Great Loop

Our river adventure continues, from the Illinois River onto the Upper Mississippi River.  Our first two stops, Grafton, IL and Alton, IL were very similar marinas.  Grafton is on the Illinois River and just 17 short miles away, Alton is on the Mississippi River.  Both marinas had their entire infrastructure on floating piers…not just the […]

It’s River Time!  Traveling on the river system is our next learning adventure.  We departed Chicago and headed south down the Chicago River to the Illinois River.   Prior to arriving to our first overnight stop, we went through two locks, the first at the entrance of the Chicago River from Lake Michigan and then one

During our last week cruising down the Wisconsin side of Lake Michigan, we visited: Sheboygan, where we went out to dinner at the yacht club with two couples who are just starting their loop and also, once again, had great Mexican food in Wisconsin; Port Washington, which is home of the Duluth Trading Company, was

While navigating the Erie Canal, Dave and I heard a loud thud under our boat.  It knocked us out of our enjoyment of quietly cruising down the canal.    We had hit something submerged, typically it’s a log, which can cause substantial damage to a boat.  Unfortunately, our boat’s design has both props entirely exposed behind

This week we moved on to Sturgeon Bay, WI where we met up with fellow loopers on Betty Gail and War Eagle.  We enjoyed “docktails” in the marina’s boaters lounge, which had two large seating areas, a large screen TV, kitchen, and fireplace.  I felt as if I was in someone’s nicely decorated house and

And the loop continues… Before arriving in Door County, while still in the upper peninsula of Michigan, we stopped at Fayette Historic State Park, recommended by several locals we spoke to.  It was a great history lesson.  Fayette, in the late 1800’s was the site of a productive iron-smelting operation for over 24 years.   The

Ok, I need to acknowledge my ignorance in America’s geography.  I did not know Michigan had an Upper Peninsula “UP”, jutting out of the northern tip of Wisconsin.   I thought the state of Michigan was the mitten – I didn’t know it included the UP, which several “Yoopers” we met at a wine tasting noted

This week’s highlight was a stop at Mackinac Island near the northern tip of Michigan.   At first, we couldn’t get a slip reservation at the island’s marina, so we were staying 3 days at Mackinaw City Marina on the mainland and taking a ferry over to the island.   But Captain Dave scored a slip on

I’ve learned so much geography on this adventure.  I didn’t realize Lake Erie was connected to Lake Huron, first by the Detroit River, then Lake St. Clair and then the St. Clair River to Lake Huron.  Of course, the water all flows from the north (eventually over Niagara Falls), so we were battling currents as