Day 64 - 68

St Ignace - Mackinaw City

• Start 8:50AM
• End 9:25AM
• Underway .75 Hours
• Distance 6.6 miles
• Total Miles on Trip 1384
• Av Speed 15 knots
• Weather Sunny

The trip from St Ignace to Mackinaw City was a quick easy run. We traveled a whole 6.6 miles. Our original plan was to go directly to Mackinaw City, but they did not have a slip available for us until Friday. Normally the slips are not available until 1pm, but we had friends watching our assigned slip, and as soon as it was empty we headed in.

The main reason for getting to Mackinaw City as early as possible, was our entire group Nick & Ginger , Teresa (Ginger Gale), Mark and Karen (Kay Dee) Dave & Kim (Sweet Haven), Steve & Jane (Sabbatical) and Tom & Chery (Turn The Page) were driving to Sault Ste Marie, to take a boat tour thru the Soo Locks. I know spend 1300 miles traveling by boat, then go take a boat tour. We had considered taking a side trip thru the Soo Locks, but it would have added about 8 days and a couple of hundred miles to the trip. At least now I can say I have been there by boat.

The best part of the boat tour, was getting to drive the tour boat. As we were going thru the lock, the Captain overheard me talking to another passenger about my Captain's License. He invited me up to the bridge, and let me drive for about 30 minutes. (I think he just wanted a break from driving the boat!)

Saturday 11 of us took another land tour, going to the Tunnel Of Trees, and Michigan's Famous Legg's Inn Restaurant. Legg's in opens at noon on Saturday, and we were in line at 11:30. If we were not the first group in line, the hostess told us we would not have been able to get a table for all of us. By 12:15 the restaurant was full and there was a line waiting outside. After lunch we took Teresa, who has been joining Ginger Gale when she can, back to airport. Sadly she had to be at work Sunday. But it was good to see her.

Sunday we toured for Michilimackinac and the town. ( say that 4 times fast!) Interesting fact Both Mackinac and Mackinaw are pronounced ma·kuh·naa. And both refer to the same place. Mackinac is the French spelling and if you want to annoy the locals you pronounce it ma·kuh·nac.

Monday Kay Dee, Sabbatical, Turn The Page and Sweet Journey left, while Angel & I stayed with Ginger Gale. Kay Dee and Turn the Page will be going down the Michigan side of Like Michigan so we will not see them until we reach Chicago. We expect to see Sweet Journey and Sabbatical as we travel down the Wisconsin side of Lake Michigan.

Monday we toured the decommission Coast Guard Ice Breaker Mackinaw. The ship was in service for 62 years, able to break thru up to 11 feet of ice, and was used to extend the shipping season on the Great Lakes up to two months. The ship looks like they could start the engines and go out to sea as is. It was decommissioned because of the cost to maintain the engines and the difficulty in getting parts.

Tuesday was spent touring the town and getting ready to travel again. Mackinaw City is a tourist destination, with all of the t-shirt shops, Put Put (Miniature Golf) and Ice Cream Shops and you can spend endless time just wandering.

The weather has been perfect, Sunny, breezy, temperatures in the low to mid 70's and no humidity. At night it drops to 55 - 60. The lakes have been stunningly beautiful with crystal clear blue water. Tomorrow we leave Lake Huron and head into Lake Michigan.