As we were leaving, a guy at the end of the pier, instead of waving, used his fishing pole to point at the clouds straight ahead. Of course, I told Ben and asked him if we should turn back. He got mad at me for trusting that guy instead of him, but all I hear in the back of my mind is that the lakes don't mess around. Ben said we aren't going toward the clouds, we are going south around the tip of the land and back east toward land. It was still cloudy that way, but not as bad as where the guy was pointing.
Skies cleared up after an hour or so. Waves were still choppy, but one last turn into the waves made for much smoother sailing. We tied up to the complimentary 2-hour dock at Duncan L. Clinch Marina in Traverse City and while tying, Ben asked for a 3rd time (1st time in person) if they were sure they couldn't find a slip for us for the afternoon into the night. We would anchor if we had to, but would rather get some time to explore without worrying about having to get on the Chicken back to the Cartermaran. One of the dockhands went to check on something and came back to tell us we could stay on that dock overnight and even hook up for power. Sweet! We got ready and walked to linner.
Since the dockhands told us the Cherry Festival was (they said happily, we think sadly) over, we didn't have much of an agenda. I didn't realize Traverse City was the cherry capital of the world! Due to the climate and soil, they have ideal growing conditions.
Traverse City Pies was suggested by the dockhands for lunch, and Burritt's Fresh Markets was nearby for the few groceries we needed.
On the walk there, we had to cross a street earlier than we planned to because there was a grassy section of a street corner with yellow police tape. Police were tucked back in a section with trees by a small creek. There were 3 or 4 police cars along the road and Ben figured it was an overdose at an urban campsite, as he calls them. We continued on our way and I googled for info when we sat down, but didn't find anything.
Traverse City Pies was just like Panera or Atlanta Bread Company. We got sandwiches with chips or 1/2 sandwich with a side salad or mac n cheese. You can't go to a place like this, with pies in its name, and not get a pie. Ben got us a cherry crumble pie to take back to the boat and heat up.
We popped into Burritt's and got a few things on our list, but they didn't have everything. We can keep those items on the list for the next stop. They did have a locally-grown fresh quart of cherries that we added to our purchase!
The police were still on site when we passed by again, this time I saw a body bag on a gurney being wheeled into the back of a suburban-style police car. The kids kept staring and we hurried along as quickly as we could. Surprisingly, there weren't any questions or a conversation about this at all.
Groceries found their way into cabinets and the fridge and then I heated up the pie. It. Was. Delicious! It was so tart that Moose asked if there was rhubarb in it. It sure tasted like it, but I think it was just the cherries!
A small craft advisory was in place from 2 pm to 2 am and as we hung out in the boat, we quickly realized how thankful we were that we didn't have to anchor tonight. The winds kicked up and it rained on and off for a while.
The Traverse City Harbor Host is docked just a few slips down from us and came to introduce herself. We love those friendly touches of the AGLCA!
I watched a big ship with a solo captain and a pontoon with an older couple on it go out into the big waves. The big ship went left (north in the bay) toward the lake and the pontoon went right (south in the bay) and hugged the shore. An hour later we heard thrusters and Ben thought water was running on our boat, but ran out to help when he saw the big ship coming in solo to tie up right behind us.
I played a few classic card games with Moose and Roo- War and Go Fish.
I googled what we saw again and saw this article. It's behind a paywall, but you can still kind of read it through the translucent cover. Creepy and odd story. I wonder if they'll investigate more.
After the kids were in bed, Ben and I looked up the next few days of weather, wind, and waves, and paired it up with where we wanted to go and stop. Originally, I thought we'd not see the mainland of Michigan after Mackinaw City, but Ben said we would come down the Michigan coast, down to Indiana and then curve up to Chicago. This made me sad because Wisconsin is another state I was hoping to check off this summer. Looking at our options and the very favorable weeather, we think we may cross from Michigan to Wisconsin on Saturday, then travel down the Wisconsin coast to Chicago. If we travel south on Lake Michigan on the Wisconsin side, there are protected harbors (marinas) every 20-50 miles and there would be way less fetch making for a more comfortable lake experience. I am hopeful that the crossing will go well and we can enjoy our last few days on board this summer.
We are sleeping without air conditioning tonight for the first time in a while! I enjoy a quiet night full of fresh air.
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