August 29th
We arrived at Killarney Mountain Lodge on 8/15. It was
everything and more than we expected. The grounds were beautiful with high-end,
log-style buildings. The massages were wonderful. They had a nice pool, 3
restaurants and a cocktail lounge that had live music every evening. And yes,
to Jack’s delight, a great ice cream store and bakery one block away. We had a
great dinner at the Steak House, ate at Herbert’s, a little Fish and Chips restaurant right on
the water and another Lodge restaurant another night.
Our planned 4 day stay in Killarney was extended an extra
day due to weather so on 8/20 our Flotilla headed to Little Current that
actually had strong currents (somebody’s joke, I presume). The strength of the
currents, as we were trying to pull up to the fuel dock before going to our
slip was quickly forgotten when we realized the kid pumping our fuel was
putting in gasoline instead of diesel fuel. Panic immediately set in but the
manager was very responsive and called in the troops. They pumped out almost
800 liters of fuel, half of which was the diesel that was already in our tank.
He handled the situation with grace, as did Jack, refilled our tank with diesel
and didn’t charge us for the slip.
The next day we headed out for Blind River, a somewhat
remote marina which was our last stop in Canada. A couple of us did laundry and
retired to our respective boats for an early cocktail and dinner.
August 22st was a big day for our Flotilla. We
crossed the international line and pulled into Drummond Island, our first stop
in the good old US. Besides celebrating being back in the States, we were also celebrating
Suzy’s (Tranquility) birthday, So, after getting settled in our slips, I made a
huge pitcher of Rum Runners for our docktails and we took down our Canadian flags. The marina lent
us an 8 passenger SUV and we capped off the evening driving to a local Mexican
restaurant for dinner.
The next morning our Flotilla we headed for our much-anticipated
stop, Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island (although they are spelled differently,
we were told they are pronounced the same (Mackina). Mackinaw City is a great town with tons of
shops, ice cream stores, fudge shops and restaurants. There was also a Corvette
show happening right next to our marina. The 8 of us had a great dinner at an
Italian restaurant that evening. Our second day was spent exploring the town.
Evan and I explored the shops while the guys went to the Corvette show.
Mackinac Island exceeded our expectations. The whole
island’s transportation is without engines. About 800 horses and thousands of
bikes move people and goods around the island. Our group took a tour of the
island via a horse drawn carriage. It took us through the town, past the Grand
Hotel, the Fort and into the wooded state park. Following our tour we had lunch
on the deck of the Pink Pony, a lovely restaurant that overlooks the harbor. We
walked off our lunch by further exploring the town and its many shops before
taking the ferry back to the “City”.
The next morning we reluctantly left Mackinac City and
headed south along the east coast of Lake Michigan to Charlevoix. It is a sweet
little town tucked away behind a bridge that crosses the main street of town.
It opens only once an hour for about 5 minutes.
Charlevoix, like many of the little towns we have been to on
our trip, is reminiscent of the small towns where many of us grew up. Towns
that centered around small shops, butchers and grocery stores. A time that
predates the movement to big box stores and shopping malls.
Tuesday we cruised to the Leland Township Marina. What
started as a very calm cruise turned rougher and uncomfortable. I guess this is
Lake Michigan’s claim to fame! However, our 4 great captains got us safely to our
slips. Leland is very much like the other small towns we have been to but they
stood out for a few cute shops right off our marina. One is the “Dam Candy Store”
(no, I didn’t misspell it, the shop sits right next to a small dam) and the
other is the cheese shop that not only makes their own cheese but sells sandwiches
and salads that kept some members of our group going back for more! So, we
stocked up on candy and cheese and explored the rest of the town. That evening we had dinner at the Cove
restaurant with Evan and Michael and Rio and April who are on “ Ti Amo” Rio looks exactly like a younger Robert
Redford, a fact that Evan has pointed out at least 10 times. We stayed a second
day due to weather conditions and made good use of it by doing laundry and
visiting a vodka and rum distillery.
Today, Thursday 8/29 we left Leland for Frankfort. It is a
gloomy day but the waves are reasonable. Our itinerary is on hold to see what the
weather will bring us tomorrow. Our plan was to be in Ludington today for the
holiday weekend but our extra day in Leland and a predicted storm for tomorrow
may delay that .
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