Last Hurrah

Seems impossible that this was the Labor Day week and the "end" of summer.  Like the rest of the year, the weather was a major player this week.  After a windy Monday, Tuesday  afternoon brought what looked like an approaching storm.

This thing looked pretty nasty as it rolled over the Straits.

It looked bad, blew a little, then pfft,  nothing...and we enjoyed a sunset.

So another breezy day Wednesday, then a rerun of the storm event on Thursday.  The clouds rolled in just like a day ago.

The skies blackened...

...and seemed to swallow the marina.

Then once again, pfft...it was gone and the sun appeared.

Finally, on Saturday the winds eased and we fired up the V-8's and headed north.

I was using a little handheld compass to troubleshoot what I thought was an issue with the compass mounted in the dash.  While the in dash compass needs to be reconditioned, it does seem to be relatively accurate.  What I've discovered is the iron I-bars used as the structure in the spring poles at the marina affect the compass so it reads about 30 degrees off in the slip.

We continued north across the Straits on the usual wake filled water.

The ferry boats keep it pretty stirred up in this area.  We chugged along at a breakneck speed of about 8 mph.

In 30 minutes or so, we pulled into a slip at the St. Ignace marina.

This was my first docking with this boat unassisted by marina staff...NAILED IT!  I got this.

This weekend was "Arts and Crafts at the Marina".

This was my favorite booth.

So after strolling through the booths and buying my LARGE Kettle Korn, we found our way back to Mackinaw City.

Sunday was an uneventful day.  A little necessary shopping and loads of relaxing filled the day.

Monday is Mackinac Bridge Walk day.  

We boarded Shepler's ferry for transit to St. Ignace at 5:30 am so we could walk the entire span and end in Mackinaw City.  The bridge is closed to all traffic all morning so the walking choices are: start here in Mackinaw City and walk round trip (10 miles), walk to the middle and turn around (5 miles) or shuttle to St. Ignace and walk the span south (5 miles).  We like to walk the whole span so picked the final option.

We were at the start point about 6:30 am and waited for the governor to give her pre-walk pep talk.  Thank you governor for leaving the politics in Lansing.

After a little 2 minute speech we were off.

It had rained a little earlier so the bridge deck was wet when we started.  Fortunately, we never got rained on.

We continued on toward center span with just a few friends.  We later heard the attendance at the event was something north of 30,000 that walked the bridge this morning.

We passed under the north tower with the US flag hanging.  They hang the flag on the three summer holidays.

The Great Lakes cruise ship "Pearl Mist" passes under the bridge with USCG escort on its way to Mackinac Island.

The sun even made an appearance.  The view from center span is magnificent.  This view looks east with, left to right, Mackinac, Round, and Bois Blanc (called Bob-lo locally) Islands in the distance.

Past the second tower, we are on the home stretch. By this point, we had met the northbound walkers out of Mackinaw City on the opposite lane.

About 1:45 later, we crossed the finish line and earned our certificate.  

We have an end of season "potluck" at the marina tonight.  Then will pack up, head home, and prepare for the next retirement event.  

Can you say "cruise ship"?

Crossing the Straits

In case you're tired of watching paint dry, this is a bit of video from our Straits crossing to the island last week.

The video is a little (actually a lot) shaky in the middle due to vibration.  My little mobile tripod doesn't provide a very stable mount.  Maybe I should spend the bucks to upgrade to GoPro.

Miracles Still Happen.

The stars had to all line up today in order for my plan to work.  I needed nice weather, calm seas and a slip at Mackinac Island.  It all looked good this morning so I put the plan into action.

We informed Kathy's folks we'd take them to the island for a visit and to be at the boat between 8:30 am and 9:00 am.  They were early and came bearing gifts!  Raspberry filled donuts.

After taking care of a donut, we pulled lines and headed toward the island.  Approaching the Round Island Passage, I had to wait for the freighter Wilfred Sykes to clear.

I radioed the harbor for a slip and was assigned a slip on the outer dock.  I had difficulty communicating with the harbor via the boat radio so ended up calling them on my cell phone.  Turns out their radio wasn't working.

We settled in at the harbor which involves deploying enough lines to secure a freighter so the ferry boat wakes don't wreck the boat.  All that motion in the harbor is annoying, but it's a part of boating at the island.  Deal with it or stay away.

So after an hour, it was time for step two of my plan to begin.  We got off the boat and walked up to the park across from the harbor.

I had reserved a private carriage for an hour tour of the island.  They will go anywhere you want and charge by the hour.  We boarded the carriage and were on our way.

We went through a bit of main street and went up to Market Street...

...up the Grand Avenue and in front of the Grand Hotel...

...up the West Bluff, through the village, and down the East Bluff...

...where we turned back onto the shore road and back to Marquette Park where we started.

We then walked downtown for lunch at the Yankee Rebel and some resort shopping.

With our bellies and shopping bags full, we returned to the boat for a couple hours before heading back to our slip in Mackinaw City.

It was a successful day from my standpoint.  I can't believe everything worked out.  Sometimes you just get lucky I guess.

Seven miles or bust

Well, we finally cast off the lines and headed north...a whole 7 miles for a 4 day extravaganza on beautiful Mackinac Island where horse and pedal power rule.

We came over Wednesday morning without reservations at the marina in hopes of snagging a transient slip.  The marina reserves 80% of its capacity so there is 20% up for grabs on any given day.  We had no problems getting a slip at 9:00 am although only for two days.  We had front row seats to the dog run in slip #10.

Day 1 we roamed around town and enjoyed the island foliage.

It's amazing that they get these gardens to this level, given the length of the growing season here.  We shopped our way through town and turned in for the evening. 

Day 2 was action packed.  Of course the required 8.2 mile bike ride was first on the agenda followed by a hike UP the stairs to the East Bluff for an elevated view of downtown...

...and the Round Island Passage with the classic Star Line Ferry from St. Ignace.

We strolled along the bluff viewing the cottages there.

Since we were half way there...at least that's what Kathy said...we started off down the road to Arch Rock.

No, that's not us, we would never travel here in any way that didn't require physical stamina.

After a mile walk we viewed the world famous Arch Rock with a couple hundred Carriage Tour customers.

We walked DOWN the 207 steps to the shoreline road for the walk back to town.

The riders of the dozens of bicycles at the foot of the stairs, didn't get the memo about the 207 steps UP to see the Rock.  We saw a lot of stressed faces on our way down.  Actually, pedaling another 1/8 mile on the shore road will get you the view of Arch Rock from the shore level.  Same view in reverse.

We did another lap of the island in the evening then hit the sack.

Day 3 required us to request an extension to our stay.  Since we were transient, we were kind of on a day by day status.  We did get the right to extend, but had to change slips so a reservation could be filled.  Because of the ferry boat wakes here in the harbor, setting up a boat in the slip is no small task and we spent until noon settling into slip #24 on the outer dock.

We do get a nice view of the harbor activity out here but miss out on a lot of the shore commotion.  So it's just a different experience and a nice change up for the rest of the stay.

Once the boat was secured, we headed up the fort hill and over to the West Bluff.

There's probably not much argument that the West Bluff has the superior view vs. East Bluff cottages.

The cottages of the West Bluff are nothing to sneeze at either.

This is how they get the perfect gardens...it isn't Mom and the kids out pulling weeds.

It's all hired help.

Continuing down the road...

This one is currently on the market for $2,995,000 but I bet they'd jump all over $2,990,000.

So the little known feature of this route, is that the West Bluff sidewalk...

...becomes the porch of the Grand Hotel.  Of course, we had to rest by this point in the hike.

The Grand is a magnificent place.  It was built in only 93 days.  Takes that long today just to get a building permit.

So one more day here, then back to Mackinaw City for another week and who knows what adventures we may take.

On a side note, I have accomplished a small upgrade.  I bought the boat with the original TV/VCR combo.

That TV even had the original new stickers on it but of course in today's digital world, actually using the thing required a converter and lots of extra wiring.  So out with the old in in with the new.

The TV was on a pullout shelf so I took advantage of that feature as well and built in some galley storage.

I may trim it out with a faceplate eventually after I get all the antenna and cable wiring updated.

So that's the update to the inaugural season on the Final Edition.