Late to the Lake
What to do when the weather is bad and the cute little tourist towns are shut down?
We enjoyed Canada so much that we spent more time there than most Loopers. We were in no hurry to get to Lake Michigan and flaunted the conventional wisdom to be down the lake and in Chicago by Labor Day. We started down the lake on Sept 9th.
Most Loopers spend a couple of weeks on the lake, dilly-dallying, enjoying the warm weather and smooth water. Going to restaurants, eating ice cream, playing putt putt golf and shopping. It sounded idyllic. Unfortunately, that was not to be our experience.
We had a couple of nice days on Mackinac Island, a touristy spot with no cars. Even Amazon deliveries were done with horse drawn carriages. I kid you not.
There was a fort, lots of restaurants, way too many people and about a hundred fudge shops. The biking/walking path around the perimeter of the island was about 8 miles and very scenic. The weather was warm and the water was turquoise. Quite lovely.
As we pulled out of Mackinac harbor and onto Lake Michigan proper, we could tell our summer holiday was over. The skies were grey and the water was a bit choppy. We were really going to have to start watching the weather again!
Our first stop was Petoskey. Absolutely charming. A nice marina, beautifully landscaped. The pictures below hint at the grey skies and looming weather….
A short walk to town, and tons of little shops and restaurants. We bought a martini kit for Gary in a kitchen store and ate lunch at a cool brewery.
The downtown and neighborhoods were filled with flowers and decorations. Local kids and parents were out fishing in the Bear River which runs through Petoskey. So charming!
Then we made it to Charlevoix. This was supposed to be one of the most beautiful towns on the lake, and it was. But we couldn’t find a restaurant that was open for dinner. The curse of post-Covid Monday/Tuesday shutdowns due to lack of staffing. Dang it. We didn’t starve, but we were starting to get worried.
Charlevoix is famous for a series of uniquely designed and built “Mushroom Houses”. We took a tour. It was fun to learn about this weird and wonderful part of the local history!
The second day at Charlevoix we did find an open brew pub and a nice Farmers Market, with veggies and meats and mushrooms and other yummy supplies for the boat.
Then we headed for the tiny village of Leland, mostly shut down except for the restaurant that had seating right by the waterfall/fake fish ladder. Saw lots of salmon trying to get upstream. I don’t think any of them made it.
Leaving Leland, we cruised past the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park. It was a yucky day on the water, so we spent some money on fuel to go fast. The scenery was dramatic and our boat handled like a champ!
Frankfort was nice. Bigger, so there were more food and shopping options, as well as lots of bike trails. And we had good weather! We rode our bikes to Crystal Lake, which was just that…. crystal clear!
We met some other bike riding Loopers in a neighboring town for lunch.
And then we had “dock tales” with a group of Loopers at the docks. Fun!
Pentwater was the pits of despair for us. Only 1.5 restaurants open, and not much else. The half restaurant was a sandy area behind a bar, with tables and chairs, beer, and a guy selling BBQ. We stayed one night and got out of town early the next day, hoping to outrun a storm before hunkering down in our next stop.
We made it to Grand Haven before the storm hit. Barely. It was a great place to be stuck for a couple of days.
As you can probably guess…. We had some yummy food!
Grand Haven had a nicely developed waterfront, with foosball and ping pong and cornhole permanently installed and ready for people to play with!
And there was a nice biking/walking path from the shore to downtown.
There was also a Coast Guard station, which apparently comes in handy when the winds are from the West, which causes the waves build along the inlet to the town and then all of the marinas and walls in the town suffer big swells until the wind dies down or changes direction. We had one sleepless night for sure!
South Haven was good for dinner and a movie. It was a cute town with a bustling center. We could have been happy there for another day or two.
The next morning we decided to get going before dawn to outrun another storm and make it to a bigger town where we could be more comfortably “stuck” for four days before another weather window opened for us.
Michigan City was the place we chose to perch ourselves. Wow. It was ugly. And by that I mean very unattractive. The skyline was dominated by a huge cooling tower, visible from every area of the town.
Ugly town, but beautiful food. We actually found two restaurants that served surprisingly creative and delicious food. Fantastic!
But you can only eat so much. So we promptly rented a car and drove to Dearborn Michigan for a couple of days. We toured the Henry Ford Museum and the Ford factory that makes F150’s. Now that was fun!
Our last stop before Chicago was Hammond, renowned only for their casino and many industrial plants. Again, ugly. But you can’t tell at night!
We went to the casino. I tried to get Gary to smile. I even bought him a beer. That was his best effort. I guess this just isn’t his thing….
In the end, we took 3 weeks to get from Mackinac Island to Chicago.
Most of our time on the lake ranged from a little bumpy to very rough at three to five foot waves, with some six footers mixed in just for fun. Again, the boat handled it well. The crew…. not so much.
Some of it was actually scary, like when we started seeing clouds like this:
Yikes. But as our friends John and Maureen would say… nobody died, so I guess it was all good.
And…. Chicago was on the horizon!
To see our current voyage path with Gary’s photos, click on this: G&P Voyage Map