Fri/Sat Sept 1 & 2: Time in Petosky

We are debating what you call people from Michigan: Michiganders? Michigonians? Michelins?

We chose to stay two days here - partly because it has a great reputation, and partly because the wind looks strong on Sat.  (It also looks strong on Sun, but less so - fingers crossed!)

Fri was gorgeous- not a cloud in the sky!

Perfect for kite flying

First on the list was to bike (great bike path) to the Petosky State Beach Park and look for Petosky Stones.  These are fossilized pre-historic coral.  Obviously they look pretty good polished up, like those below.  But I have no idea how we will take the ones we found from rock-form to that!  It will be a good adventure...

Petosky State Park- a beautiful beach.

We are out of granite shield and into sand dunes.  Happy Days!!

We collected some other odds and ends because I have an idea to create a scene with birds sitting on harbor pilings.  I think it may look better in my mind then in reality, but a girl can dream ...

Right off the bike path we enjoyed the community of Bay View that is an old Methodist summer 'camp'.  Started in 1875 with tents, it grew into a Chautauqua-type community.  Lovely old Victorian homes replaced tents, and today the entire community is a National Historic Landmark. We loved the houses - of every size.  Of course I got right on Zillow - but none are for sale openly.  Many are owned now by the 6th generation.

We stopped in at the Kilwins factory store, since they are such an iconic (although it was unknown to us before Mack Island) chocolate brand.  YUM!!  A choc fountain!! (Rick here: What an amazing store filled with chocolate, ice cream, fudge, etc!)

We really, really liked Petosky.  There is clearly money here - it's not the rundown beach/harbor/canal town we are used to.  It has a very active arts council, tons of cute (& pricely) shops, a great bike trail, etc...

Cute Stuff!

On Sat we walked 2.5 miles out to Walmart to do a Big Shop.  Luckily for our marriage (it's almost our 31 anniversary!) we were able to get a taxi back to the marina.

On certain days the air/light has that 'fall' quality, and you can tell this tree is feeling it.

We had another little stowaway.  Y'all remember the bat.  Do you remember the time we had a duck on the swim platform?  And the time a sea gull dropped a live crab on the back deck?  Nature loves us!

Sat afternoon there was some random festival in the park by the marina - Water is Life. It had some First Nation elements, but mostly seemed a close coalition of people selling things and listening to terrible music. We still enjoyed people watching.  Such a gorgeous day to kick off the 3-day weekend.  Of course, we are always on a 7-day weekend, but still...

Amazing woodwork on this SUP (stand up paddleboard).

Not sure the purpose of the teepee - but it was fun.

People were jumping off the breakwater and having such a good time. The water is slightly warmer than where we have been cruising.  I wish I could find these people again, and give them this pic.  It's so joyous.

There were at least 17 Looper boats in the marina, so there were a couple sessions of docktails/pot luck.  One older couple we admire are on a very large boat, with a deck hand.  The wife is wheel-chair bound and the husband and deckhand make sure she participates in everything.  Last night they had her out on the back deck of their boat, and all the docktails happened on the dock in a U-shape right around her so she would feel part of it. It takes great devotion (and $$) to get your disabled spouse around the Loop. I hope Rick will remember this later in life and get me out of the corner every now and then.

Good night, sweet Petosky.

I'm sorry - it's the usual barrage of ridiculous sunset pix. 

God Rays!  We were in a total dither about go/no go on Sun as there will be wind/waves.  We decided this was a sign to go.

You know what the old sailor wisdom says: 'Red sky at night, sailors delight.  Red sky at morning, sailors take warning'. (To take the romance out of it ((my kids always did say I could take the fun out of anything)) - in theory the red sky at night indicates high pressure and stable air coming in from the west, and good weather will follow.)