Guess what?  No more Lone Ranger...Tonto is here this weekend.

We ambled up I-75 Thursday afternoon arriving at the marina early evening.  Without much time to settle in, it was time for a hike.  Just another reason it is SO nice having Kathy here.  We walked along the shore at the water tower park which was closed all last year.

Same view, different park.

Friday morning offered a scenic sunrise over a glass calm lake.

I set lines in the water a little east of the bridge.

Within minutes, I hooked and landed a nice steelhead.

I peaked early as that was the only action I had.  We continued north along the St. Ignace shoreline.

Keeping the midge flies at bay.

We gave up mid-morning once the Island ferry boats began to run.  We were in an area that they traverse so it's a little irritating to us and probably them as well.

On to the afternoon project.  If/when we take our northern cruise, I wanted a platform of some type out of the cockpit that I can run a propane stove and grill on.  This is the result.

It seems to work well and the support folds up for storage so it's only a few inches thick.

Saturday morning was a repeat performance.  The sunrise was similar.

The fishing was the same.  Hooked a fish on the same lure in nearly the same spot but ended up losing it.  Oh well.  Just a fish I didn't have to clean :-)

Lots of commercial traffic today to keep me entertained and on guard.  First encounter was the "Saginaw"

Which met the "Presque Isle" at the bridge.

before passing me.

We continued west this morning under the bridge looking for fish...

but only finding those darn midge flies...EVERYWHERE on EVERYTHING.

on the floor

on the cabin

on the radar

even on the fishing lines.

Those things are really annoying.

Anyway, we continue west on a flat morning lake.

Passing a few more freighters. The tug and barge Victory...

passes the Mesabi Miner...

which was followed up by the Joseph Block to complete today's parade of ships.

One other sight we had this morning was a swimmer crossing the Straits.  He swam from the north shore to the south and had to time the crossing to miss all the boat traffic.  There was a boat assisting the swimmer and the coast guard had issued a marine advisory regarding the swimmer.  Last we saw, the guy was about 3/4 of the way across so we're assuming he made it.

An afternoon craft show and listening to a little music entertainment on the Crossing stage filled out the afternoon.  A choral group from Vietnam is entertaining tonight in the park band shell.

Busy, busy, busy.

Here I am again, the Lone Ranger aboard the Miss No Fish.

I came up Thursday afternoon with the forecast of a calm Friday.  That materialized so I trolled out under the bridge and west for a few miles looking for salmon.  Didn't find any.

That picture is actually from a couple weeks ago, but that's what it looked like again.  If nothing else, it was a great day just to be on the lake.

The early morning activity drained me on Friday.  This retiree isn't used to getting out of the sack at sunrise, especially when sunrise occurs about 5:00 am.  So I got my beauty sleep Saturday morning and did a few chores.

The big accomplishment was to replace the "Mackinaw City" graphic on the transom.

For some reason, when I ordered the original a couple years ago, I ordered a different font style.  This matches the boat name font.  Not that it really matters, but it's all about looking good.

Across the fairway, a sail boater was having a lot more fun than I was.

Looks like there was an issue with the wind direction indicator.

It would only be natural that the item that fails is 50 feet in the air.  Murphy's Law.

So I did a few chores, and then the rain moved in.

Nothing too heavy but just enough to spoil any outdoor activity.  It got a little breezy and cool too.

With all the sleep on Saturday, I was ready to give the morning lake another try.  A beautiful morning it was, as I trolled east toward Bois Blanc Island.

With the bridge in the prop wash.

I had a few lines (I'm only allowed three) in the water...

...as the sun broke over the cloud bank to the east.

As I motored south, the freighter Federal Mackinac passed.

and sailed away under the bridge.

Within minutes, what I'll assume is a sister ship appeared.  The Federal Lela.

That was the excitement of the morning.  As I hinted, there were no fish to catch today...surprise, surprise.  I did see some on the sonar on a couple occasions so we're making progress.  Just have to get one to chase a lure.

Now for the rest of the story.  I'm not sure what it is about northern Michigan, but enough with the bug hatches.  This morning seemed to be the triple play.

Gnats.

Midge Flies.

and what I guess are common house flies of some sort.

All that more or less covered the exterior of the boat this morning.  Hopefully, we're about through with all the hatches up here.  Fortunately, it was a lake event and the marina doesn't seem to be affected too much.

and so it goes.

Planning is underway for the summer boat trip.  Just need to find summer.

This was an Island weekend.

We arrived at the boat on Wednesday afternoon and spent Thursday cleaning the cabin and prepping for the weekend.  We wanted to get that all done before the forecast rain moved in.  The rain came and the evening rainbow over the marina promised improving weather for our trek to Mackinac Island.

After an early morning shower on Friday, the skies parted and we left Mackinaw City for the island.

A 7 mile cruise, and we were entering the harbor at Mackinac Island.

We were assigned a slip and set up shop.  Slip #67 along the west shore.

The view off the transom was of the east end of Marquette Park and the fort.

After getting the boat all situated in the slip, meeting up with friends on the island and a lunch, we took an evening lap of the island.

Day 2 started off with another lap around the island and then a lunch with the group at the marina.  A cool NE wind off the lake made the outing a little brisk, but the lunch was a success.

We spent a little rocking chair time down on the Lakeview Hotel porch "fudgie" watching.

Then took a walk up to the west bluff...

...and into the Grand Hotel for a beverage in the cupola bar, then down to the lawn for some games.

I learned something this weekend...these horse shaped bushes have names.  Meet "Peat" and "Moss".

Day 3 began with more "liquid sunshine" but the real thing appeared in time for another marina lunch.  All involved contributed to the menu and we had plenty.  It was a bit more comfortable today.

After lunch and some mid day shopping, we went up to a 3rd floor balcony in the Lakeview Hotel to watch the Lilac Day parade.

The parade is lead by the Michigan State Police with their lights flashing.  (never knew the cop's bikes actually had warning lights).

The parade was predictably populated by horses...

bikes...

and bands.

After enduring a brisk breeze on the balcony, we needed a little exercise to warm up so mounted up the bikes and headed inland to ride past the island cottages and see if I could find Sunset Rock.

Found it!

It's one of the best views on the island and is relatively unknown by tourists.  I hadn't visited the site since I worked there in 1973.  I was a bit surprised that I actually found it.

The site is now owned by the state but access is still through private property (The Inn at Stone Cliff).

We decided to cross back to Mackinaw City Sunday night, but Kathy needed nourishment.  Well, after dinner we walked out to see the island again shrouded in fog.

So we decided to wait overnight for better conditions, but...

It was worse.  Reported visibility was a couple tenths of a mile at 8:00 am.

We waited a while until it cleared enough that we felt safe to see far enough to avoid any collision.  With the GPS and radar we were equipped to make the crossing.  We were in contact with the passenger ferry boats and arrived in Mackinaw City without incident.

I met one of Shepler's boats near the harbor and he suggested we pass on "two whistles".  I suggested we could pass "port to port" and his response was "OK, one whistle".  Learned something.  The signal for passing on the right (like cars meeting on a two lane road) is one horn blast and on the left (like driving in England), is two.  I knew there were signals but had never learned them.

Upon arrival at home this afternoon, I found 1.5 inches of rain from the past few days so I don't think I missed much here.