It is COLD in Michigan!!

Ok, let me set the record straight. It is COLD here in Michigan. I mean cold. I could excuse the 46 degree water temperature. After all we had a really cold winter. Ice just left the Mackinaw Straits at the beginning of May. But do we have to wear sweat shirts in July? I mean, really? Seriously?

We have had rain, big winds, cloudy, and cold almost the entire trip, except for a day or so of warm weather in Saugatuck at the end of June but that was 2 weeks ago. Not only have we not worn bathing suits, many days we have not worn shorts! Jeans and sweatshirts for us!! Yuck!

Ah well, back to the travel. 

Only July 5 we left Frankfort bound for Charlevoix. It was a perfect day for a ride. We left about 7am in the mist and arrived at Charlevoix about 2pm. Just perfect . Sunshine and almost no waves the entire trip. We napped, read, and chatted the entire trip. It was much calmer to make lunch while riding in 1 to 2 foot waves the whole way. We are back to 10 knots, just moping along, very civilized. 

It was fun to show Paul and Maeo the beautiful Sleeping Bear Dunes with the many sand mountains along the lake. We pulled into one cove and just enjoyed.

Charlevoix is one of our favorite towns with the beautiful marina set right in the heart of town. I particularly love the fountain with kids running through it on even the chilly days. I guess they have thicker skins than we do. 

In Charlevoix we were reminded of the marina book exchanges. We loaded up with all the Clive Cusslers we could find plus some books for me. Kermit and I took our books and sat on a bench by the trout pond or at the tables on top of the marina office and enjoyed the view.

See Conrad's little sailboat across from Good Karma?

We've started be so much more active. According to my FitBit I am walking over 10,000 steps every day. It feels great. Frankly it is the only way to walk off all the ice cream we've been eating.

We wanted to make up for the bad Asian food we ate in Frankfort so Maeo made Thai fried rice the day we arrived. We invited a fellow Looper, Conrad, over for dinner. He is taking the loop in a 28 foot sail boat alone. He said his friends and girl friend took one look at the tiny craft and found other stuff to do so he is going it alone. He is an interesting guy. He worked as a piano tuner responsible for the University otf Iowa and also trained other people to tune pianos. What an interesting occupation!

We are starting to pick up packages. The other day I did the stupid thing I yelled at Kermit for doing about a year ago. At Cocoa FL he dumped a container overboard and mistakenly dumped the little camera. At Grand Haven I mistakenly dumped my blue tooth overboard while emptying my bad of sand. My bad. The new blue tooth arrived at Charlevoix on Monday as we were leaving. Now I am back in business!! I can't believe how little those things are and how much they came down in price.

I tell you this to tell you of the other things we ordered to be picked up in Mackinaw. In particular we ordered new graphics for "Good Karma". Kermit tried applying the new graphics in Grand Haven but he must have had too many Crowns and it got messed up. It took us a while to figure out where to get the new ones so they can be delivered somewhere. That is why when you see pictures of our boat the back is neat and clean without a name. We will remedy that in a few days at Mackinaw.

Project house anyone? 

this one is on the water - it has a heated driveway!!

We walked and biked all over Charlevoix. We saw those cool mushroom houses made by Earl Young over a 50 year period in the 20th century. These homes are gorgeous. I learned that he never was licensed as an architect. Isn't that interesting? We even found one for sale. It looked like a big project. We would need Greg Weaver and I am not sure he is up for that kind of travel.

These homes are made of stone with shake roofs that are flexible. They look like the materials were bent over a flexible frame, like they are bendable.

This one looks like it is wearing a cap

We are most impressed with the landscaping. Everywhere you look are flowers and sculptures. On one walk we stopped into the local community art center to see a wonderful display of photographs. Such awesome talent.

The local library is huge, almost as big as Stark County Library in Canton which is saying something since Canton has 100k people and Charlevoix has 5000. I walked over one afternoon and read for a few hours in a comfortable chair. There is a cool metal sculpture of a butterfly in the rain garden in front of the library that we enjoyed.

 On one of our walks we walked to the beach, invaded the local fishery department then had one of the best lunches of the week at the beach shack. The lady who runs it got sick of working in restaurants so she opened her own just for the summer. She also works at Mackinaw Island resorts. She told us that the Island opened two weeks late this year because of the ice. She was cleaning rooms and setting up two B&Bs while the guests had already arrived! She made a great chicken salad with Michigan cherries!!

Don't let all these pictures of  sunshine and smiles fool you. We had sweatshirts in our backpacks. The flowers are behind as well. We saw tulips in Charlevoix and peonies in Petosky. The flowers are almost a month behind our flowers in Ohio.

Tulips in July?

We were in Charlevoix for two days. It rained both mornings! So we spent a lot of time reading on the boat waiting for weather to clear. We need every one of those books we appropriated from the Charlevoix Marina book exchange!!

The Interview Doctor's Michigan office

The four of us are getting along just fine. I am the weak link. I can handle about 5 hours of togetherness then I need to hide for a while. But Paul and Maeo are wonderful companions. I am getting a lot of work done too! I will have the third book to the publisher by next week. Plus I've had four or five clients on the phone since we left so all is good.

Next: Petosky