impossible to pass another boat. We stopped for lunch at Henry’s, a place you can reach only by boat or seaplane and the black board out front announced a recent bear sighting! The pictures however, don’t show the wonderful fish sandwich we had for lunch

After arriving at Killbear, we met a Canadian couple, Jan and Bill Stover who were just returning in their dinghy from a friend’s cottage where they met Barbara and Arthur Scharff from St. Louis. Barbara is the daughter of our Country Club Terrace next door
neighbor, Pat Bushman Talk about a small world !!

Monday morning was clear and cool but beautiful. It’s hard to realize that down in the Midwest or Florida, it’s hot, but up here, we start off each day with a sweatshirt or jacket to stay warm. It does warm up into the high 70’s later in the day. Again we left early and took the small craft route through the rocks to Point Au Baril where there is a pretty lighthouse. Here we chose to cross the Bay to Killarney, Ontario the most northern town on the Georgian Bay. We docked at the Killarney Mountain Lodge, a nice facility with meeting, hiking, camping, boating facilities, and a warm, inviting dining room. Later that afternoon, we walked all four streets of Killarney and then returned to go exploring in the dinghy. What Fun!
Tomorrow we enter the North Channel. The Georgian Bay has been beautiful and challenging. It has been quite a ride!
Judy

Midland, Ontario and friends

Thursday morning we arrived in Midland where we stayed at a wonderful full service marina called BayPort. After docking, we called our Florida and Shores neighbors, Alex and Bobbie Jarlette who reside in Midland in a lovely home, right on Georgian Bay. Thus began two busy day of visiting and sightseeing.

The Jarlettes took us on a tour of Midland before having lunch. In the afternoon, Alex took me to the grocery store while Ned waited for a man who was to do some minor boat repairs for us. That evening, we had cocktails at the Jarlettes and were joined by good friends, Jack and Janice Swick who were on the 2005 Bahamas trip on Alex and Bobbie’s boat . We then enjoyed dinner together at a Greek restaurant. The pickerel was delicious!

Friday we did more sight seeing. It was a treat to be off the boat and to ride in a car with the Jarlettes to see the countryside. We especially enjoyed seeing some of the residential/nursing homes that the Jarlettes own, including one under construction. They are wonderful facilities with charming senior residents and warm and friendly staff.

Dinner Friday evening everyone was at the Swicks lovely home which is also right on the Bay and like the Jarlettes, has an unbelievable view of town across the bay. Janice had a wonderful meal with huge steaks that Jack cooked. His martinis where also outstanding.

It was a wonderful two days but it is time to move on. We thank our friends for their hospitality. I must add to our Florida boating friends that seeing and cruising Georgian Bay.

Judy

Trent Severn and the Big Chute

You haven’t heard from us for quite a few days, but we are doing fine and moving along through Canada. We have not posted on the blog for several days because in several areas we had limited phone reception and also because the roaming charges are pretty exorbitant.
Just to bring you up to date, Last Sunday we traveled to a small town called Fenelon Falls where we docked on the lock wall and walked around the small town. I saw a gal with a St. Louis t-shirt who were “Loopers” also. Mike and Cathy Cahill are on Xplorer and they now reside in Virginia. We had a pleasant dinner together with the Cahills and with Mike and Pat Sullivan from Knoxville,TN whose boat is Irish Ayes.

Monday we were in Orillia, Ontario. The excitement of that day was a big commotion that I heard shortly after we docked in the marina for the evening. Since Ned was showering, I walked out to find the local police hauling a drunk out of the water who had been hiding under our swim platform after falling out of a small boat in the harbor! They put him in handcuffs and took him away.

Tuesday we continued on the waterway until rain storms hit in the afternoon and we were forced to pull in at a restaurant/small dock called Waubic—it wasn’t even a town and had no road access. The owners were delightful people and we even met a Canadian couple who winter in Cape Coral. The Fish and Chips at Waubic were delicious.

Wednesday morning the weather was a little better so we continued on to the next lock that is another highlight of the Trent-Severn waterway. It called the Big Chute Marine Railway. That was quite interesting and we have included pictures. It’s a marine railway where they load your boat onto a large carriage on rails. Then the carriage, boat and all, are hauled on railroad tracks up or down about sixty feet. It’s a weird feeling to have the boat out of water and traveling over land. Fascinating operation.

Later that afternoon the weather got very windy so we were again forced to stop at the lock wall to spend the night and wait for conditions to calm down. We enjoyed visiting with Bob and Claudia Finlay on the Claudia J who were traveling in the opposite direction from us. The Finlays are from Exeter, NH. Thursday morning we passed through Port Severn, the last of 44 locks, thus completing another segment of the trip. We entered the Georgian Bay and headed for Midland Ontario!

Peterborough and the Lift Lock

After a day or two of lousy weather, rain and cold, life is good again. It’s bright, sunny and almost hot. We thought our weather changed fast in the Midwest, but it sure does here also.

Yesterday afternoon, we pulled into the Peterborough Municipal Marina which is located in the center of town. The previous night had been spent tied to a seawall just outside a lock in the very small town of Hastings. It had rained all day on Wednesday and standing out on deck in the constant rain, handling lines at the half dozen or so locks that day was miserable. We were beat and ready to stop anywhere just to start the generator and get warm.
Last evening we had dinner in a local restaurant with cruising friends, Wayne and Karen Franklin and Renny and Merle Teetaert, with whom we had spent a great deal of time together in the same locks in the rain on Wednesday. Wayne had come by late in the afternoon yesterday bearing a bottle of his home made wine which we are anxious to try as soon as possible. It was a fun evening together and we enjoyed their company. Renny and Merle were flying back to Manitoba, Canada today, so we wish them well.

This morning Judy and I peddled our bikes through the downtown area of Peterborough, up and down many hills to Lock 20 of the Trent-Severn, better known as the Big Lift Lock. What a sight that lock is to see from the shore and tomorrow morning we’ll go through it on our way west.

Let me copy from the cruising book to describe this 1904 engineering marvel. “A hydraulic lift lock works like a simple balance beam scale. A boat enters a huge tank shaped like a giant cake pan. Parallel to that chamber, but 65 feet up on a big piston, is another chamber, a twin of the tank below. The water in each chamber weights 1500 tons (330,000 gallons). When the upper chamber is filled with an extra foot of water, the increased weight in the upper tank forces the lower tank, boats and all to rise on its piston, while the upper tanks sinks down.” Sounds simple, but what a structure that’s over a hundred years old.

Pictures probably don’t do justice to seeing large vessels, rising up 65 feet in the air, then sailing out of the tub on down the canal. It’s the largest hydraulic lock in the world and is a remarkable operation to see.

We biked back downtown for a quick lunch in a French café’ and back to the boat this afternoon for a few maintenance chores. Judy has already picked out among the many international restaurants here in Peterborough, a little spot for dinner called Brio Gusto…sounds French to me.

Both of us hate to leave Peterborough, since we’re missing a concert tomorrow night right next to the marina where they have a wonderful summer series with big name entertainers, but we need to keep moving.

Ned

Remember, you can double click the pictures to enlarge them.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!

I never expected to see a cold rainy Fourth of July---usually it is sweltering hot and sunny at Coldwater and in Kirkwood. BUT, we are in Hastings, Ontario it is cool and rainy! Yesterday’s travels took us on the Trent Severn Waterway to Campbellford, Ontario from Trenton, a distance of 31 miles. It took us all day—literally from 8:15 am to 5:00pm. Not quite as efficient as the Erie Canal Locks when Weises were with us—but, we finally arrived in Campbellford. Docked at the city dock and rode our bikes around the little town.

This morning we went to Tish’s Restaurant for breakfast. Next, we visited the local bakery and the farmer’s market before returning to the boat to get on our way. It rained almost all day—three outfits for the captain and four for the first mate because we had to be outside while transiting the locks-- but we finally docked here in Hastings. We are “on the wall” outside the lock. Captain Ned made an emergency run to the local liquor store. The Fourth of July message from Bob Swearingen was very good and appreciated!

Hopefully, the weather tomorrow will be fairer, but the forecast is not too promising. Stay Tuned.

Judy

“Oh Canada “

Our plans were to leave Clayton, New York yesterday but we found out it was Canada Day, a national holiday in this country. Since there were no available marina docks in Kingston, Ontario we stayed in Clayton. After a morning of boat maintenance and reading, we walked back to town where the Methodist Church Strawberry Festival was advertised on every street corner--- Mighty good, and mighty BIG strawberry sundaes. Last night we were able to see the fireworks from our boat which was very nice since the temperature dipped to 45 degrees! It has been quite cool—at least for us-- and we have decided these are hearty folks up here. Ned and I are wearing jeans and sweatshirts and they are donning shorts and sleeveless shirts.

This morning we went to Kingston, Ontario but docked only long enough to clear customs. Vessels entering a foreign country are required to fly a yellow quarantine flag and only the captain is allowed to set foot ashore until cleared by customs. That process went quickly and smoothly and we were on our way in a matter of forty minutes. We are now flying a small Canadian courtesy flag, while guests in their country. Of course, we still fly the American flag on the back of AWEIGH.

Arrival in Trenton, Ontario was about three this afternoon and we look forward to starting the Trent Severn Waterway tomorrow.

Judy

Clayton, New York and Friends

O.K., we’re a little behind in the blog, but we’ve been busy, so this one is a little long.

Thursday morning we left Oswego, with the weather looking rather dark and overcast and headed out into Lake Ontario. Our thirty mile run across the corner of the Lake was a little bumpy with four to six footers rolling in with an approaching weather front. Once we reached Cape Vincent, which is the entrance to the St. Lawrence River, and got into the lee of the islands, we were fine. The St. Lawrence River is huge and deep, and runs almost a thousand miles north and east, past Montreal before it reaches the Atlantic. Our journey up the river was only about twenty miles to the town of Clayton, New York and the area called the Thousand Islands. They say there are over 1800 islands.

AWEIGH was moored at the town municipal dock directly in front of the newly opened Shipyard and Antique Boat Museum which of course, we had to visit the following day. Perhaps the most interesting vessel there was the 110 foot houseboat built in 1901 for the Boldt family, but more about them later. Clayton is a wonderful little town that has enjoyed the tourist trade who come for the fishing, sightseeing and cool weather, for over a hundred and fifty years. A one time there were over twenty large hotels catering to the people who came north to escape the heat of summer and enjoy this area. The old town area has restored old buildings with plenty of shopping and eating places.

Friday afternoon, Ed and Nancy Weise returned, bringing their guests Bill and Jodi Martin who had joined them in their motor home. Although, the Martins live directly above us in Gulf Harbour and the Weises live below us, we all enjoyed the opportunity of getting together again. That evening we had dinner at the only hotel still operating and which has been serving meals continuously for 110 years. The Thousand Island Inn also has the distinction of being the originator of the well known Thousand Island salad dressing. Everyone had a fish dinner of haddock, perch, or walleye and the servings were huge and good.

Saturday morning the Martins and Weises spent exploring the Antique Boat Museum while I had to get a haircut in the only town barber. He said he had been cutting hair in the same shop for forty four years and saw no need to update his shop of one chair. It was like a barber shop out of the thirties or forties, but a good haircut. He was still shaving some local men.

After a hot dog lunch from a young street vendor, we boarded a small sightseeing boat for a narrated trip about ten miles further up the river to visit the Boldt Castle. After passing island after island with larger and larger summer homes, we reached the area known as Millionaires row where over a hundred years ago, very wealthy men built elaborate summer retreats. The largest estate was built in 1903 by George Boldt who wanted to have built, a Rhineland style castle for his wife. They had stayed on the 110 foot houseboat which we had visited in the Boat Museum, while over three hundred craftsmen worked three years building this stone, six story castle with over 120 rooms. But in 1904, tragedy struck before the buildings were totally completed. Boldt sent a telegram ordering all work stopped. His wife had died suddenly and he was heartbroken. He never returned to the island and the buildings sat vacant for over seventy years until given to the Thousand Islands International Bridge authority. They have since spent millions restoring the property which is an ongoing project. The pictures do not do justice to the grandeur of the castle and buildings.

Although, we had a cool and slightly wet ride back to Clayton on our tour boat, everyone warmed up aboard AWEIGH during happy hour and several rounds of Shanghai card game. Dinner was up the street at a local spot, because it was close by and we wanted to return for one last game. Nancy was the big winner.

The Martins will spend the next week or so, traveling with Nancy and Ed in their motor home, as they tour this beautiful area of northern New York State and Canada. We’re off to Kingston, Canada later today.

Ned

P.S. We’re about to enter Canada and not sure how our Verizon Sky card which gives us a internet connection will work. We may have to use local coffee shops with Wi-Fi connections so be prepared for blog gaps.