Lake Michigan IS Windy

I will try to pick up where we left off the other day but a lot of new things have come our way despite not traveling much. I was under the weather for 3 days with an ear infection and it really puts me down. I said to Connie one night while at anchor"you are in charge" and she was but a little nervous... anyway I am back in the game and feeling fit.





The Sleeping Bear Dunes are about 450 feet above the lake at a point where we noticed many people climbing the dunes. We anchored in the lee of the dune and took the dinghy to shore for a closer look and an attempt for the summit. Well I've had a cardiac stress and it was no way as difficult as climbing only a few hundred yards. The dunes are very steep and the easiest is towards the bottom (where I started) as the incline in not quite as steep from the accumulation of sluffing sand. Needless to say I decided the view was OK from about 1/3 the distance.







BTW, We saw several kids that were up AND down in the time it took us to visit!

We arrived in Arcadia, MI secure at Veterans Marina and glad we have friends to share some time with. Some years ago a close friend , with leukemia, became terminal and our mutual friend from Arcadia provided us with some time together at his beautiful lake shore home. We enjoyed the late summer with Lyle and I have great memories of his friendship from this location.

Well wouldn't you know it! As we walked into the only resturant in town there was my long lost friend from Flint... I thought he had moved as I had transpoed the last two digits of his phone number. Well we had the pizza and a few with plans to spend more time together during our weather lay-up in Arcadia.

Jerry (Sig) brought a car for out use during the lay-up, toured a winery outlet, visited local artist and had a great meal with them in their beautiful home... it is great to have friends in unexpected places! They cooked a salmon fillet we brought along (thanks Andy & Erich) acquired while on their trip to Alaska last month rafting on the Tetashini River.




We spent a quiet and restful evening with our friends ashore . Sig had his secret fish chowder recipe prepared for us from Lake Michigan stock and it was great! Boy, salmon from the West and East in one eve.


Sorry for the long post, we are trying to keep oru family and friends along with us so to say.

As for the small things (bugs)... we bombed yesterday and have not noticed a large body count. As they say "what dosen't kill you makes you stroger" we will see what today brings. Our local friends say it is from the fruit trees and plentiful harvest. The orchards left a large portion of the harvest to rot as the market could not absorb the excess fruit. What a shame we have to destroy or abandon mother's nature's bounty to preserve the prices that support the farmers... or is it the resellers we are protecting? Enough of my rantings for today.

To add to the bugs we now have the friendliest Comoran I have ever seen. I can't bet him to vacate the dinghy for more than a few hours. He scared the C... out of me last night in the dark as we returned to the boat with all his flapping.

Photo missing of this menace to come.

Thanks for coming along with us,

Tom & Connie
Cat's Away/Arcadia, MI
Very windy and cool but sunny today