Down the Coast of Michigan, Across the Lake and HOME!

August 19 Through September 10 (Click on the images to see and scroll them in full size)

Sunday, August 19 We left Petoskey, Michigan in 2-3 foot waves and got to Suttons Bay, We walked around a very nice little town, lots of shops, and Chris picked up a few things. The next day, a very nice lady named Sharon took Chris and Carol to market, where they bought peaches and croissants, and then grocery shopping. Glenn and I played cribbage. We ate at Sunset Grille and the meatloaf cupcakes were amazing. Finally we watched Star Wars since Carol and Glenn had never seen it.

August 21 we left early to get to Leland, which is a very nice old fishing village, with lots of shops to walk. Glenn realized that he left his credit card at Suttons bay and luckily, he caught a ride from one of the marina employees to pick it up. We had a free sampling at Grand Traverse Bay Distillery, which cost us over a hundred dollars once before we left.

Tuesday, we had a good ride to Frankfort, and squeezed into the marina, there is a big fishing tournament next weekend space was really limited. We walked around town and ate Italian that night. There were tons of great shops. The next day was our son Luke's 24th birthday. We had to switch slips in order to stay at our marina and we moved closer to Glenn and Carol. Chris and Carol walked a mile to Dollar General, while Glenn and I washed the boats and that evening we had game night when we played Blockus and Farqir.

The next day we headed to our next marina and there were lots of fishing boats on the water when we left Frankfort. We had a very nice ride and stayed at Manistee Municipal Marina. We ate lunch on board and walked town, but there were not many stores. We ate at TJ's Pub for dinner.

Friday, we headed to Ludington to try to meet with the Adam Lamb, the broker that sold us Patriot 6 years ago and we talked to couple about Patriot and the Loop that he had referred to us. Today is also Glenn and Carol's 55th wedding anniversary. We ate really good BBQ and toured the town, found a night market and Glenn was able to find his orange and pineapple ice cream again, what a treat.

August 26 was the 6 year anniversary of our buying Patriot! We cruised town, but Adam Lamb's store closed, so we were not able to meet with him. We did stop at Maud's Antiques, and found a huge schoolroom bell that I couldn't pass up. Glenn helped me get it back to the boat. In honor of Patriot's anniversary, we ate dinner at the Blue Moon Restaurant where we decided to buy Patriot all of those years ago.

The next day we had a smooth ride to Whitehall, Michigan and , had dinner with Jim and Connie Gillette who we bought Patriot from and we enjoyed comparing loop stories while we ate at Oh Brother's.

Over the next few days, we did lots of walking around town, did some resupplying at the local grocery store and Chris and Carol returned several times to the General Store and bought lots of stuff. Chris and Carol found another Dollar Store and we ate dinner at Gnarly Heifer, which had great burgers! Chris did laundry we had several game afternoons, with Glenn and Carol. We played dominoes, Yahtzee and Scrabble and we ate great pizza from John's Pizza and watched Ferris Bueller's Day off.

August 31 we left Whitehall early and the blue moon was still up. We had a great run to Holland. Craig and Nicky from Joy Girl showed us around town and we had dinner with them and Glenn and Carol. They also showed us their huge class A RV.

September 1 we left Holland for South Haven and walked town where we found a really cool Polish Pottery Store. And we had to eat at Captain Lou's for their famous fish dinner the next day, we had a nice lazy morning and walked to a great outdoor craft show. Gert found REAL shaved ice so that pretty much made his whole day. Later, we walked to the town pier. The really do have beautiful beaches over here in Michigan.

September 3 Today, Glenn and Carol Crossed their wake at 11:30 today! We took lots of pictures, went to dinner with their friends and that night I got to make my last movie pick. We watched American Flyer with our friends aboard Encore that night the next day Chris took advantage of the free laundry! It was a very hot day, and we saw several other loopers in port. Later that afternoon, we went to dinner with Carol and Glenn's family. We ate at Silver Beach Pizza, and had a really long wait but it was worth it. Great pizza. Later we said our goodbye's to our friends of the last year of cruising. It has been a very bittersweet day.

September 5 we left St Joe early for a lake crossing. We watched Encore head north as we headed west and we said our "Until we meet agains". Lake Michigan was good until about 3 hours out of Racine. Then the weather changed and we had 4-5 foot quartering waves. Not a nice welcome back to Wisconsin! That night we ate at "Smoked on the Water" where we ate almost a year ago.

Wednesday we woke up to a rainy day, had breakfast at Maple Table and had a great breakfast. We walked the town, had dinner with Squirrel and Badger Members of Gert's motorcycle group Guardians of the Children. It was great to catch up! Then they took us to Pick and Save for our last shopping trip of this amazing adventure.

We spent a few more days in Racine, decompressing and relaxing before completing our trip. we visited a great bakery and had awesome apple fritters at Main Street Bakery. ate at a great Thai restaurant, "Sticky Rice" and in general took time to reflect on our trip.

September 9th we took one last walk of town, and headed for South Shore Yacht Club. Not a bad run with 2-3 foot waves, we tied up at the SSYC and attended our good friend Sharon Cook's 1/2 birthday party. We had a blast, and felt like celebrities after she introduced us to the entire group and talked about our adventure!

September 10, our last day on the loop, we are headed home! We left SS Yacht Club and did a "boat by" for my Dad so he could look out his window and see Patriot. Probably some of the flattest seas we ever had on Lake Michigan greeted us for the trip home. We crossed our wake at 1:30 in the afternoon when we pulled into our slip number 205 in Port Washington. Our friend, Cheryl and her granddaughter Hazel met us at the dock and took some pictures. Our son, Nick and his wife Kelly, picked us up and ran us home.

I have struggled for awhile to think up a great way to tie a ribbon around this past year and all of the people that we have met and all of the adventures that we have experienced. I still don't have a great way to sum it up, but I what I can say is that if you ever have thought about doing "The Loop", find a way to do it, it is one of the most amazing things that either Christine or I have ever done.

We have had trials along the way and things did not always go as planned, but I know for a fact that at the end of it, we are both better people and our marriage is even stronger for spending the last 357 days on a 32 foot Nordic Tug called Patriot. I want to thank everyone that helped and supported us in this undertaking. First and foremost both of our families, for having the faith in us that we could pull this off. Secondly Glenn and Carol Hahn without whom our trip would have been so much less meaningful, all of the deck hands, lock masters and bridge tenders that helped transit strange waters safely and finally America's Great Loop Cruiser's Association (AGCLA) for all of the great information and camaraderie of our fellow loopers.

“A ship in the harbor is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for.” ― William Shedd