It's the Weekend!!

Another Saturday night and we are on our own. We had a picnic dinner at Good Harbor Bay at our secret spot tonight. We found that it's no secret any more. There was a parking lot full of cars and a party going on at the water's edge! Oh well, at least there was an open picnic table for us.
We had our dinner then walked the beach. Afterward we went into Glen Arbor for some night life at the Boone Docks. We had a glass of draft beer and a basket of spicy wings and listened to the band. It was fun people watching as the place was full of tourists looking for some nightlife!
This past week we had visits from Sue Seefried and Rick and Lori Lozen. It was great to see old friends and catch up on what's going on.
This week we are getting ready to go to Milwaukee next weekend for Michelle Seefried's wedding. We're excited about the road trip. We will drive over through the upper peninsula on Friday and come back on the Badger Ferry on Sunday. We are looking forward to the new experience.

Let's all wish Bill Goodfallow a Happy 89th birthday this weekend. He's doing it in style. My hero!
Here are a couple of pictures from the week...

Water skiers and salmon fisherman n Sleeping Bear bay.

There he goes again!

When you own a restaurant called Blu you can get a vanity plate like this.

This is our secret hideaway on Good Harbor bay. It looks like someone else found it too!

After sunset at the beach.

 

We had a great week!

We had a busy and fun week with plenty of company and good weather. Last weekend we had Mike and the girls up for a couple of days. We had rainy weather then. but still managed to have some fun at the beach and in Leland when the sun peeked out. Mike took a ten mile run around Little Glen Lake in preparation for his Free Press Marathon in October.
On Sunday, Bollings came up and stayed a few days with us. We took a boat ride on Glen Lake, went to the lighthouse in Northport and to Leelanau state park. It was good to see our friends and to visit and catch up.
Our summer has cooled down now and we are getting cool at night and high sixties to low seventies during the day. This morning it was 46 degrees when I went in to work!
On Friday the Wrights came up along with Mike, Amy, Natalie and Hannah. We got to show them around and to visit and do some exploring. On Sunday we took a ride to Leland with them and had smelt at the Bluebird. Yum!
Happy Birthday, David!
Here are a few pictures from the week....

Natalie and Hannah on the beach. It was the last weekend of July!

The lighthouse museum at Leelanau State Park.

Northport's rocky shore.

Rick and Jan Bolling in front of the lighthouse

Another view. Notice the flower planter made out of rocks by one of the former lightkeepers.

Wrights at Good Harbor Bay beach. This was a Friday evening swim and campfire.

Billowing clouds over Whaleback.

We had a glorious sunset.

The clouds turned all shades of pink and purple.

Kaleidoscope!

Sunday at the Bluebird.

The Leland river and flower planters on the bridge.

Looking towards Lake Michigan from the Leland Bridge.

Another weekend

We were in Leland yesterday to visit the Goodfallows and to buy some fish products from Carlson's. We got smoked fish, Whitefish Pate, and some fresh lake trout for the grill. Leland was busy, but not overly congested. The boat harbor was really full with the Chicago to Mackinaw race last week and the Port Huron race this weekend.
We had a really hot week but it cooled down dramatically over night. The are calling for highs in the forties here tonight!
Hope everyone is doing well.

Carlson's Fishery is under new ownership this year. It was bought out by the former owners son.

The harbor was loaded with boats.

The charter boats were lined up along the docks and in the river.

A view of Fishtown.

Enjoying summertime in the north country

The fourth of July has come and gone and we have settled into a routine here. We had a great time over the holiday with the kids and grandkids up for the long weekend. Laura stayed for a few extra days with Kara and Nolan and we had fun on the boat with them and had a great dinner at the Cove in Leland. Now it's quiet again and Nancy and I have been back to work and back to the routine.
Today we were both off and we decided to enjoy the day like the tourists do. We took the boat out to Glen Lake for a boat ride and then anchored on the sandbar to do some swimming and enjoy the sunshine. We got to the boat launch just before lunch and it was only half full! By the time we left at four the lot was full and cars were parked along the road with their boat trailers.
We went home and had ribs on the barbeque on the new deck, then later we went to the sand dunes for a jazz concert put on by the Glen Arbor Arts foundation as part of the Manitou Music Festival. There were hundreds of people enjoying the concert with their camp chairs and a bottle of wine.
Summer time just doesn't get better than this! I hope you are enjoying it too!
Come up and visit whenever you can.

Fourth of July festivities, getting ready to celebrate the month's birthdays!

The sunset let us down, but the colors were still interesting.

The deck was put to good use over the weekend.

It looks like it fits the house pretty well.

Basking in the sunshine on Glen Lake. The sand dunes are in the background.

The crystal clear water looks like the Caribbean!

 

Deck Raising with Mike

Mike gave me some deck building 101 classes this weekend. Here is the result. (he was only here for two days plus a morning and an evening)!

I had the posts in and pea gravel done last Wednesday

On Thursday evening we hung the beams onto the posts

Everything was leveled with Mike's laser level

Friday we got the joists in place and squared.

We went on to put in posts and bracing to hold them tight.

70 deck boards later we were ready to start laying the flooring

That didn't take long. We ate dinner on the deck on Friday.

Saturday we worked on railing and stairs

We can't believe we got this much done in a weekend. I now have some painting to do and finish up with the railing and some finishing touches! That Mike, what a guy!!!

A beautiful day up north

We've had a couple of gorgeous days here this week and are trying to make the most of them.
I have been busy putting posts in for our new deck and today Nancy and I spread pea gravel on the base. We are ready for Mike to come up on Thursday and we will start framing and building on Friday.
After working and eating lunch we headed for Lake Michigan and enjoyed a couple of hours in the sunshine. What a glorious day!

I spent a couple of days setting the posts up last weekend.

Today we spread pea gravel on top of landscape mesh to keep the weeds down under the deck.

After lunch it was off to the beach.

 

Shalda creek is runnng along the beach for a couple of hundred yards this year. We had to wade across to sit on the edge of Lake Michigan. Bugs were not bad at all today with a nice breeze blowing.

My throne awaits!

And you thought I was done for the summer!

I know it's been a long time since I posted anything here, but I was taking a break from the blog.
We have been in the "up north" groove lately with work several days a week, and Traverse City shopping, and friends and family visiting on the weekends.
I finally got my permit approved by the county and the new deck will be on the agenda for the next couple of weeks. We hope to be sitting on it for fourth of July weekend.
We have been down state a couple of times since we got back from our winter trip and have seen the kids and grand kids to celebrate birthdays that have gone by this year. Everyone is doing well and making progress in their lives and careers.
Becky and Dave have accepted an offer on their house and are working with a builder to build a new house in Ann Arbor Township. They will have a busy year ahead of them.
We haven't had very many beach days yet, as the temperatures are just starting to get hot the past two weeks. It seems when we do get to the beach the flies and bugs are bad. It has been a wet spring so maybe that has something to do with it. The cherry farmers should have a good year with a normal spring and no crop last year the trees should be ready to produce a bumpier crop and the warehouses are empty and will accept all the cherries they can get. The corn and hay should be good too with the rain and cooler temperatures we have been having.
Hope everyone will plan on coming up to see us this summer and spend some time. We are always glad to have company and the boat is ready for the water.
Hope everyone is well.