Bay Harbor to Frankfort

Day #695; Loop Miles to Date = 8,344

We had a great time staying at Bay Harbor Yacht Club. Not only was it a wonderful facility, but having our friends on Job Site loan us their car for the week was exceptional!

The beautiful 64,000 sq ft clubhouse at BHYC.

Morning coffee in Charlevoix with Act III and our hosts and friends on Job Site. Many thanks Devere and Carol!

During our visit here we were able to visit Charlevoix, Harbor Springs, Boyne City and Petoskey. We found each of these spots with their own personality, and each with plenty to keep us interested and occupied. If we had to choose, we would probably say that Charlevoix was our favorite out of this bunch. It was nice to be able to see them all...and we didn't have to move our boat to do so!

One of the special sights that can be seen in Charlevoix is the collection of Mushroom Houses that were built. Back in the early 20th century, architect Earl Young fashioned over 2 dozen of these creations, many in Charlevoix, and they are now landmarks and tourist attractions...all of them still private homes. We drove by a handful of them and snapped a few photos.

 

 

It was a great week, but on Friday, it was finally time to move on, as we found a weather window that was favorable for transiting our first large chunk of Lake Michigan. We were going to head to Leland, but the weather was so good, that we decided to make a long day of it and drive all the way to Frankfort. More wind was in the longer range forecast, and we figured that we were going to get "stuck" somewhere for a few days (maybe as long as a week) waiting for the weather to settle. So, we took advantage and traveled 88 miles to Frankfort. We did stop in Leland briefly to walk the pups, but not long enough to more than get them to some grass.

 

Most of this day of travel was spent looking at open water to our starboard and distant shoreline to our port. One of the sights we did pass was Sleeping Bear Dunes. These are enormous dunes that have built up over the centuries on the east coast of Lake Michigan. This photo is from a distance of over 1/2 mile, so it is difficult to tell that this dune is 450 feet tall. But, if you look really closely...

...highlighted in yellow here are people climbing up and down the dune.  It is easy going down, but the climb back up is quite the task.

Point Betsie Lighthouse as we are approaching Frankfort.



We're glad that we made the effort to get to Frankfort, as the weather forecasts were mostly accurate. There are 2 fronts that are moving through, and it looks like it will be 4-5 days before the winds will allow us to venture further. So, we will spend a few days poking around...the town is right across the street from the marina, dog walking is a breeze, WiFi is good, walking and biking trails go right by the dock, and multiple ice cream stores are a short walk away. What more could we ask for?!

A  few bonus pics of our transit in Lake Huron a week or so ago...compliments of Act III...

 

 

All for now...stay tuned for more...