We pulled up anchor in Omena Bay on August 1st for our next destination Traverse City. In case anyone is wondering, neither Bob or I have ever been to any of these towns and cities. We are truly arriving in new, unfamiliar ports everyday or so.
We arrived at the marina around 2pm and we surprised to be less than a half a mile from the restrooms! Score one for us. The marina was very nice with a large common area with tables and chairs and grills for the boaters to use. The laundry and restrooms were clean and all look quite new. The marina borders on a public park and the TART trail. We walked to the Main Street to find a place to have a late lunch. We ended up at the North Shore Brewery and had a nice quiet lunch.
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| Sunset our fist night in Traverse City |
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| Provisioning, AGAIN! |
The following day we rode our bikes up to the CVS to pick up Bob’s prescriptions, then headed back to the boat to wash her. We had been “bugged” in all the anchorages we had stopped in and needed to wash the carasses off the gel coat. It was long, hot, work but we’ll worth it in the end. Carolina looked like a new boat when we were done.
The following day we rode to the local grocery to provision. We enjoy walking the aisles and discovering new and unusual items. We’ve found that most of the food, especially produce, is more expensive than at home. Michigan is blueberry country yet they wanted $7 for a quart of blueberries. I got the same thing last week for $4 at a Farmer’s Market. We try to make the farmers markets if we can. And we are now in Cornish pasty country and love to try the different varieties they have to offer. The ones we bought from a food cart came with “yooper” sauce. Bob says it’s an extra spicy ketchup. Michiganders in the lower part of the state refer to those who live on the Upper Peninsula as Yoopers. (U-Pers). Yoopers call those who live below the Upper Peninsula “Trolls” (‘cause they live under the bridge).We try to stay out of this controversy!
The following day we had some nasty weather due in, so we took a ride in the morning and got thoroughly lost. We some how lost the TART trail and ended up hell and gone from where we wanted to be. We got back to the boat in time to batten down the hatches(literally) and ride out one wingdinger of a storm. Our dock mates had taken their boat out for the day and still were not back. We had winds up to 45mph and lightning and heavy rain. As it all ended local sirens started sounding. The fire trucks and ambulance arrive at the marina within minutes. The firemen jumped into the rescue boat and took off for parts unknown. We heard through the grapevine that three separate boats had capsized during the storm and there were people in the water. We never heard the outcome but our dock mates did make it back safely though a bit shaken by the violence and suddenness of the storm.
Our last day in town we walked to Poppycocks Restaurant for lunch. We were pleasantly surprised and had a wonderful meal. As we walked back toward the boat we saw signs for “Boats on the Boardwalk” and decided we had to go. Of course Bob struck up a conversation with every boat owner and John Hank, a Chris.Craft Hacker owner, convinced Bob that we should go to Hessel the following weekend for the Les Cheneaux Wooden Boat Show. We had missed this show by a week last year. Maybe we would make it there this time.
We had planned on heading to Charlevoix, MI next but the “slip gods” had other ideas. There were no slips for anytime in the near future there so we set our sights on Petoskey. We had actually met a friendly soul on a dock somewhere who had told us to skip Charlevoix and hit Petoskey instead. We had also been directed to Boyne City but their slip situation was the same as Charlevoix.
I guess you’re wondering why we’re looking for slips. First, anchoring can be difficult in some of these very deep (over 300ft) lakes but we also grew tired of having to clean bugs off our decks. We’d go to bed with spotless decks and get up in the morning to thousands of bugs either dead or dying on any flat surface. We’d rather visit our ports of call than spend the day scrubbing bug bodies off our gel coat.
It turns out Petoskey was the right place for us. A small town packed between some steep cliffs and the lake. Our first day there we walked into town to get the lay of the land. The town has built a tunnel under highway 31 to access town. Inside this tunnel they have installed an upright piano. We happened upon the tunnel during an excellent performance by another passerby.
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| Street performer in the Petoskey Tunnel |
It was a great welcome to town.
The following day we decided to ride the Little Traverse Wheelway to Charlevoix to see what was so special about this town. It was a 20 mile ride (one way) along the shore of Little Traverse Bay. Just beautiful with very little traffic. We got to Charlevoix in good time, changed into street clothes and started visiting this port town. It became obvious that our boat was not big enough or fancy enough to dock here. We watched a 60ft. Fleming come in and dock. He was not the largest boat in the harbor.
Highway31 cuts right through downtown Charlevoix and the traffic was nonstop. We walked the waterfront and found a new sidewalk cafe to stop for lunch. After lunch we found our way to the “Mushroom Houses”. These houses were designed by Earl Young. There are 31 of them in Charlevoix. You can rent one if you’d like. The roofline of the houses mimics the shape of a mushroom hence the name. We did not take the tour since our time in Charlevoix was short. We did manage to buy a few souvenirs to remind us of this day in Charlevoix. The ride back was uneventful but seemed longer than
The ride there. Needless to say we were in bed early.
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| Ready to ride! |
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| Charlevoix South Pier Light |
We had a wonderful time in Petoskey. We made the acquaintance of Tony Cabana. He is the owner of a shop in Petoskey that sells unique t-shirt and other gear. Checkout his tees at www.dunworkin.life. we are now the proud owners of two of his tees.
Our next stop will be St.Ignace MI in the Upper Peninsula. Look for our next blog in a week or so.
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