PETOSKEY, MI - A VISIT TO TRAVERSE CITY AND CHARLEVOIX

Saturday, August 15th to Tuesday, August 18th, 2015

Day 376-379

Miles Traveled: 0

Total Miles Traveled: 5831

  Saturday we headed to Traverse City, MI to visit with Dan's Aunt Adeline.  We enjoyed the drive along the shoreline of Lake Michigan and Grand Traverse Bay.  We had a delightful visit.

  On our way back to Petoskey, we made a quick stop in Charlevoix, MI to see the "mushroom houses".  The homes were built by Earl Young starting in 1918.  He continued to build structurally interesting homes in the area until the 1950's.  The roofs of the mushroom homes have curved lines and edges, and, the chimneys are stone and appear to be covered with snow.

"Mushroom House" hidden behind the trees

another cute "mushroom house"

  

  Sunday and Monday we choose not to travel due to high winds and seas.  We took advantage of the down days with a rental car and ran errands and got groceries.  The talk on the dock was about the weather and the high winds predicted over the upcoming days. 

  

  Tuesday we had hoped to move further down Lake Michigan.  After reviewing the upcoming weather forecast, we choose to stay at Petoskey.  The marina is down Little Traverse Bay and is nestled close to shore, so, there is good wind and wave protection.  Although Tuesday would have been a good day to travel, the weather predictions for the upcoming week were horrible with sustained winds at 25 mph and gusts of 40 mph.  The next marina stop did not appear to have very good protection from the predicted wind and wave direction.  Since there was a possibility of this "blow" lasting for over one week, we decided to stay put at the protected marina where we were currently docked.  Again, we took advantage of a day without moving.  Angie did laundry and worked on the the budget while Dan washed the boat (which it desperately needed).

  When we checked the weather in the afternoon, there was some glimmer of hope for a travel day three days away.  We considered doing a dance for the wind Gods to increase our chances for departure.  However, that could backfire if they are unhappy with the entertainment value, so, we thought just sitting quietly might be a better choice.