Day 328, "on the loop", 9/2/2023

*links provided within text, feel free to check them out if you have the time*

It's hard to believe it's September and we are in Michigan. We are on the last leg of a year long adventure. We feel very fortunate and blessed to be able to take a year off from life to enjoy this adventure and mark off a bucket list item! We've met so many great people we now call friends and visited so many lake and ocean towns.

During the next two blogs, I will share more about the towns. This is our travel path for the next few weeks, we hope to be in Hammond, IN (near Chicago) by September 18th. Side note: We cannot go through Chicago until the lock work is complete (scheduled to be complete October 1, 2023).

Saturday (8/26) - Checked out Mackinac City & Mackinac Island (reminds me of Martha's Vineyard). The marina at Mackinac City had the clearest water we've seen (outside of Keywest) thus far. We took the water ferry from Mackinac City to Mackinac Island, rented bikes and rode 8.2 miles around the island. It was a great day!

Mackinac Island doesn't allow motorized vehicles on the island (other than emergency type vehicles). We rented bicycles and rode the entire island (8.2 miles). The back side of the island is gorgeous.

See link(s) below:

Mackinac Island (/ˈmækənɔː/MAK-ə-naw, locally /ˈmækənə/MAK-ə-nə) is a city in Mackinac County in the U.S. State of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 583. (click on link above to learn more).

A unique local ordinance passed in 1895 prohibits the use of any motor vehicles on the island. The only exceptions to this are city emergency vehicles (ambulance, police cars and fire trucks), city service vehicles and snowmobiles in the winter. Today the most common means of travel is either by foot, bicycle, horse or horse-drawn carriage. Roller skates and roller blades are also allowed, except in the downtown area. Mackinac Island is home to the Grand Hotel, built during the late nineteenth century when the island started to be a summer destination.

When the 1980 movie Somewhere in Time was filmed here, the city made an exception to allow the production company to use motorized vehicles on the island.

Arch Rock - 1st picture is the front of the rock (can take 273 steps to the top if you would like), the 2nd picture is the back part of Arch Rock.

A few pictures from the 8.2 mile bike ride:

Pictures of Mackinac village:

Sunday (8/27): The day started at 7am. It was VERY Cold, 49 degrees in Mackinaw City. Due to high winds scheduled for Tuesday, decided to head to Petoskey, MI (and skip Charlevoix). Arabella decided to stay while LG2 & Port-A-Gee skipped Petoskey and travel to Charlevoix, MI.

We (Summer Place) also decided to travel the Michigan side vs. the Wisconsin side. Side note: I was hoping to travel the WI side to see and visit our dear friend Hannah Cain Jones (and her sweet family), maybe another time. Plus, she had plans to take a mini vacation w/the kids before school starts.

See link here: Charlevoix is known for their Mushroom houses. As mentioned above (missed this stop), our looper friends shared their pics.

A little history regarding the Mushroom houses in Charlevoix. Over the span of 52 years, Earl Young designed and built 31 structures throughout Charlevoix, Michigan.

Sunday (8/26)

Traveled 6 hours to Petoskey, MI. What an adorable town, great for shopping and dining. We arrived around 2pm allowing time to check out a few shops before they closed. See information below regarding the town; however, see link above if you are interested to learn more about Petoskey.

Petoskey (/pəˈtɒski/ pə-TAHS-kee) is a city in the U.S. State of Michigan. It is the county seat of Emmet County, and is the largest settlement within the county. Petoskey has a population of 5,877 at the 2020 census, up from 5,670 at the 2010 census.

Petoskey is part of Northern Michigan, and is one of the northernmost cities in Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Petoskey is located on the southern shore of Little Traverse Bay, a bay of Lake Michigan. Petoskey sits directly across the bay from Harbor Springs, another Emmet County City. Petoskey is a popular Midwestern resort town.

Petoskey lends its name to the Petoskey stone, a fossilized coral that is the state stone of Michigan (looks like a turtle shell to me).

Side note; These stones are NOT cheap! They are really cool though! I like the Charlevoix stones too!

< Charlevoix stones - Yes, there is a difference between a Charlevoix and Petoskey stone. The Charlevoix stone has a smaller exoskeleton compared to its cousin the Petoskey stone. It's not uncommon to find both of these unique fossils while exploring area beaches.

Had drinks and an appetizer at a place called "Beards". Had to stop in... as a shout out to a Ted Lasso character "Beard".

Upon arrival, we were greeted with "Happy Beer 30," who can pass up a greeting like that?!

Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday (8/28, 8/29 & 8/30): First off, Happy Birthday (8/29) to my sister, Tammy Horsley. She is off in Dominican Republic celebrating. Hope she had a wonderful day/week. In addition to this day being about Tammy. These 3 days were also about Leland, MI for Summer Place (another great little town and one of my favorites thus far in Michigan).

The Leland Historic District is bounded by the park, Main Street, Avenue A, and the harbor, in Leland, Michigan. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1973 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The district consists of two contiguous areas: Leland's downtown and the nearby commercial fishing area colloquially known as Fish town. The Fish town area was listed separately on the National Register in 2022.

Side note: The small (fish) town is made up of several shops, sandwich and ice-cream places. All of the buildings appear to be restored to their original building style of their time. These pictures do not do this little town justice. YouTube video (3 mins), if interested.

Picture taken looking over Fish Town, may provide a better idea of the town layout or you can see the YouTube above, may give better perspective.

Cottonwood Tree: For more than a century, a great cottonwood tree stood alongside West River Street at the gateway to Fish town in downtown Leland, Michigan. It was planted around 1901 by Ozzie Cordes. But this wasn't just any cottonwood tree: It had grown so large over the years that it eventually became the state champion.

Leland lost its 109 year old Eastern Cottonwood tree on November 8, 2011. It was 40% dead, and dying. The Leland Chamber of Commerce (actually, a private community group) spent over $20,000 to try to save it.

*One pic at night and one during the day.

Walked around this nice park called: Leland Village Green: (part of The Leelanau Conservancy):

Conserving the Land, Water and Scenic Character of Leelanau County

Our Mission Statement, crafted over 30 years ago by Founders Ed and Bobbie Collins and our first Board of Directors, has stood the test of time. "Our vision today is their vision: the Leelanau Peninsula undiminished, faithfully stewarded and cherished by all, for the generations to come. Together, we must continue to be unrelenting in preserving her beauty and ecological integrity, upholding our promise to keep her healthy, and nurturing a community that cherishes her waters, forests and farms."

Tuesday mid-day we experienced some rain and fairly high winds. We invited a few other loopers (LG2 and Port-A-Gee) over to watch the wind surfers. There were 3 surfers in the nearby bay, catching wind causing them to be lifted in the air (in some cases over 20+ feet). Check out our Facebook page for the video, if interested.

Dan (Long Gone 2) tying lines and preparing for the high winds to come.

Wednesday, our last day, we explored the town of Leland, MI a bit more. Stumbled upon some wood boats.

Pic 1: Sandwich shop in FISH LAND.

PIC 2 - 4 - Leland Beach, rock hunting and watching the tide come in

Pic 5 - House in town, bared up (just seemed out of place)

Pic 6 - Nice looking tree

Hanging out on the beach in Leland (too cold to swim)

To close out the night, LG2 invited us over for Movie night and popcorn! We watched Captain Ron, starring Kurt Russell (1992). It's an oldie; but, goodie.

About a Chicagoan that inherits an old yacht. He, his wife, daughter and son fly to a Caribbean Island and hire a dubious Captain Ron to sail them on an adventure to Miami.

Side note: Port-A-Gee is from Chicago and they had never seen the movie.

Thursday (8/31): Made our run from Leland, MI to Frankfort, MI taking us about 4.5 hours. Checked in at fuel dock for a pump out and purchased diesel fuel ($4.48 per gallon). One marina charged $4.30 per gallon, should have checked gas prices, ugh!

I can't forget to mention ... Long Gone 2 provided a tow to a fishing boat. The fishermen were waving a blanket or jacket, we thought they wanted us to slow down (to prevent wake). Joel called on the radio to Dan (LG2) and asked him to confirm if he saw what we saw; perhaps they were in trouble. Dan confirmed they were still waving and learned they had lost an engine. They didn't have a radio or cell phone. Side note: If you provide a tow, have them provide the line (throw you a line), reason being, it puts the liability on the boat throwing the line. No harm was done to either boat :-)

Checked out the town prior to dinner (an Italian place). Joel, the bartender, was putting on a show with his fancy mixing skills. The drinks he made looked so pretty and those at the bar were loving it.

A little about Frankfort:

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.59 square miles, of which 1.39 square miles island and 0.20 square miles is water.
Frankfort bills itself as the gateway to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
Frankfort is considered to be part of Northern Michigan.
The Point Betsie Light is in the area and has been in operation for 150 years. It is locally operated and maintained, and is undergoing a complete renovation.
The town is close to the Interlochen State Park, which is one of two remaining stands of virgin Eastern White Pine in the Lower Peninsula
- Interlochen is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Grand Traverse County in the U.S. State of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the population was 694, up from 583 at the 2010 census. The community is located within Green Lake Township, and is home to a post office operating with ZIP Code 49643.

Some pictures of the town of Frankfort, MI:

^ Frankfort Mineral Springs Park is a pleasant little park located on Betsie Lake and is only a very short distance from Lake Michigan. The park is long and narrow and offers nice views of the water. We joked this could be the "fountain of youth" until we could see the rust in the water :-)

Sleeping Bear Dunes - The lakeshore near Frankfort, MI is also known as the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park and it's been part of the park system since 1970. Side note: Arabella checked this one out and enjoyed it.

Random pictures of the town / area of Frankfort, MI

Pic 4 - the marina bathroom had these huge lights, we felt like celebrities - lol (me & Loral, Port-A-Gees).

Thursday night - BLUE MOON (oops, promise I was not spying on our boat neighbor):

Friday - Saturday (9/1 - 9/2): Thursday evening, after several conversations about weather, we decided to make a run for Ludington, MI. This was a big deal due to weather predictions, specifically winds scheduled to pick up around mid afternoon (today, Friday). It's a 50 mile run which would take approx. 5+ hours at our normal speed of 10 mph. WELL, we decided to leave early (6:30am) and run at 15 mph to arrive at the marina around 10am and shave off an hour of the trip.

Pictures taken at the time of our departure:

Long Gone 2 prefer to run slower and decided to travel at 9-10 mph to save on fuel and get a smoother ride. They left Frankfort at 4am to achieve the smoother ride. It was still dark at this time; but, with the BIG bright BLUE moon, they had plenty of light.

Our ride was uneventful; however, when we arrived, discovered we (I) left the bumpers / fenders out (2) and one of our lines unraveled and was dragging in the water. The problem with a dragging line is, it could have got caught up in the props while we were underway. So thankful that didn't happen! Side note: It was so dark and our fenders are black, so they didn't stand out when I put everything away.

Pic 1 - Preparing to leave Frankfort, MI

Pic 2 - 10 / 15 minutes into the ride, it is rare I get pictures of the sunrise.

Looks like we will be here for a while, at least until Tuesday (9/5), perhaps longer. We will re-evaluate on Tuesday. In the meantime, here is some information on the town of Ludington, MI.

The town was originally named Pere Marquette, then later named after the industrialist James Ludington, whose logging operations the village developed around. Ludington was incorporated as a city in 1873, the same year that the county seat was moved from the village of Lincoln to the city of Ludington. The area's population boom in the late 19th century was due to these sawmills and also the discovery of salt deposits.

Ludington is known for its beaches, the SS Badger Lake Michigan Car Ferry and its fantastic State Park.

Big Sable Lighthouse - check this link out, there are over 200 pictures of the lighthouse and views from the lighthouse.

*Channel entrance to the Ludington marina*

Captain Joel had to navigate his way through all the fishing boats that were fishing in the channel. It was crazy! But on the bright side, Dan from Long Gone 2 scored dinner for Friday night. About 10 lbs worth of Salmon (compliments of a local fisherman).

Closing out the week, Dan & Chris (LG2) scored some "free" local Salmon from a fisherman (10+ lbs worth). We grilled it and had a pot luck! We provided brownies. Port-A-Gee provided rice and peas. Thank you LG2 for the sharing the Salmon! In addition to 6 being fed, each boat received 2 pieces of salmon to freeze for a later date.

Chris even saved 2 pieces for Arabella. They are a couple of stops behind us, catching up with friends - Moon Shadow II. Side note: Moon Shadow II crossed their wake in Traverse City, MI.

I Plan to share more on this town (Ludington) in next week's blog. Happy Labor Day! We are starting to meet "new" loopers. Those starting the loop and some about to cross their wake. It is hard to believe we only have 2 months left.

Shout out to our friend Patty Desrosiers - Happy, Happy Birthday (9/2). Enjoy your day! Much love. Another shout out to Jack Boeglin on his new set of wheels - Congratulations... BE SAFE!!!

Random Information & Miscellaneous Stuff:

Pictures of Summer Place traveling under the Michigan Bridge:

Above pic: Summer Place, Arabella & Long Gone 2 (traveling to Mackinac Bridge.

Mackinac Bridge:

The sheer size and beauty of the Mackinac Straits Bridge is impressive. The bridge's total length, 8614 feet (5+ miles), the longest in the world, combined with towers standing 552 feet above the water line, a 155 feet clearance under the bridge, and a total weight of 11,840 tons.

There is a fee to cross: Passenger Vehicle – $2.00 per axle or $4.00 per car

If you would like to know more about the bridge, check out the link below for more:

THE BRIDGE:

BEAVER ISLAND: We did not make this stop; however, sounds fairly interesting (see link if you wish to know more).

Beaver Island is an island in Lake Michigan in the U.S. State of Michigan. It is the largest island in Lake Michigan and the third largest island in Michigan after Isle Royale and Drummond Island. The island is located approximately 32 miles from the city of Charlevoix. Beaver Island had a total population of 657 at the 2010 census.

Until 1856, Beaver Island was home to a unique American political and religious experiment, a Mormon theocracy and monarchy ruled by King James Strang, who unsuccessfully challenged Brigham Young for the post-Joseph Smith leadership of Mormonism. Despite failing to gain a majority following, Strang remained the self-appointed leader of a Mormon splinter group, who were known colloquially as the Strangites to distinguish them from the much larger and mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. After Strang's assassination that year, dispossessed Irish American fishermen from the County Donegal Gaeltacht returned, expelled the Strangites, and retook the island, which is now a popular vacation and tourist destination.

Ghost Town??? Some people believe Beaver Island is! It is a 56 square mile island in Lake Michigan. It was home to the one and only king ever to exist in North America. Explanation below:

In 1847 James Jesse Strang brought his small band of Mormons to Beaver Island, and in 1849 the town of St.James was established. Strang had himself crowned King and was the only king ever crowned in the United States. He was an extremely intelligent man and was elected to Michigan State Legislature for two terms. A little more history regarding Beaver Island:

Funny (small world) story: We arrive at the Petoskey Municipal marina. A fellow looper, Southern Comfort, assisted with grabbing our lines. They have been doing the loop for approx. 7 years (spending multiple months in various cities), will cross their wake in Mobile Bay, AL in a few months. The crazy part of this story is that they are from Idaho and their son lives in St. Louis, so of course, I asked where which he responded "Wildwood, MO". No Way, right! I responded that we live in Wildwood. They indicated the son lives in Nantucket... No kidding, that is only about 10 minutes from our house (and where we lived the first time we lived in St. Louis). Their last name is Wainkowski (I may have the spelling wrong, but close enough). Crazy, huh!

Boat Hook Earrings: Brian from Port-A-Gee purchased these cool boat hook earrings for his bride and 1st mate, Loral. Aren't these the coolest! We use these type boat hooks on the loop a lot.