We have moved out of Lake Huron, through upper Lake Michigan and are now in Green Bay. The night before we left Mackinaw City, we were treated, once again, to a fireworks show off the back of our boat, put on by the city on the weekends.
The journey has taken us to 5 stops so far on the way to the city of Green Bay at the south end of Green Bay. Weather, winds and sea swells continue to be an issue so moving is strategic and since weather is constantly changing, plans are often made on the fly. I go to bed at night with one plan in my head only to wake up in the morning to a whole other plan for the day.
We spent 2 nights on Beaver Island. Beaver Island is the largest island in Lake Michigan, which is not saying much as there are only 657 people who live there. Until 1856 Beaver Island was the home of a large Mormon theocracy and monarchy ruled by self appointed leader King James Strang. Strang’s ideology got a too weird for most of his followers who then raised up against him and assassinated him. After the assassination most of the Strangites were expelled from the island. The islands now has a strong Irish Catholic base, however, the island is still celebrates it rich history and culture through many museums.
From Beaver Island we traveled to Manistique, Michigan where we were tied to a seawall. There was not much in Manistique, but the we did take a quick walking tour around the tiny town. From 1880’s to the 1930’s Manistique was the hub of Great Lakes shipping.
From Manistique we went to Fayette State Park where we stayed 2 nights, again due to winds and weather. Weather up here remains breezy/windy with temperatures in the 50’s and 60’s during the days dipping to the 40 to low 50’s at night.
Fayette state park is the home of the Historic Fayette Townsite, a once busy port that manufactured pig iron between 1867 and 1891. Raw iron ore was shipped to Fayette harbor from which the pig iron was made. Pig iron is a crude iron made from a smelting furnace in the form of oblong blocks that when refined are used for steel, wrought iron or high-purity iron. The term pig iron came about when molds were laid out in sand beds in which the molten iron was poured resembling a litter of suckling pigs. When all the trees on the island were cut down for the charcoal that was used in the furnaces, the pig iron production stopped. Today many of the industrial buildings and home sites have been restored for visitors to enjoy. There too is a small 12 slip marina for boaters.
From Fayette we went to Escanaba for the night. Escanaba was one of the places I went with my grandparents while spending several summers with them traveling around Lake Winnebago in Oshkosh, WI and into Green Bay, Sturgeon Bay and Lake Michigan on their boat while I grew up in Wisconsin and even from California in my early teens and into my 20’s. I soooo remember going through the locks up and down the Fox River back and forth from Winnebago to and from travel around Green Bay. I will never get that smell of the river from the paper mills along the river out of my nose memory. I was looking forward to traveling the Fox River locks again on this trip to see how/if the river has been cleaned up – I can’t imagine it is still as horrible as it was in the 60’s, but the locks have been permanently closed to keep the lamprey eel from getting into Winnebago from Lake Michigan. The locks have since fallen into a state of disrepair, although there have been a few that have been repaired, for historical purposes only. They say they have no intention of ever opening them for boat travel again. Too bad because it was a great time in my life that others will never get to enjoy.
Escanaba is a really nice town with a lot of old, well cared for, huge houses overlooking the lake. The marina had bikes to use so we took a bike ride around. It looks like a place I could live for a few years. But, then what?
We left Escanaba on the very first day of sunshine in a very long time – months actually and the first time I have been able to wear something other than long sleeved t-shirts and sweatshirts. Michael even got out of Levi’s into shorts, for that day. From there, we headed to Sister Bay, where we are now.
Sister Bay is a quirky little town with lots of tourist shops, bars and restaurants and a highlighted Swedish restaurant that reportedly has goats on their grass roof. Well, seems as though the goats have a pretty good union because they are only there from 9-9:30ish until noonish and not in the heat, wind, rain or snow. To their credit though, the roof is pretty steeply pitched so I can see their side; therefore, we have not actually seen the goats on the roof as we were there after 2:00 yesterday and it is cold, windy and rainy today. But we did get some Swedish meatballs, which were actually pretty dense and not what I remembered Swedish meatballs to be, and Michael got Swedish pancakes for dinner last night and breakfast this morning that he really liked.
We originally intended to only be here last night, and heading to an anchorage for tonight, but rain and 16-19 MPH sustained winds with gusts of up to 30 MPH with waves of 4-6 feet are not conducive to boating. Michael wasn’t even sure we could get out of the tight slip and marina safely this morning, so we are here for one more night. So far, Windy (Michael’s weather app girlfriend) says tomorrow will be a good day for travel. We only have 10 miles to go to our next stop, Fish Bay, for one night and a fish boil restaurant dinner, then into Green Bay city. We will be in Green Bay for 5 days where our friends Kevin and Susan will be joining us for Green Bay sightseeing, including a tour of Lambo Field, the home of the Green Bay Packers, of which I have always been a Packer Backer from early growing up in Wisconsin, well before they were called Cheeseheads – really? who came up with that one? Then they will continue with us for the 2 week trip out of Green Bay, down the Wisconsin side of Lake Michigan down into Milwaukee.
Well, that’s the journey so far. Keep touching back for updates as we go along. Love to all, Gina and Mike.
