Tues, Wed Sept 12-13: Grand Haven Stop Over

So I woke up to this behemoth behind the boat on Tuesday:

It turns out that Grand Haven exports more than 100 million tons of sand and gravel yearly.  Big Lakers come up the Grand River all the time and then, get this, they back up down the river back to the lake.  There is no place to turn around.  I’ll never complain about backing up again! 

Once I had my coffee, you guessed it, it was an Uber ride to the Walmart to pick-up the new microwave!  Fortunately “the” Uber was available and showed up in about 4 minutes.  He waited for me while I went in to pick up the microwave and whisked me right back to the marina.  The mounting hardware from the previous microwave worked and the install was quite easy. 

After installing the microwave I needed something to do so I rode my bike back to Home Depot…I just felt right.  I got some Velcro strips, a vacuum cleaner filter and just walk around smelling the smells.  Leaving HD I rode back through the downtown shopping district.  I didn’t find the library but did find a book store: 

A book store in Grand Haven….for Melanie

I then continued on to the water front and the rode out to the lake. The wind was howling and the waves were big.  I felt better that I was tied up in the marina although the direction of the wind created a swell in the marina that tossed the boat around quite vigorously. 

Not sure you can tell, but these are big waves..

More big waves…. 

 

The rest of Tuesday afternoon rushed by and then, as I prepared to eat dinner the famous Grand Haven musical fountains started up.   Hard to explain, but GH (Grand Haven) decided to build a big Las Vegas style musical fountain.  There are large speakers that blast out music - think Queen, Jimmy Buffett and many other catchy tunes all synchronized to lights and fountains located across the river from the marina.  It’s like they are doing a show for the boats! 

  

Wednesday brought the farmers markets,  another trip to HD (to return the fuses that I didn’t use) and a bike ride to a supermarket to get a few staples.  Bob Murphy will join me tomorrow for the rest of the trip so I need to make sure there is food on the boat.  We don’t want to starve….

Farmers Market

Grand Haven calls itself the “Coast Guard City”.  They have a big tribute to the Coast Guard every year.  The park along the waterfront memorializes the Escanaba - a Coast Guard Cutter stationed here and then lost in WWII.  

Wednesday afternoon was spent cleaning the boat, defrosting the refrigerator, vacuuming, washing windows, etc…

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The salmon are running now and the charter fishing boats are busy. As I rode my bike past (yes to the HD  - 3 times in 3 days) I ran across these beautiful fish recently caught!