Checking In

We went to Wisconsin for Michelle Seefried's wedding this past weekend and had a cool weekend getaway.
We started off on Friday morning headed north. We drove through Traverse City and on to Kalkaska and took 131 north to Gaylord. We got onto I-75 and drove north over the Mighty Mac Bridge. From there it was west along the north shore of Lake Michigan on US2. We went through Manistique, Gladstone, Escanaba (no moonlight as it was still light out), and on to Menominee and Wisconsin. We drove south along the lakeshore and eventually arrived at Green Bay, Wisconsin. After checking into our hotel we drove to the waterfront in town (on the Fox River), and went to the Tall Ship Festival that they were having. We ate dinner at the Titletown Brewery and then walked along the river and looked at the tall ships that were tied along the sea wall. Afterwards we sat and listened to the piano man concert put on by two guys who were playing all of the old Billy Joel, Elton John, Jerry Lee Lewis and other rock  and roll songs from the sixties, seventies and more recent times. Even one from Lady Gaga!
Saturday we drove the last part of the trip to our motel near Milwaukee and went to the wedding in Grafton. At the reception, later, we all watched from the deck as the bride and groom arrived in a helicopter! Talk about a grand entrance!
Sunday we drove to Manitowoc to catch the Badger Ferry for our four hour cruise to Ludington and our return trip home.
Quite a weekend and beautiful weather and scenery. Wisconsin at this latitude is much like the Leelanau Peninsula.

Hope everyone is well.

The light house in Manistique, Michigan

Teepees at Manistique. Nancy was exploring how they tied on the canvas.

Tall ships in Green Bay

All in a row.

This one was giving rides on the river.

The Harbor at Port Washington in Wisconsin. This harbor was home to a big fleet of charter boats, and we saw a couple of them bring in their catch of salmon.

The Maritime Museum at Manitowoc. They built submarines for the navy here during world war two. 

Here is one of the subs that now is part of the museum.

This was the SS Cobia submarine.

The SS Badger car ferry. It runs from Manitowoc, Wisconsin to Ludington Michigan (a distance of sixty miles), in four hours. On Sunday it was carrying over a hundred cars. It can carry 620 passengers, 180 automobiles, also tour buses, RVs, motorcycles, and commercial trucks.

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!