Happy Birthday to me! I celebrated by sleeping in a bit. And when I awoke, just like Sleeping Beauty I discovered we were in a different time zone! I thought we were still on EST, but NO........ we’re on Central. I wonder how long that's been going on.
Then I did laundry.... Don't worry - that was my choice. I did it while Rick had a massage. Why did HE have a massage on MY birthday, you ask? Well, we couldn't get 2 in one day as they were booked. So tomorrow is mine because it's LONGER!!
A lot of covered spaces at this marina are devoted to absolutely enormous houseboats. Some are just part-time houses, but there is a whole little colony of live-aboards, many of whom are rumored to never actually cruise anywhere. Most of these houseboats have far more square footage then our new Boulder condo.
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Sat night there was the largest gathering of Loopers we have seen yet, to celebrate Cavalier crossing their wake. Rick passed out party hats!
After that (it was too cold to stay long) we went for dinner with 2 couples we have been traveling (Hope & Dreams and Current Situation) - they are excellent company! They are younger then we are, which is weird for us as we have always been the youngest people on the Loop. For dinner we went to the renowned Patti's 1880's Settlement. It's an entire complex, with stores, restaurants, a wedding chapel and venue, mini-golf, etc. Apparently they are known for their 3-season decorations, and they were just completing the Christmas Theme (which they started to out up on Labor Day!). There are many little separate dining rooms within the main restaurant, and each is decorated in a different theme. They are famous for their 2-inch pork chop, but I got a wonderful steak (thank you, Betty-Mom, for the bday money!). It was super over-the-top, and just perfect for celebrating the 33rd anniversary of my 30th birthday.
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Every morning 5-10 Looper boats leave the marina, headed south; and every afternoon a stream of new boats replace them (they come in as groups as they have to pass through the lock that way). Today's parade brought a nice surprise - Claudette et Robert aboard La Mer Veille. This is the incredibly kind French Canadian couple who adopted us at Lord Reading Marina last year, where we sat for 10-days while Rick's collarbone healed. They had been thinking about the Loop, and maybe we convinced them to start (not sure they will thank us)! Like everyone else who started recently, they damaged their prop in Georgian Bay, so they have been behind us a few days.
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| La Mer Veille leading the parade. |
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| My least favorite thing about this marina... |
In the afternoon we had a rousing game of Polish-The-Boat. This is a never-ending game where no one wins but the boat. 1/2 of her looks great - we will have to do the port side in another marina since we couldn't reach it here.
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| After/Before! |
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| I about fell overboard, but the the starboard side looked amazing! |
I had an excellent massage, and then it was docktails with Claudette/Robert and another French Canadian couple on Ino (a mythical sea goddess). Then on to Merry T to have crab with Terry/Mary. Terry says his liquor bill is higher than his fuel bill - they must be much more serious about docktails then we are...
All in all a great couple days of well-deserved rest at the GTM. So grateful. We are ready to leave tomorrow.
I’m not counting the days or anything, but we have 9 days, 6 hours and 23 min to go before we get to our other, dirt, home.
❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️
PS-for those is you concerned, the boat Koop’s Loop did have to spend the night tied to a barge. In the middle of the night, a tow operator knocked on the door because he had to move the barge they were tied to. But Koop had no engine so they had to call the fire rescue department to move him. He was VERY happy to finally get to the Marina!
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