ST. IGNACE to CHARLEVOIX / Saturday, August 6 to Sunday, August 7 (Days 199-200)

Admiral's Log:     8:00 am, Sat. 8/6/16
                         Air Temp:   66     Water Temp:   65
                        Winds:   5 mph
                        Speed:   9 knots

We said good bye to Barb and Joe and agreed to see each other again in Kentucky Lake when we get there the first of October. We went under the Mackinac Bridge and shortly after, the seas got pretty choppy, so it was a rough ride, but we had no problem. 

Rowe Boat crossing Lake Huron into Lake Michigan

Rose Shoal Light

Gray's Reef Light

Over Ice took this of us 

You can't tell but the water was pretty choppy, Over Ice was bouncing pretty good.

When we got to the Charlevoix Channel around 3, we had to wait over 20 minutes for the bridge to open. It was pretty choppy and other boats were behind us and smaller boats were flying past us. Mike was pretty stressed when we finally got through the bridge.

The water was gorgeous, something you would expect in the Caribbean 

We fueled, then docked at Irish Marina. We walked to downtown for dinner. On our way we walked through the exclusive Belvedere Club. The "clubs" are summer homes which residents must be approved to buy, then they can only stay there from the first of May to the first of October. They are beautiful homes.

See the red and white metal stick? It helps the firemen find the hydrant in the snow!

We had dinner at the Weathervane Restaurant, by the bridge we came under earlier in the day. Denise from Zephyr said I needed to try the local favorite, planked white fish with duchess potatoes. Mike had Fish and Chips with whitefish, both were very good.

Sunday, we had cereal with fresh blueberries we had bought at the farmer's market in St. Ignace, so sweet! We rode our bikes to Castle Farms, an 1800 acre farm originally built in 1918 by the Albert Loeb, the founder of Sears and Roebuck. It was totally renovated in 2001 and is now a tourist attraction and popular venue for weddings. 

There were lovely gardens a dragon statue and cute model train displays.

We next rode our bikes to Walgreens and the grocery. Soon after we got back to the boat, Over Ice came over in their dingy for a beer and to say hi. We had lunch then rode bikes again to the "mushroom" houses. Or some call them the gnome or hobbit houses.

These are a collection of 31 homes built by Earl Young from 1918 to 1970. He even had a hand in the Weathervane Restaurant. He was heavily influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright. They are really cool, I think it would be fun to live in one, we had just missed one of the daily tours.

We cooked chops on the grill, I worked on the blog and watched a little Olympics.