Bay City, MI. We are finally "home"!

Today was an incredible day to travel on the Great Lakes. The winds were calm and we smiled thinking of the times in the past we struggled in the looming waves. What a difference a day makes!

The only waves today were caused by our wake. I always check behind us on this leg as we have suffered freighters barreling down on us. Surprise!

Gravely Shoal Light - great name!

The trip down Saginaw Bay to Bay City is long and fortunately today, boring.

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Mixed feelings for us all as we cruised into our home dock. Our friendly neighbors are out of town and the Marina looked a bit quiet. (Well, it was Friday at 1PM!).

Buddy is thrilled to be so close to home.

BooBoo not so much.

Our son and pregnant daughter-in-law arrived as we pulled in to help us tie up to the dock. Erica is pregnant and so cute! She and Joe told us the good news when we were last home, but now she looks pregnant. Joy! Joe looked cute too, of course! 

I was so excited to see Joe and Erica, I forgot to take a picture. Here is a picture from their wedding in Petoskey, MI, two years ago.

Since I was in the wedding file, I copied this for your pleasure. What a handsome couple! I don't know why it is showing up here so small. You'd think I would have figured that stuff out by now.

Our buddies Jan and Jeri are hiking in the Grand Tetons and Gail and Gordie are not "home" at the boat either! Hey you guys!

See our empty slip? See the huge waves from the 20 knot wind? No? It was a picture perfect day for docking.

We decided to stay the night on the boat (do we seem to be dragging our feet?) and cook on the boat as well. Just like any other marina, right? OK, we went out to our favorite restaurant in Bay City - Harveys. As usual, we had a great time. No picture as, again, I forgot. Guess I am getting into the swing of real life. Don't need a camera around my neck for that.

Tonight Jim and I will tally our information and pass on our final thoughts tomorrow in our last blog.

We really appreciate your time as you have followed our blog. Your comments are appreciated and we look forward to seeing you!

East Tawas, MI - for a change the ride was a pleasure!

Rarely are the seas as flat as they were today on Lake Huron. We cruised with ease and crossed paths with surprisingly few boats. We saw only one boat during the entire day as we cruised from Harrisville to East Tawas, a short 39 miles.

East Tawas Yacht Basin, entering the harbor around the breakwall.

East Tawas, MI is a really nice town. The Tawas State Park is nearby with camping and cabins available. Groceries and a Walmart are nearby as well. We did not need any groceries. We need to eat leftovers from the freezer!

We had never ridden our bicycles to Tawas State Park, so we took the opportunity to unload our bikes and head on out to Tawas State Park. Interesting ride as we viewed the homes and forests. After about five miles we entered the State Park and were interested in the campground. Few tents and mostly 5th wheel trailers and RV's lined the campsites.

Tawas Lighthouse. Originally there was a second residence for the assistant lighthouse keeper and his family. Looking at the register of previous lighthouse keepers, one man kept the lighthouse for 26 years.

View from the top of the lighthouse. Lots of tiny steps to reach the top. Can't imagine climbing those steps many times a day to check the light.

Jim was trying to decide what looked best for dinner from the kitchen cupboard.

The lighthouse was open for inspection and despite our numerous visits to lighthouses during the last 13 months, we took advantage of the  opportunity to view another lighthouse. The  original  Tawas Lighthouse was built in 1852 and as sand accumulated around the point, the lighthouse appeared to move inland until the lighthouse was over a mile inland. In 1876 a new lighthouse was built....with lots of steps to get to the top!

The beach below the lighthouse at the Tawas State Park.

Tomorrow is the cruise up Saginaw Bay, which is typically a pain! Since the winds primarily originate in the West or Southwest, waves build up on the shallow bay.  Tomorrow's forecast is for little wind. Would be best to get an early start before the winds start blowing.

Our friends Jeri and Jan on One More Day and Gordie and Gail on Weeks' End will probably be around for the weekend. Will be great to see them. Will be strange to dock at our home dock at Wheeler's Landing in Bay City, MI.

During the evening gnats were everywhere! I used the shop vac three times to vacuum the gnats on the ceiling above Big Red (the lamp!). The fish are going to be happy with all these insects on the water!

Dinner cruises to Charity Island look like fun. The area around the Island is shallow, so the pontoon would be the best option.

Adjacent to the State Dock is a camping park, but most of the "campers" are fifth wheels or big RV's. Some of the sights are on Lake Huron. Really nice.

Sunrise over E. Tawas Harbor. I love that still water (when in the trawler. When in the sailboat, I could cry when I wake up to water that looks like this picture!)

Harrisville - familiar territory.

Harrisville Marina of Refuge is surrounded by a man made breakwater. As with most Michigan Marinas, the docks are well constructed and maintained. The young people (mostly college students) who work at our state marinas are friendly and we were glad to purchase diesel (well kind of glad) and tie to the dock.

Boo, Bud and I walk early most mornings.This morning the view from the lighthouse was incredible.  Ordinarily I would have added pictures to the Presque Isle blog, but it is time to fix dinner.

For the serious sailors, I couldn't help but note what this "device". There are pins along the bottom that keep the "device" from going around in both directions. Reminds me of cleaning the winches on Epic.....    Must have been removed from a big boat.

The spiders were busy all night, because we walked this path last night and the webs were collecting on my face this morning. The boys don't seem to mind.

We chose to cruise in the salon and not from the bridge as thunderstorms were forecasted. Bud was scared to death and Jim was reading through his eyelids again. Guess it wasn't too rough!

Sirius/XM weather adds a lot of information. The light green color on the chart plotter means light rain, the darker rain means heavier rain and as the color moves from yellow to orange, the more severe the storm. Fortunately, the storm passed north of us and we made it to Harrisville with little rain.

Also available from Sirius/XM is the wind direction and wind speed as well as the wave direction and wave height. Some days this information is more helpful than others.

Buddy loves the outdoors, but he loves us too. What a good boy!

Tomorrow morning we are off to East Tawas. A familiar destination for Crawdad. Since our permanent slip is in Bay City, the first stop out of Saginaw Bay is always E. Tawas and the last stop home is East Tawas as well.

Sunrise was so beautiful, I had to go back and post these pictures.

A catamaran from Ontario was off to Presque Isle.

Presque Isle - simple beauty.

Eastern Michigan has little population and few cities. The Harbor at Presque Isle sits within a natural harbor that was the only natural harbor on the East side of Michigan used during the early days and later during the lumber days. Simple beauty is the only reasonable description.

The day was perfect and Presque Isle has a trail to the old lighthouse.

The "old" Presque Isle Lighthouse was built in 1840.

Boo Boo rang the bell. LOUD!!!!! bell!!!!!

The "new" lighthouse was built in 1870. The original lighthouse wasn't tall enough, so both lighthouses were operating until the 30's.

The Presque Isle Marina is nice, but empty. The DNR in Michigan has done a poor job managing the state marinas of late. Reserving has become impractical as any change creates a significant fee. Having traveled the US as we have over the last year, Michigan again comes in at the bottom at managing a tremendous resource. How is it Michigan continues to get it wrong? Having a central reservation center does not work for anyone. Is anyone home in Lansing?

The local store was full of goodies and the staff was friendly. They even invited the boys into the store.

Oh, there is the staff at the side window with two small cones.....hmmm, who would like to eat a small ice cream cone?

Found a taker! Boo has never had an ice cream cone before and he would like to have one again tomorrow.

One bite of the cone for Buddy & don't worry, Jim and I had our own cones!

Tomorrow we continue our quest home.

Mackinac Island, does not get any better than this..............

What a pleasure to be "home".  Mackinac Island has been a favorite for most of my adult life. In my 20's I began to race sailboats and the Port Huron and Chicago Mackinac races end at Mackinac Island. We have won a few races and placed in others, but each race has been a pleasure, again, mostly because of the people. Most of my crew mates have been racing on Epic for 20 years. (I have been racing with Ray and Winnie Adams for 30 years! Yikes!).

Crawdad and Grianan and Sweet Pee (Jim, Dale and Ashley) cruised from Drummond Island Yacht Haven to Mackinac Island. Once we reached the south end of Detour Passage, we were in familiar territory. The Port Huron Mackinac Races in the past would round a buoy at Tobermorey Canada and then the race to Mackinac along the Northern Part of Lake Huron to Mackinac Island! My first race was in 1983, so there has been a lot of sailing along this section of Lake Huron!

Detour Passage Light. I love lighthouses! Can you tell?

We used the lower helm during the rainy day. It is easier to see and we don't have to venture outside. Boo was a "bit" bored.

Buddy was bored too.

We saw a few freighters in the rain.

The Grand Hotel with the longest porch in the USA. The Hotel was built in 1887 by the Railroad from white pine.

The Grand Hotel is surrounded with red geraniums. No dead heads here!

The Hotel has a beautiful swimming pool.

The Grand Hotel in the sunshine the next day. We rode our bikes around the West Bluff and rode down the hill. You can then park your bikes and enter the Grand Hotel porch. If you walk on like you belong at the Hotel, you can see the entire hotel for free.

We took the boys for a ride.

Boo's view of the bike ride.

Mackinac Island in the rain. A lot less people!

The day was rainy, but a consistent light rain can flatten the water and make for a good cruising day - until we reached Mackinac Island. The light rain became a heavy shower and by the time Jim and I were into the dock, we were soaked to our underwear, but we were in the Harbor at Mackinac Island and safe at the dock.

The Island is known for fudge and horse...poop!

Here is where the horse poop comes from.

Transportation.

St. Anne's Catholic Church from about 1820.

Our last day with Kate and Greg from Grianan. Jim has his new hat on that was given to him by the lock master in the Trent Severn.

The flowers are so incredibly beautiful!

Late 1800's construction. Most of the homes were constructed during this period.

West Bluff road that leads down the hill to the Hotel.

View from the West Bluff of the Round Island Light.

Home at the top of the West Bluff.

West Bluff home that I stayed in 20 years ago with a friend. Her family owned the home.

Last dinner with Greg and Kate.

Waiting for our friends Tim and Janet to come in on the ferry from St. Ignace. Janet lives in Sault St. Marie, called the Soo.

Tim and Janet at the Pub with us for dinner.

We visited the Stables at the Grand Hotel.