Season is ending and our Saturday morning coffee hour started out in 39
degree weather! Actually it’s warmed up
to 42 degrees. Billy has become quite the “doughnut hound” stemming
from retrieving bits of donuts dropped under the table by the kids over the
summer. Now he smells the donuts from
his couch and does everything to entice a walk; only it’s a short walk five
steps to the doughnut table where he stations himself in case anything may fall
his way!
The wind is strong off the lake so it looks like the ocean
with the whitecaps and surf.
We met Dale and Laurie, the Channel Campground Hosts, for one
last dinner at Handsome Hobo’s Tavern.
We’ve had some fun times with them over the month; sharing
ideas and pitchers of beer. Laurie
actually goes in swimming! She laughs at
me because I’m astounded that anyone would willingly swim in water less than 75
degrees…..make that 85 degrees. She claims that it’s warmed up….it’s 72
degrees. About the same as the springs
in Florida and I don’t swim in them either!
Her knee replacement recovery has been great credited to all the walking
she has been doing at the Channel CG.
She has returned to work as a nurse so she and Dale are getting ready to
pack up and go home. Really enjoyed
meeting them and hope they can make it to Florida for a visit.
Driving around the area, it is more and more evident that
Labor Day is the cut off for summer activities.
Along the beaches, the crews are installing snow fences to catch the
drifting sand that will blow across in the following months. The swing sets and playgrounds are deserted.
We have lost pretty much an hour’s daylight in just 30
days. I guess daylight drops pretty
quickly from now until December 21st. Harvest fests are starting to be advertised
and a few trees are changing their leaves.
Drove out to White Lake Light Station and pier for a beautiful sunset. The salmon are running like crazy and the channel between Lake Michigan and White Lake had boats coming in and out as well as fishermen (families with children) all along the channel pier for a Saturday night out.
We were twenty minutes before sunset and the boats were starting to come back in.
A Catalina with their head sail up came drifting up the channel. We yelled out asking what year their boat was, they replied "88". We said we had an 89. Captain asked if our engine worked. Then we watched them go up the channel and realized what the problem was. As they approached White Lake they lost their air and apparently their engine. He pulled the sailboat up the rest of the channel until he got into White Lake where I guess he picked up some breezes. Don't know how he got into his slip or just dropped anchor!
Looking off to the south you can see how the dunes set up along Lake Michigan. It must be beautiful from the water sailing up the coast.
Sunset arrives around 8PM. Always beautiful at the end of a day.
Drove out to White Lake Light Station and pier for a beautiful sunset. The salmon are running like crazy and the channel between Lake Michigan and White Lake had boats coming in and out as well as fishermen (families with children) all along the channel pier for a Saturday night out.
We were twenty minutes before sunset and the boats were starting to come back in.
A Catalina with their head sail up came drifting up the channel. We yelled out asking what year their boat was, they replied "88". We said we had an 89. Captain asked if our engine worked. Then we watched them go up the channel and realized what the problem was. As they approached White Lake they lost their air and apparently their engine. He pulled the sailboat up the rest of the channel until he got into White Lake where I guess he picked up some breezes. Don't know how he got into his slip or just dropped anchor!
Looking off to the south you can see how the dunes set up along Lake Michigan. It must be beautiful from the water sailing up the coast.
Sunset arrives around 8PM. Always beautiful at the end of a day.
As I’ve said, we’ve enjoyed being here. My father always said, “Midwesterners are the friendliest people on earth” and he wasn’t wrong. Lots of visitors wanted to know what brought us to Michigan, were we from Michigan and how do you do this campground hosting gig? Some voiced a desire to do something like this when they retired; others had just retired and were starting out in a pop-up and thinking about going through the usual camping RV progression!
How very similar this all is to the boating world; start out
small and simple and work your way up to large and complicated and then back
off to somewhere in between!
Said our good-byes to Josh and Lance. Josh is the Volunteer Liaison making our job very easy. Lance spent most of his time down at Duck Lake. These guys cover an extremely large territory over several state parks and do a fantastic job!
So, on a rainy Sunday afternoon we are packing up and getting ready to move out.
Monday we are heading back up to the Sutton’s Bay area to further explore Leland and Sleeping Bear Dunes. The temperatures look to be in the 60’s so hopefully the biting flies will be cut back some!
So, on a rainy Sunday afternoon we are packing up and getting ready to move out.
Monday we are heading back up to the Sutton’s Bay area to further explore Leland and Sleeping Bear Dunes. The temperatures look to be in the 60’s so hopefully the biting flies will be cut back some!
Stay tuned! Life is good in Magical Michigan!
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