"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you
didn't do, than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away
from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.


Explore. Dream. Discover."

-Mark Twain

Friday, September 11, 2009

Chicago

Since our last blog we have been to 3 other ports, on the 8th we were in Grand Haven, Mich. That was a neat town, there was a lot of interesting things to do there, we took a trolley ride thru the town, and had dinner at one of the local restaurants. In the evening they have a  20 minute musical fountain show with color lights, which we were able to see from our boat. The weather has been great for the past 2 weeks, mid 70's and sunny.

 The next stop about 38 miles south was South Haven on Tues. the 9th, we walked to the town which was pretty close to the marina, it is filled with a mix of eclectic shops, antiques, museums and art galleries. The beach area is beautiful, very clean, soft sand and blue water, I never knew Michigan has such wonderful beaches.

Wed. the 9th we went to St. Joseph, about 20 miles further south, I actually remembered to take the camera into town this time.  On all the main street corners,there were  brightly painted animals. I was told in 2005 they had carousel horses on the corners. This is a port worth returning to, due to all the construction going on around the lake area, it will be very nice when all is completed.

Thurs. the 10th we arrived in Michigan City,  Indiana. How about that we made it out of Michigan.  We stayed at a huge marina, and walked to the outlet mall, if you didn't know better you would swear you were at Aurora Farms outlet. Another beautiful beach, but we are told that this ends the sandy beaches we enjoyed all the way down the Michigan coast.

Friday, 9/11 another gorgeous  day, I think summer has finally arrived. We headed out this morning to cross lake Michigan, we are at the bottom of the lake so it is narrow, only about 35 miles across to Chicago.  There was a bit of fog over the shoreline of Chicago as we came in, so some of the pictures are a bit foggy.  We went for a long bike ride, probably about 20 miles, we just rode the shoreline of Chicago, lake on one side and skyscrapers on the other, the bike /walking trails are filled with people just enjoying the day. Tomorrow we will rent a car and drive out to Dennis and Carolyn's area, we are going to catch one of Ian's soccer games and hopefully get a chance to see Connor, and spend some time catching up with Dennis and Carolyn.  Hopefully Doug & Greg will be around and we can catch up with them.
Leaving Michigan City, Indianaon lake Michigan

We have seen so many interesting places, it is hard to recall everything.  All I know is we are always doing something, or going somewhere. Oh yeah, and there is allot of wine being consumed.
Still smiling :)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you have been in a lot of beautiful cities and are having a wonderful time and beautiful pictures. Weather here has been beautiful as well. Wish it could go till next spring. I contacted Diane; she is working on my house project.

Luv Ya, Sheron

Bob, Vicki & Rosie said...

Hi Jim & Mary,

We are storing "Blue Moon" in Grand Haven, MI and just arrived home in FL. Just saw that you can now transit the Illinois River without a tow. That's great news. We'll keep following you on your site.

Have Fun.

Have drink for us.

Bob, Vicki & Rosie

Anonymous said...

Neat pictures!! Whatever happened with the aisan carp situation? Were you able to get thru? Tell Dennis and Carolyn I said hello.
Love Jeanie & Ed