Cady Girl

The Elliott's adventure on Cady Girl was quite a ride.  Thanks to John for taking over some of my driving duties & Pat for assisting with the lines and KP duty!  They are a good crew! All in all, we think they had an adventure of a lifetime on Lake Michigan! The choppy seas continued, but the weather was decent, and the towns were delightful. Petoskey was our first stop on this leg.  Petoskey is one of many resort towns in Northern Michigan on the Little Traverse Bay and is known for its natural beauty, historic Gaslight Shopping District and for finding Petoskey stones, which are fossils of ancient coral and are Michigan's state rock. We did not find any, but we did go shopping!  There is also a connection to this area with Ernest Hemingway, particularly Walloon Lake, which was a formative influence on him and features in his stories. On 8/20 & 8/21 we visited Charlevoix, a charming coastal town known for its beautiful beaches and unique mushroom houses, The...

On the 14th we motored to St Ignace, MI. It was a sunny smooth day and what a beautiful marina!  The water is so blue and clear! We got off the boat in time to go to the Farmers Market, and then greeted Pat and John, who were driven to St. Ignace by John's sister Sally and her husband Jim.  We celebrated their arrival with Aperol Spritz's and then walked across the road to a great little restaurant! On the 15th we took the ferry from St. Ignace to Mackinac Island (pronounced Mackinaw, whether it is spelled with a "c" on the end or a "w.") This pronunciation is due to the origins in the native Ojibwe language and the influence of French and British spellings. What a delightful tourist town.  And boy was it crowded!  We hustled to the carriage ride station and hopped on a horse drawn wagon that took us on a 1 hour and 45-minute tour of the island. Our driver, Jeff was knowledgeable and very funny which made for an enjoyable ride!   The tour ended at Fort Mack...

We made it!  We're back in the USA!  Enjoy this rockin rendition of the song by Chuck Berry: Back in the USA What a trip it was.  The weather was overcast, and there wasn't much traffic, so we actually crossed the border at 12:12 pm and entered the USA portion of the North Channel of Lake Huron.  We docked at Drummond Island, and were told that we could not leave the boat until we were cleared by customs.  Silly us, we thought there was a customs office at the marina.  NO - you have to do everything on line.  So being, the tech guru that I thought I was, we did everything on my phone.   Got the CPB (Customs and Border Protection) Roam app downloaded, then had to purchase a DTOPS decal for Cady Girl at the cost of $35.98. DTOPS is a permit to allow your vessel to cross the border and is good for one year - but we doubt we will ever cross the border in Cady Girl again! Anyhow, when everything is submitted you get a notice that a border agent wa...

August 9 - our 39th anniversary, we left Hotham, cruised across the channel to Gore Bay for lunch and then went back across the channel to dock in Long Point Cove. The Gore Bay harbor, which was once a busy commercial port of call, is now a popular recreational destination. This was evidenced while we were there because an approximate 100' vessel docked with it's uniformed crew and all. We saw boats from all over North America! We walked the town, had pizza for lunch, which was delicious, I tried a new Canadian soda (Sap Sucker) and then headed out. Long Point Cove was a beautiful spot with only two other boats!  So we swam and enjoyed the serenity.  The topography reminded me of Bend Oregon! One of our favorite spots! On the 10th we motored to Blind River.  Odd that during that trip, our automatic pilot went out!  Boy what a difference manual steering is????  Not as much fun.  The Blind Rivier Marina was well apportioned, so we did laundry, went to a nativ...