aug 27-30th Holland to St Joseph's MI

Another early start for us leaving Holland after 2 days.

Too early for beach goers

Here are a couple of statues in Holland

Downtown Holland MI


When we left Holland we once again followed Grianan to the next stop....the original plan was to travel to South Haven but the weather was so nice we ended up in St. Joes.  Once in we called Wolfe's marine supply they will shuttle you to their store and back.  Its advertised as the largest marine supply store in the Midwest.  So the four of us went off to investigate!  Getting back to the marina proved to be a bit more difficult as we had all purchased quite a few things, some of them quite large, like the 8' antenna Greg bought and the only car available to return us to the marina was a very small car.

Good thing it was a convertible but not built for 5 people Jim needed to squeeze in next to Kate.  I called shotgun!

Greg and Kate left St. Josephs this morning heading to Chicago, we will follow in a couple days.  In the meantime Jim will be installing all the items he bought at Wolfs and we will enjoy our $47/night dockage before Chicago empties our wallet.

Manistee to Grand Haven MI Aug 21 -26th

Grand Haven Musical Fountain

Most towns have their own special flavor or a certain theme, Grand Haven is noted for the water and light show set to music it was fabulous, we had the best seats in the house, right off our sundeck.

We were in slip #1 right next to Waterfront Stadium

Manistee Fountain this fountain is very similar to the one in our hometown.

It was Sunday, sadly the Lodge was closed

We fueled up in Pentwater they had just lowered the price!  But what was shown here is not what we paid.  Wish it were!

Local sailing club in Pentwater

After 5 days in Pentwater we got the chance to make our own waves.  Super early start for us.....so this is what 6:30am looks like.  I must say though, I have many many photos of sunsets but I have very few sunrises.

Busy beach day in Grand Haven, and this is a Monday.

Grand Haven Lighthouse

Nice waterfront shopping right off the dock, and also a nice downtown a couple of blocks away.

Happy Hour aboard SweetPea other than the looper crawl in Norfolk VA this is the most people we have had onboard.  In attendance are the crew of Moonstruck, OnceAround, SomethingSpecial, BrownEyedGirl and SeaMoore.

Hey where did all the guys go?

Charlevoix to Leland and Frankfort MI

August 18th and 19th

Today was to be and early start but we were held up by fog and a farmers market here in town.  It has been about a month or more since we have had the opportunity to visit a farmers market so we took advantage.  We picked up some homemade breads and fresh flowers for the boat, and headed out at the 9;30 bridge opening in Charlevoix.  The lake was a bit choppy but not to bad for the first 3 hours but the last hour and half the seas were building lucky for us we only had planned a 37 mile day.  We spotted Grianan as we got close to Leland and they followed us in to the marina.  There are 4 loopers here, yesterday in Charlevoix we met a couple who just started the loop a couple of weeks ago from Ohio (Brown eyed Girl) they too were here when we got in.  We headed into town to check it out it has a New England feel about it.  This is there sidewalk sale weekend so all the shops had their wares out on sale.  It is a very convenient town to stock up on groceries as is Charlevoix,  its just a short walk away as is the liquor store, restaurants, and of course our Jim's favorite the ice cream shop. 

Aug 20th

We ended up 2 days in Leland due to wind, but left early this morning for Frankfort 4 hours travel another nice small town.  As luck would have it, there was a farmers market, car show, and art and crafts fair happening here today.  The farmers market was all FRESH locally grown with quite a nice array of veggies and fruits (tis the season) the local farmers had fresh eggs, homemade cheeses, jams jelly's, goat cheese a woman we were talking with has 93 goats that she has to milk.  Lots of homemade sausages, fresh packed meats of course pies, cookies,breads etc.  This is the first farmers market with real farmers, with there own products not something being resold.  Although the one thing I was looking for I didn't see,  potted herbs so I can pot up the planter that SOMEONE tossed as we entered Canada. 

 Leaving Leland theres that beautiful blue water

 nice paint job

 Sunset at Leland Thursday night

 Theres Grianan (left) and Nectar (right) Nectar completed the great loop in 2002 this is there home waters.

 Sunset the 2nd night in Leland cool! AY?

 Today (Sat) we left Leland with Grianan, Nectar and Lifestyles

 the next few photos are of Sleeping Bear State Park

 The entrance of Frankfort MI

Mackinac Island Michigan to Charlevoix MI

Here are some photos from the last few days, click on any of the photos to enlarge them

may take some time to load hit, reload if some are blank enjoy........................we did!



Mackinac Island MI downtown

Taxi anyone?

The side entrance to the Grand Hotel

Front entrance

Ahh this is the life,  as long as we don't have to pay for a room

Mackinaw Bridge we will be going under it in a couple of days

The Grand Hotel is massive!  The largest old time resort hotel in the country and expensive, cheapest room is $279/person double occupancy,  the cottages are $19,000/week

shopping area in Mackinaw City

Sunset in Mackinaw City at the Straits State Marina, beautiful marina 2 years old about 75 slips, there were only 15 boats there when we were.  No waiting for showers!

Going under the Mac Bridge the water was like glass

I doubt it could of been any calmer

yup it got foggy

The entrance to Charlevoix is a canal with a draw bridge opens on the hour and half hour.

August 12-14
We have really been enjoying the Island and it is beautiful here,  there are NO motorized vehicles allowed on the island and all traveling is by bikes, foot, horse drawn carriages or horseback.  The only exception to the rule is snowmobiles, golf carts (for use on the course only) tractors and emergency vehicles. The population of the island on off season is about 500 people but, it is a huge vacation destination.

August 15th

We moved over to Mackinaw City after fueling up at St Ignace,  we thought we would be here for 2 or 3 days as Ashley was flying out of Traverse City on the 17th, however there is no car rentals in the area so we moved to Charlevoix where they have a Budget office.  Charlevoix was a planned stop for us anyway so it all worked out in the end. 

August 16th

Charlevoix MI we are here now and will remain here until the 18th,  Ashley flew out of Traverse City today on a 6:33am flight so we were up at 3am,  ugh! 
Charlevoix is a very nice resort community with all the restaurants and shops,  there is a bandstand right next to the marina which is downtown and a band was playing last night and a trio there this afternoon. Today is clean and put the boat back together day.  Having a 3rd person onboard  has its advantages especially through all the locks but the boat gets real small with 3 people.  We have enjoyed having our daughter with us for a month so she could experience what daily life is like on SweetPea I think she enjoyed it.  We are planning that next time she visits we should be in the Keys. 
On the way into Charlevoix WE as well as Ashley got to experience what its like to navigate the boat in dense fog, all I will say about that is so glad for the chartplotter as there was only a 1/4 mile visibility at best. 

Here are some photos from the last few days, click on any of the photos to enlarge them....................