Mackinaw City Day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

We had perfect weather and seas last week, but on Tuesday it started to rain and the wind started to blow.  So.... We have stayed at the same marina in Mackinaw City for eight nights.  The town is a tourist town, consisting of restaurants, fudge, and t-shirt shops.  I  bought a hooded sweatshirt and have enjoyed it.  We've been using all of our blankets at night.

So, we have worked on the boat, cleaned the boat and learned to make banana bread in a crock pot.

There are about ten other Looper boats here as well.  We've made new friends, gone out to dinner and had a get together one evening at the marina clubhouse.

A fun restaurant, decorated to look like a  northern Michigan lodge

The Air Force Jazz Band played a concert in the park, across from out marina.

The United States Coast Guard ice breaker Mackinaw resides next to our marina.  It is known as 'Queen of the Great Lakes' and was built as part of the war effort in World War II to meet the demands of moving war materials during the winter months.  It is now a museum and was decommissioned in 2006.

Trawler 'Hallelejah' looper showed us pictures of the ice on Lake Superior from the past winter, an usually cold winter.  These pictures were taken six months ago.  The wind causes the ice to heave. There were still ice chunks in the lake as late as June.  Glad we are here in August with no snow or ice.

We rarely have TV reception.  We get 2 channels here in Mackinaw City.  It's 9:30 p.m. Note my robe and blanket.  I told you that it is cold here.

Three distinct variations of water "craft". 

 

We plan to leave about 7 a.m. tomorrow (Sunday) and travel 50 miles to Charlevoix.  The weather is predicted to have winds out of the northeast at 5 - 10 knots and waves less than 2 feet. This is as good as we can expect.  The forecast is for several good days, so hopefully we can get part way down Lake Michigan.