08/10/2010, Mihigan

August 10, 2010 Northern Michigan

We found our way from Minneapolis through northern Wisconsin to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where we visited our friends Don & Pat in Grand Marais. We then drove south over the Mackinac Bridge to the Steere cottage on Douglas Lake, near Pellston. Seems we have left the sea of blue for the sea of green. There are so many trees here!
Our daughter Ellie and her husband Matt came up to spend a few days with us. We also had a chance to visit with friends, Luke and Mandy and their boys. We had a good time visiting the area, got the old fishing boat running and took a tour of the lake, and just had a good time.
Next we headed on a drive around Grand Traverse Bay to go to Northport to meet up with some of our boating friends. We had a great time with Larry and Carol from "Third Bird" and Craig and Pat from "Island Time". We also had a short visit with Russ and Robin from "Robin's Nest". We had a lovely evening and spent the night on "Island Time". On Sunday we went with Larry & Carol to the Laundromat, as we had laundry to do and understand how difficult it can be to get places when you're living on your boat.
We then struck out for White Lake, following the coast along Lake Michigan. There are some beautiful views and fun places to stop along the way. We went to our old marinas (all three of them) and visited with friends. It was a bit difficult, as it was a beautiful day and most people were out sailing. We finally hooked up with Dan & Colleen on "Outrageous" and had a great visit. We ended up spending the night there-just can't get out of the habit of sleeping on a boat.
Next stop was Holland, where we visited with Kathy's family for the day-then on to Crystal to visit with Mike's family. Whew! We moved into Dave & Kristie's fifth wheel, which is our little "home-away-from-home" for much of our time here. Kathy had a haircut and a doctor appointment and we helped prepare some appetizers for the wedding on Saturday.
We headed up to Mt. Pleasant on Friday for the pre-wedding golf outing and pizza dinner and had a blast. The hotel was full of wedding guests and much fun was had by all. It was a beautiful outdoor wedding at a golf course and went off without a hitch. We headed back to the trailer after a Sunday brunch with the wedding party.
On Monday we went to Lansing to stay with Ellie and Matt, as Mike had a doctor appointment there on Tuesday. We had a nice, short stay and headed back to the cottage after the doctor appointment.
We met Sam at the cottage and spent two nice days up there with her, then she headed back to work. We stayed, as Debbie, Davey, Lisa, and Carrie were arriving on Friday. (That is Mike's sister and family, minus one daughter.) We had a cool day and a rainy day, but we enjoyed each other's company.
We came back to the trailer yesterday, as we have dental appointments today and a picnic with past and present staff of Sheridan Elementary School, Kathy's old workplace.

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07/18/2010, Deltaville, VA

July 15, 2010 Deltaville, VA

Today we will say good-bye to Sapphire and Deltaville for a while. Kathy and Darius (Breeze Hunter) have offered to drive us to the airport in Richmond, which is very much appreciated.
We have cleaned the boat and covered it with tarps, hoping to find her in good condition when we return. Mike has worked incessantly on sanding the bubbles off that popped up above our water line a couple of years ago. We will let it dry out while we are gone, then paint a boot stripe on when we return.
We will fly out from Richmond to Atlanta, then on to Minneapolis to stay with our daughter Abby and her husband, Jake, for a few days. We are buying a car from them and will take a land trip back to Michigan, through upper Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We will attempt to update the blog on occasion while we embark on our land adventure.

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07/07/2010, Annapolis, MD

July 6, 2010 Annapolis, MD

We left the Magothy River and headed back to Annapolis on July 1st. Kim and Steve (Fine Lion) were due to arrive today or tomorrow and we'd like to get together before we head for Michigan via Minnesota in a couple of weeks. Kim and Steve did not make it on the 1st, so we went in to town to purchase some On/Off hull cleaner and mail a card. I'm sure we found some lunch in there also.
We took the dinghy down to Truxton Park, took the motor off and pulled the dinghy up into the shade and flipped it over. There was some VERY gross slimy stuff growing on the bottom. We scrubbed and scraped for over an hour, and still couldn't get it all off-even with the hull cleaner that is able to eat holes in your clothes in minutes! We will pull the dinghy up at night from now on-lesson learned.
Then came the weekend flurry of Kim and Steve and their family and friends from Annapolis. Picnics, crab boils, pools, cocktail parties, and some really great fireworks that were set off nearly beside our boat. A busy weekend of fun. Mike, Steve, Steve's son Scott, and Scott's friend Matt went crabbing at 5:00 a. m. for 3 days to catch about 3 bushels of crab for the big crab boil on the 5th. Yum.
It's very hot here today with high heat indexes-time to go find a place with air conditioning and perhaps a soccer game later. We always enjoy Annapolis, but will leave tomorrow to head for Deltaville, VA where we will have the boat pulled on Friday.

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