Monday - August 3

BIG day for we nomads cruising 169 miles and 10.5 hours on Lake Michigan.    We left at 6:38 AM and crossed from Sheboygan, WI to Frankfort, MI for a fuel stop and kept on... arriving in Northport, MI at 6 PM.   Back on the Eastern time zone and nice to have that extra hour of daylight

We had planned to stop in Leland for the night but they had no slips available (24 boats were arriving today).    This was a shock as every marina we've gone to this summer has had plenty of space (maybe due to the high cost of fuel and not as many boaters are traveling???)    So, it was very surprising that we couldn't stay in Leland.    Oh well..... that meant we kept on going another 30 miles (all closer to "home" in Port Clinton).

We settled in along the wall here in Northport (we were last here July 16, 1997 with Ryan on Sail Catrina.)     Walked downtown and got some groceries at Tom's Market and then to "Fingers Crossed" for dinner.   It was ok, but Mark's ribs were not near as good as Rib City in Fort Myers.

The American Patriot was docked in Sheboygan when we left this morning

We saw this cruise ship in Muskegon last week.

Many sand dunes along Lake Michigan

So-so place

Northport has a population of 490 year-round residents and several restaurants, but

 Fingers Crossed was the only one open tonight!

Soft pink shade of hydrangeas

Sunday - August 2

 Windy, cloudy and cool this morning.....this was to be a travel day but not with 5' waves on Lake Michigan.    Seeing the big waves crashing over the rocks from our viewpoint - NO thank you!    Hope and pray things calm down and we can leave tomorrow?

We went to St. Peter Claver for 10:00 Mass with Father Paul Fliss.    There are several Catholic churches in Sheboygan, but they are consolidated with other parishes.    Enjoyed this Mass with a great pianist and soloist.    We had a special anointing of the sick - 40-50 members from the congregation were anointed by Father with the Chrism oils on their forehead and hands.    Something new according to Father.

After Mass we headed out to The American Club in Kohler, WI (high-end plumbing fixtures).    The Hotel and grounds are beautiful with the Green House (enjoyed our coffees and shared a rhubarb custard Danish), the Champagne Garden, etc.    There are 4 golf courses on the property.

Then to WalMart for a few things and on home.   The sun came out but winds are a'blowin!

Mark took the car back to Enterprise and then had a windy bike ride back to Catrina.

Our dock here at Harbor Centre has lots of  charter fishing boats which come and go - 2:30-3 AM, and some that will come in late at night well after dark - quite something for these fishermen and their love of this sport.

Lots of rods

A short zoom session tonight for just 20 minutes and 7 joining as we saw most everyone yesterday at the reunion,   Doris filled us in on her island picnic at the lake (rain, etc.) yesterday and Tom checked in from his Alaskan cruise.

Saturday - August 1

 A rainy Saturday (during the night and all day)!    We left Catrina at 7:40 and headed to Cedarburg, a neat little town between Sheboygan and Milwaukee.    We had coffee and breakfast at Fiddleheads downtown.    Mark went back to the car and I walked 2 blocks to check out some shops, but not much fun with all the rain, dodging puddles amd bundled up from the cold and wind -ugleeee!

Back to the car and we drove around and found the Settlement shops which are in a very old building with several floors and but I was high and dry inside.    Some nice stores which I remember from 15 years ago shopping with Claire and Kathy.

And then we were off to Menominee Falls (1/2 hour south).    This is where we're having the Chamberlain reunion at Menominee Park.   A lousy day to be outdoors but we were under a shelter and made the best of it - we all had rain gear of some sort, long pants, hoodies, etc.   Not typical weather for August 1st.   There were 26 present and we had a bountiful selection of delicious food.    Some of us played games (Shanghai and Rummikub for me).    Hard to play many card games cause of the wind.    We appreciate our niece Hannah organizing and putting this together

The party broke up around 4:45 and folks were on their way home.    Had some sprinkles along the way and then sunshine.

We are tired tonight - big day!!!

Friday - July 31

 Cannot believe it's the last day of July and another month is gone just like that - POOF!!!   Life needs to SLOW down!!!

We had a productive morning - I did 3 loads of laundry at the marina (very nice laundromat with 3 washers and 3 dryers, plenty of space to fold clothes, 2 sinks and even an ironing board and iron) and only $1.50 a load to wash and $1.25 to dry for 55 minutes - that is a real deal!!!    Mark helped me get it all started and then left on his bike to ride the 3 miles to Enterprise to pick up our rental car for next 3 days.    He came back with a dark gray Nissan Altima with IL plates.   Helped me finish up the folding, took hanging clothes back to Catrina and then with our little wagon, we got rest of laundry to the boat.    Weather is threatening today - much cooler and rain is coming this afternoon, continuing thru tomorrow (not good for our reunion activities)😔

Next stop was coffee.....several choices (along with the chains- Starbucks, Scooters and Biggby's), we went across the Black River (Sheboygan is divided into 2 parts separated by the river).    Several shops/restaurants/coffee places, etc. along the riverwalk.   We picked "Eb Flo" - a very nice coffee shop with a big menu for breakfast/lunch all day.    We ate indoors but a big outdoor seating area with fires going.    Along with our coffees, we shared a "Croffle" (never heard of this) - it's a combination of croissant and waffle and whatever you want in/on it.   We had ham and cheese - different but really good!

A "Croffle"

We drove around downtown - it's a large area but didn't see anything worth stopping for.    Back to Catrina waiting for the rain....which took several hours to finally arrive and then very light.  

  We went to Lino Restaurante Italiano for dinner - wonderful and #1 on Trip Advisor for Sheboygan.   Rain is to continue thru tomorrow night - looking forward to being with Mark's siblings and some of the nieces and nephews in Menominee Falls but the weather sounds wet and cool!

Very good place!

Bye bye July....

Thursday - July 30

 We left Adelaide Pointe and Muskegon at 8:05 AM and enjoyed a nice smooth cruise across Muskegon Lake and then Lake Michigan.    12:45 we arrived at the Harbor Centre fuel docks in Sheboygan,WI (82.2 miles) and got to set our clocks back an hour!    We had an hour wait at the fuel docks - 4 ahead of us.    And then some issues getting into our slip - computers show one thing and 2x another boat was in the slip they assigned us but 3rd time was the charm!    We were here at Harbor Centre in 1997 and 1999 (2x) and at that time, a very nice marina; however, the years have definitely taken a toll and it has slipped into disrepair.    The 5-year plan is to totally renovate everything (they do have a nice boater's lounge).

We went for a walk in the afternoon and found BLAST for some ice cream (banana split for Mark and Heath bar crunch flurry for me).     Back to Catrina walking along the riverwalk.

Graham's first boat ride today