Monday thru Friday, August 13-17. Who would have thought we would spend five days in Petoskey, Michigan! But if we had to be weathered in somewhere, this was a great place (except for s-l-o-w Internet connection). Even though we haven’t had rain, the winds on Lake Michigan have been ferocious this week. Various boats have tried to leave, but they have come back reporting 6-foot seas. So Second Wind has been safely rocking and rolling at the dock. Meanwhile we have thoroughly enjoyed the town. Petoskey was a lumber and manufacturing city in the late 1800s; now it attracts tourists year round. Fortunately, Petoskey feels like a thriving community of local folks rather than a tourist town. Ernest Hemingway’s family summered near here as he was growing up, and this is where he returned in 1919 to write while recovering from World War 1 injuries and a broken heart.
The Petoskey Municipal Marina is adjacent to the attractive Bayfront Park area. A pedestrian tunnel connects the waterfront with the downtown Gaslight District, where we’ve sampled local restaurants, bakeries, galleries, specialty shops, and a wonderful farmer’s market. A great shuttle service has also taken us to more utilitarian places: the grocery store, West Marine, and Radio Shack - a service much appreciated by boaters.
After doing our part for the local restaurant economy all week, on Thursday night we slaved over dinner (of the crockpot variety) and had the Cowhigs and Braffets over. The picture of remnants of a pretty sunset shows just how fickle Lake Michigan can be. There were huge whitecaps and breaking waves earlier in the afternoon. By 8:45 p.m. (sunsets are later this far north) the water was relatively smooth. But Friday morning brought the highest winds yet – around 40 mph. Every day Bob has added new security features to the boat: additional lines and fenders, chafe guards, and today he added snubbers to try to keep the lines from jerking as the waves rock us. I could write a book titled “Boat Sounds.” Our evening wind lullaby sounded like “eaaakkk, rrraarfff, screeeek, plunnck, eerrch, croarck, eeeeak.”
Today (Friday) was the start of a summer festival weekend, so we put on our fleece and down jackets to go listen to a steel drum band and watch fireworks. We nearly froze. The first wave of winter has come to Lake Michigan. The festival was, well, festive, and reminded us a bit of Huntsville's Panoply, but on a smaller scale. The weather is supposed to improve tomorrow, so we'll be putting in long days to get as far south as possible. Petosky has been a nice place to visit, and we only scratched the surface.
# posted by Second Wind @ 7:35 PM
