When in Michigan…

September 5, 2004

We’ve been in Michigan for over two weeks now, and we’re liking it very much! The people are friendly, the towns are charming, and their lakes are the best!

In order to fully experience this great state, we’re doing our best to eat the local food and experience the local culture in every way we can. We’ve bought fresh whitefish from the docks where it’s caught, and we’ve eaten perch, walleye, and Terry even ate smoked “chubs.” They stunk to high heaven!!! The rest of the fish was superb, and I have to say the whitefish I had Friday night at PM Steamers in Ludington was the best fish I’ve had in years.

Cherries are a huge crop in Michigan, and so we’ve been drinking cherry juice for breakfast every morning. It’s pleasantly tart with an intense flavor – very good! We also tried the cherry wine, which was interesting… but one bottle was plenty. Tomorrow morning, we’ll be having dried Michigan cherries and blueberries on our cereal, as the fresh ones are past season. The Michigan fresh cheese was very good, and of course the Mackinaw fudge was TOO good.

We have learned the card game Euchre, which is apparently the rage among Michiganders. Amber’s husband Chris in St. Clair taught me this fun game, and Jeanne and Terry gave us the book Card Games for Dummies, which has all the rules in it. (Thanks J&T) We had a great time playing this with Jeanne and Terry, and poor Bob and Terry got “euchred” more than they would care to admit!

The ultimate Michigan experience, however, has to be swimming in the clear cold water of Lake Michigan. It’s a wonderful shade of blue green so clean you can see down at least 10 feet. We swam off the swim platform of Grace as well as from the soft sandy beaches, where the bottom is hard packed sand with a ripple pattern in it. After a long bike ride to the dunes and beaches, the water felt better than you could imagine!

Jeanne and Terry left this morning for Minneapolis, after a great week with us. They went to a lot of trouble to work out vacation time to join us and drove 10 hours each way. We hope they enjoyed being with us as much as we enjoyed having them! We have no guests coming aboard until October (unless some of you change your mind, hint hint!). We have about 3 more stops on Lake Michigan before we hit Chicago, and it looks like we may be socked in to Ludington for a couple more days until the lake calms down again. All the better for us; more time in the wonderful state of Michigan!!!

Chicago, Chicago!

September 10, 2004

We arose before dawn this morning in anticipation of our journey across Lake Michigan to Chicago. As we left New Buffalo Harbor, we were bundled in jeans and sweatshirts, the dew was dripping on the boat, our eyes were still heavy from sleep, and the eastern sky was just beginning to brighten with a pink glow. As we journeyed west, the pink became brighter, the air warmer, and our anticipation greater. The boat rocked side to side over rollers from the south, and the sky became more colorful and dramatic by the minute. It was a glorious sunrise, promising a wonderful day ahead.

We were unable to get a reservation at the marinas in Chicago but decided to take our chances and put our name on a waiting list. An hour before our arrival, the marina called with a slip for us. We pulled into DuSable Marina around 11 AM Central time, and Grace was given a perfect slip in a lovely, protected harbor with skyscrapers to our west and the colorful sights of Navy Pier our north. To our delight, we discovered that there are many miles of wonderful bike trail along the lakefront, and many of the most interesting attractions in the city are along the lake. We rode over to Navy Pier, which is a colorful pier with many flowers, eateries, sculpture, and amusements. There was an immense Barkantine 4 masted ship on which visitors could pay to sail, as well as yachts and speed boats for hire. Clowns delighted children, and the biggest Ferris wheel I’ve ever seen was the focal point on the pier. We ate lunch along the pier while taking in the sights and sounds, then had a long bike ride in search of a marine store that sells the charts we need for the next leg of our trip. En route, we rode along miles of lake shore in gorgeous 80 degree weather along with walkers, joggers, and roller bladders. We saw people swimming in the lake, sunbathing, or relaxing in the many shady parks.

We ended our day having an enjoyable conversation with a couple from California who came east through Central America and the Panama Canal. After cruising for the past 4 years, they have finally decided that the boat is their real home and have just sold their townhouse. They are not the first couple we’ve met who’ve made cruising a way of life. People we met yesterday rented their house out for two years while they cruise. Most other “Loopers” are very surprised that we are doing the Loop so fast (6 months). Apparently a year is more typical. We certainly are having a fabulous time but could easily see how taking twice as long could be twice as much fun. The many places we’ve seen have whet our appetites to explore further.

Our first day in Chicago has been definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me. The thrill of arriving at a beautiful city by water on a gorgeous day, the energy of the city, and fun of seeing a place I’ve never seen – all this made for a day I will never forget. We are blessed!!!

More Chicago Sights

September 11, 2004

Yesterday we walked our legs off around the city, visiting Millennium Park, the Magnificent Mile, and having steak for lunch at Harry Caray’s. The park has an amazing outdoor venue for concerts that’s a marvel of concrete and sheet metal, but totally lacking in trees and grass, in our opinion. The Magnificent Mile (where Oprah’s show is broadcast) was Chicago’s answer to Fifth Avenue in New York, with the addition of colorful gardens between the sidewalks and streets. Harry Caray, long-time announcer for the Chicago Cubs, is the namesake of a fun steakhouse with a lot of local color. A steak sandwich for Bob and a steak salad for me gave us our Midwestern beef fix, without doing quite the damage of the 16 to 23 oz steaks on the dinner menu.

This morning we attended church at the Moody Memorial Church, where we were impressed by the beautiful building, an excellent choir, and good preaching. I was happy to visit a scrapbook store nearby, as I’m filling my scrapbook rapidly and need supplies, and we found a good spot for lunch where Bob could have deep dish Chicago style pizza.

We’re spending the afternoon preparing for the next leg of our journey, as we depart in the morning. We will be going through the Chicago Lock and down the canal that literally bisects the city. I expect we’ll see some interesting sights along the way. The next portion of our trip takes us into some very remote areas, so our cell phone and internet access may be spotty, but please know that we are thinking of you all, with love and affection.

Barges and Smelly Stuff

September 15, 2004

Our wonderful weekend in Chicago was culminated by a grand exit through the canal that splits the city in half. We lowered our canvas top so we could squeeze under all the road bridges, with only inches to spare. We could look up from Grace as we emerged from the bridges and see tall buildings sparkling in the sun to port and starboard. We waved to pedestrians as we passed through the city and watched as giant buildings shrank in the distance off the stern. The Amtrak bridge was too low even with our canvas down, so that was raised to let us through.

Once outside the city, we moved into a section of the trip that was not very attractive but actually very interesting. The body of water is the Chicago Sanitary Canal, although I would guess it’s far from sanitary!!! There were mountains of rusty metal, hundreds of barges and tugs in storage areas and some on the canal, and giant machines loading goodness-knows-what onto barges. There were huge piles of bluish-white stuff, nasty smelling brown stuff, and stuff that you don’t even want to hear about. The aromas changed often as the day went on, but I can’t recall one that I enjoyed much. When I complained to Bob about it, he assured me that I was one of the few Americans lucky enough to see the “real America” and understand what makes this country tick. I guess so, although most of you can be lucky enough to hear about it from me and not have to experience it for yourselves!

We went through two locks that day, and locking through in this area is a lot more difficult than the Erie Canal. Because of the huge amount of barge traffic, long waits at the lock are par for the course. We had to wait at one lock for four hours; as a result, we didn’t get into our marina until after dark. I’m amazed that Bob was able to bring Grace right to where she was supposed to be, but I sure hope we can avoid traveling at night in the future.

The owner of that marina warned us that there will not be too many amenities for boaters in the days ahead and was kind enough to loan us a van to take into nearby Coal City, where we were delighted to find a clean, well-stocked IGA store and a Laundromat. With that and a full tank of gas and plenty of water, we were well prepared for whatever lies ahead.