Traverse City to Leland, Michigan

Ben woke me up at 6 to help push off the dock. We watched the sun rise over the hill and water before any kids were awake. Waves were decent until we turned a corner and then Ben changed course as needed to make them more tolerable. Exiting the Grand Traverse Bay, we saw a bunch of sailboats, likely returning from their time on Mackinac after the race. I remember that the sign on the docks said they had to be off the docks by 11 am on Wednesday, which was yesterday. 

We docked at Leland Township Harbor and walked around Fishtown just on the other side of the parking lot of the marina. I read amazing things on Google Maps about Village Cheese Shanty, so we went there for lunch. We got 3 large and tasty sandwiches on pretzel bread, which is what they're know for. We looked around the other shops in Fishtown and then walked to Main Street to check it out. 

Our venture for that part of the day ended at the grocery store. We went back to the boat and hung out for a while. 

Bear and I snuck in another trip around town and into some more shops.

Fed the kids their leftover sandwiches and we all left to find the beach. Lake Michigan has bad rip tides and lots of people drown each year from it, so we didn't let them swim and we told them that ahead of time. 

When we got to the beach, Moose, who didn't want to come, was the first one to take off running toward the water to dig in the sand. The other 2 weren't too far behind and were more than happy to start playing in the sand right away. 

The sun was setting across the water and it was beautiful. The people set up on the beach next to us were there for a photo session. There were 2 guys who were photographing one lady, who was wearing a legit mermaid outfit and fin. Ben was getting more and more nervous watching her get into the lake and swim. We left around 8 and the sun still hadn't set because of this whole 9:30 sunset business. 

Everyone showered at the marina and I got a load of laundry done. Ben spoke with some people on a boat at our marina from Wisconsin to get some ideas on our next leg of the trip while I watched the sunset ober the water from our boat.