So we are officially checked back in to the States. We went from Sault Ste Marie, Ontario to Sault Ste Marie, Michigan. Right next door to the marina we docked at, there was the largest Great Lakes ship museum, on an actual Freightliner.

It was really cool to see the inside and how things were set up on a ship launched in 1917!

Saturday morning we set off aiming for Drummond Island. As we were going along, Lake Huron was about as flat as a lake gets and we were making good time.

So we decided to keep going to an anchorage across from Mackinaw City where we made reservations for the next two days. It was a fairly nice cove but very busy. I had to jump in to the main body of Lake Huron as well. We thought it would calm down after the sun set but there were still a few crazy people apparently out boating in the middle of the night! We got wake rocked a few times well past 1am. What the frigg people!?

Sunday we were up early and headed for Mackinaw City. This was one of our favorite little towns so far. A very nice, tourist(y) shopping area along the water. Fudge everywhere! We stopped for lunch at Wienerlicious. 😆

We walked around the shops a little bit, got ice cream and taffy. Right next to this marina was the Coast Guard Ice Breaker Museum aboard the USCGC Mackinaw (WAGB-83) a 290-foot former Coast Guard icebreaker. We went and checked it out as well. Very cool.

Later in the evening we went and played mini golf which was fun. Couldn’t tell you the last time I’ve been. Didn’t do to bad either haha, and we actually ended up tied. Back in the Marina we saw The Perch. The boat owned by our broker who helped us purchase our boat, and the director of the AGLCA. We got to meet Mike, Kim, and Margot the cockatoo, the boats namesake and mascot.

Monday we took the scooters to see two lighthouses on each point at the top of the mitten. The first one faced Lake MI. McGulpin point. It was pretty neat to see and read how the whole family lived in and took care of the property. Very nice views from the top of course too.

The other lighthouse faced Lake Huron and actually had two keepers and two families living in and taking care of it.

That night we went to dinner with Mike, Kim, and a few other Looper couples we haven’t met before. It was fun to hear about everyone’s Great Loop journey and encounters so far. Everyone starts from different locations so they have been places we haven’t yet.

Tuesday morning we got ready to go to Harbor Springs. When we got there though it didn’t look all that great, and there wasn’t anything in particular we wanted to see or do in town, so we decided to scoot across the bay to Petoskey. After we got set up in our slip we walked down to the beach and I got my swim in Lake Michigan, making it official that I’ve swam in all five Great Lakes 😄.

Petoskey is famous for the special stones found here. They are prehistoric fossils over 350 million years old of a coral called Hexagonaria percarinata. Of course I had to comb the beach looking for them, and we found some! They are very cool looking and you can see how they got their name. Apparently you can polish them and really make them stand out and shiny. Which of course I intend to do.

Wednesday morning we walked around town a bit. Went to Petoskey Pretzel Co. Very delicious freshly baked soft pretzels! From there we went to Kilwins Chocolate Kitchen. This was a HUGE chocolate factory where you could see and watch them making everything sold in the shop, including their own waffle cones for the “homemade” ice cream.

Having saw what we wanted to see, and go where we wanted to go, it was still pretty early. So we set off to our next stop, Lake Charlevoix. We had to pass under a 15ft foot bridge, that does open for large boats but being 12ft at our tallest point we could just squeeze under it. From my viewpoint it seemed pretty darn close, but nothing clanged so that was good. We went down one arm of the lake and found a decent spot to anchor for the night. There were some pretty incredible houses along the water.

Thursday we cruised around and checked out the rest of the lake. There weren’t a lot of any more really good anchor spots so we ended up at the city marina. It actually worked out well because then we were able to walk around town and check out the Earl Young’s Historic Homes district. He was an architect that built a whole neighborhood of “mushroom houses” that look like large fairy cottages. They were really cool, and it’s crazy to think about people living in them as their regular home.

As we were leaving this morning we past one along the shore that was a full on fairy castle!

We cruised over to Grand Traverse Bay and found a good little spot in Sutton’s Bay where we’ll hang out for a few days. 😎