Today is June 28. It is our Granddaughter Ruby’s 6th Birthday. Happy Birthday Ruby!!!.
We made it to Cleveland to the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame on Friday, the 24th. The wind picked up and it was horribly windy and wavy on our stern, which made for a very uncomfortable ride to Cleveland. We called the North Harbor Marina, also known as the Dock n’ Rock. It is located directly behind the Rock N’ Roll hall of Fame, and next to the Great Lakes Science Museum, and further down, about 2 or 3 hundred yards, the Cleveland Browns Stadium. Cleveland is a great city. If you have not gone, you must. What a friendly city. They have ‘Ambassadors’ all over town in yellow shirts that will answer questions. On all the corners are big signs showing ‘You are here’ and where the different things are in the city. At the beginning, we were the only boat in the Marina. We were very surprised that there were not more boats. Evidentially, it hardly ever fills up and the prices are very reasonable.
We started out by walking around town and went down to the warehouse district and the ‘Flats’, which is along the river. We had some drinks, ate and listened to some Irish music at the ‘Flat Iron Café. It is the oldest Irish Pub in Cleveland, opening in 1910 and still going strong in the same location. After that, we went and walked back towards the boat and ended up in the bar area of the Flats. On Fridays, they have ‘Friday on the Flats’ where there is live music, you buy drink tickets and wander around along the river, listening to music, being seen and generally being ‘cool’. Needless to say, there weren’t too many people ‘our’ age down there, although there were some, and the band, which was good, was definitely our age. The next day, Saturday, we went to the Hall of Fame. AMAZING!!! If you haven’t gone, you need to go. We went in around 11:00 AM and left at 5:30 PM and still could have stayed longer. It is unbelievable. I was brought close to tears a few times as we wandered around. The picture that accompanies the post is of the Hall of Fame taken from our boat.
We left Sunday and continued Westward. Before we left, I met a man with a Grand Banks trawler, that had Michigan Registration. Charlie MacDonald from Boyne City. They, him and his wife Cathy and son Charlie, were bringing the trawler, ‘Resolute’ back to Michigan from Virginia where they bought the boat. We left slightly before they did, and they followed into Put In Bay, Oh. We took the ‘Historical Train Ride’, which was a Jeep pulling some ‘carts’ where people sit. It is a narrated tour, which was very nice. While we were in Cleveland, we had a couple of other boats that came in from Sandusky and they told us that we needed to go to ‘Frosty’s Pizza’. So we went. A great pizza. We then wandered back to the boat and left yesterday for someplace in Michigan. We split off from ‘Resolute’ as they were dropping off Cathy in Monroe to fly back Boyne City. They headed to Monroe and we headed directly to the Detroit River. Just as we entered the River, just in from Lake Erie, our nephew Dale called us. He works downtown Detroit at 1 Woodward. I worked there for about a year back in 1985-1986 when I was consulting for Merit Systems. We told him we were going to get a slip in a marina somewhere in the Detroit area. He thankfully told us that it was the Detroit/Windsor Freedom Festival Fireworks. We started calling the marinas and called the Milliken State Park Marina, just north of the Ren Cen. We ended up getting the last slip. We were berthed next to Lisa and William, a great couple who had family and friends over for the fireworks. We ended up almost like family with them. We had a drink with them, they invited us for dinner, but we declined. We rode our bikes down to see Dale, Linda and their son, Sullivan and Dale’s good friend, Bob, that we have known for years. We went up on the roof to look at downtown, then went down to Dale’s office to chat. We stayed for a couple of hours, then left before the fireworks started due to the craziness and all the people. The police had every street blocked off, which made it very interesting trying to get back to the Marina. We watched the fireworks, then went directly to bed, did not pass go.
This morning we left the marina and when we pulled out into the River, who was behind us, but the MacDonalds, minus Cathy. They stayed just below the Ambassador Bridge. So we took turns following each other up until Algonac. We dropped off and we are now at the Algonac Harbor Club, which is the old grounds where the original ‘Chris Craft’ boats were made. We stopped early and Nancy is now visiting with her sister Jinny. Later today we will see Katie, Jinny’s daughter and her two girls. Depending upon the weather and the wind, we will begin our journey towards Port Huron and northwards.