We certainly had an easy week. Mike made an appointment to have his root canal finished this past Tuesday. And that gave us a little over a week to do nothing. Rather than spend the whole time in Petoskey, we thought that we would take another loop around this end of Lake Michigan. Before heading out we put fuel on for the first time this year. We weren’t low, but the fuel had dropped to $4.20 a gallon and Mike didn’t want to lose a bargin. We put on 200 gallons of the 260 that we were down. Mike wanted to leave room in case it went down some more.
We headed out and went back to Charlevoix. Of course that meant dinner at the Gray Gables; a fantastic place. From there we moved over to Leland; our first time there by boat. As usual it was full and we had to raft behind three other boats. Each of them informed us that they would be leaving early in the morning, which meant that we had to move our boat first. We had dinner at the Cove in Fishtown. Linda figured that if we had to get up to move the boat, we might as well leave, so at 8:00 the next morning we were on our way. We dropped back down into Grand Traverse Bay and went into Suttons Bay. There we had a great dinner, cheap, at Boone’s Prime Time. It has great steaks and burgers. The next morning Linda perused the local stores and was ready to go at noon. We slipped over to Elk Rapids. Dinner there is at Pearls, a wonderful Cajun restaurant. Elk Rapids has cable TV on the docks and we wanted to watch the Steelers game. There wasn’t time for dinner Saturday night without missing part of the game, so we ordered pizza delivered to the dock. We are not sure if it was the Steelers play or the pizza that caused the indigestion. It was ugly, but the Steelers did manage a field goal with 4 seconds left to pull it out 12-10.
Coleen and John D’Amour, our friends from Boyne City came down in their boat joined us for breakfast Sunday morning. Linda wanted to do some laundry, but the washing machines were down in Elk Rapids, so we started back to Petoskey.
We headed out and went back to Charlevoix. Of course that meant dinner at the Gray Gables; a fantastic place. From there we moved over to Leland; our first time there by boat. As usual it was full and we had to raft behind three other boats. Each of them informed us that they would be leaving early in the morning, which meant that we had to move our boat first. We had dinner at the Cove in Fishtown. Linda figured that if we had to get up to move the boat, we might as well leave, so at 8:00 the next morning we were on our way. We dropped back down into Grand Traverse Bay and went into Suttons Bay. There we had a great dinner, cheap, at Boone’s Prime Time. It has great steaks and burgers. The next morning Linda perused the local stores and was ready to go at noon. We slipped over to Elk Rapids. Dinner there is at Pearls, a wonderful Cajun restaurant. Elk Rapids has cable TV on the docks and we wanted to watch the Steelers game. There wasn’t time for dinner Saturday night without missing part of the game, so we ordered pizza delivered to the dock. We are not sure if it was the Steelers play or the pizza that caused the indigestion. It was ugly, but the Steelers did manage a field goal with 4 seconds left to pull it out 12-10.
Coleen and John D’Amour, our friends from Boyne City came down in their boat joined us for breakfast Sunday morning. Linda wanted to do some laundry, but the washing machines were down in Elk Rapids, so we started back to Petoskey.
The weather wasn’t supposed to be too bad, but by the time that we cleared Old Mission Point we were in 2-4 foot seas. Jake was not a happy camper at this point. If Jake isn’t happy, Linda isn’t happy. If Linda isn’t happy, no one is happy. We knew it was going to build the further up the Bay we went and when we got into the open Lake there would be a 3-5 or 4-6 foot sea.
The Admiral gave the orders to the Captain to head north west to the lee shore and into Northport. We used to love Northport. It had a couple of good restaurants and some interesting shops. Now it seems to be dying. The last time we were here we had dinner at the last restaurant that is still open. How was it? Linda elected to eat dinner on the boat this time rather than eat out. That should tell you right there.We got up early on Monday and headed back to Petoskey so Mike could finish his root canal. If there is one thing worst than having a root canal, it is having to do it again. Tuesday morning he trudged up the hill to the dentist office and was done by noon. Linda did her laundry on Monday and by Tuesday wanted to do something. She wanted the bikes off the boat and wanted to ride. She conned Mike into thinking that they were just going to ride to the frozen custard stand a mile down the road. Which they did, but afterwards she pushed him for another six miles. Actually Petoskey has a wonderful bike path that runs right along the Lake shore. It stretches all the way to Charlevoix one way and Harbor Springs the other. Yesterday it was back on the bikes for a Starbucks and we ended up half way to Harbor Springs. Of course we have been eating out every night, Monday at the Mitchell Street Pub. It has the best French onion soup. Tuesday we did the Thai Orchard, which was good, but not as good as Spicy Siam in Royal Oak. Last night we ate at Stafford’s at the Perry Hotel. We dined outside on the veranda and the view is magnificent. Sunset was gorgeous and all the guests were out watching it and taking photos. It reminded us of Mallory Square in Key West.
Sunset from the Petoskey Harbor
Well that was the past week for us, easy and hassle free. We need to stay in Petoskey today to make sure that there is no infection in Mike’s tooth. If there isn’t we will head back to Beaver Island for the weekend. After that it is back through the Straits and Mackinac Island. We want to make the Canadian Soo by the Steelers opener on September 7th. There is a sports bar there that is very partial to the Pittsburgh Steelers as that is also the name of their local team.
It looks like summer is coming to an end and we only have about another month of boating for the year. This past month the weather has been great. A far cry from what we started the summer with. Now the days are warm, but not hot and the nights are cool. Good sleeping weather, we think the term is. We hope that you are all well and have enjoyed your summer.
Take care, love,
Linda, Jake and the Fat Man
