Day 5: Ludington, MI (Susan)

The day started with the kids sleeping in, yet again.  It is almost impossible to think that they are sleeping in this much. Today we are planning to cruise to Ludington, which is a short 13 mile trek north.  The wind is blowing and from a distance we can see white caps on the lake.  The weather channel indicates that the winds are 10-20 knots out of the NW so the waves will be on our bow.   We untie from the dock and make our way.  As expected the lake is choppy causing an uncomfortable slow ride, but not too horrible. Fortunately, it won't be a 3 hour tour an only a 40 min ride.  Upon our arrival into Ludington, we stop at the gas dock at the Municipal Harbor to fuel up (gas is cheaper) and then head to our slip at the Harbor View Marina.  We choose Harbor View Marina because it has a pool, and because the docks are lower.  This will make it easier for the dogs to get in and out of the boat.  Later we found out that the municipal marina also had lower docks, but it was too late as we had already paid our slip fees.  Oh well...knowledge for next year. 

We decided to go to the local Jamesport brew house for lunch and based on a recommendation from Yelp we ordered the Crabby Onion.  This was absolutely yummy!!   If you are ever here make sure you get it.  We tried a few of the local beers while the kids colored their fun sailor hats and then after lunch walked the town a little bit to get Paul a coffee.  Paul didn't realize it until he had his lack of caffeine headache, but with the drive in the morning he didn't have time to make his morning coffee.   We found a local coffee shop, but nothing can compare to his coffee at Aspen... he is such a coffee snob :)

Peyton and Pierce at the local coffee house

After lunch it was on to swimming at the pool as it was getting kind of hot out.  The kids had fun and Pierce is getting better every day.  On Saturday we couldn't even get him into the pool and today we had him floating with the use of his swim vest.  He even attempted to hold his breath and go under water.  A few more nice days and  I suspect he will be ready to attempt actually trying to swim around with the vest on.

Our hunt for Lake Michigan salmon continues and keeps directing us to this local restaurant called Bortell's, only a short 6.6 mile bike ride away, much shorter than the 20 miles north that we heard when we were in Pentwater.  I run and think, 7 miles isn’t that bad, we are on bikes, why not.  We pull the bikes from the bow and gear up for the ride.  I quickly realized that we are not in the flatland of WI and that this town is not very bike friendly.  After going 2.4 miles up and down hills we end up on a curvy road with no shoulders and I ask Paul how much further… 4 miles on a curvy road when the sun was going down was not my idea of a good time. I kept envisioning some drunk running into us and killing the whole family.  I convinced Paul that we needed to turn around and head back, especially since while out and about on the bikes we saw 2 van cabs.  A cab ride sounded much better than risking our lives with the kids.

We ended up eating at a local Italian restaurant Luciano's and shared a pizza and then went to the infamous House of Flavors.   Finally an ice cream place that actually makes their own ice cream.  After waiting in line we got some cones and then went to the beach to catch the sunset.  The sand on their beach is amazing and I can’t wait to soak up some sun tomorrow… well hopefully as the weather is forecasting rain so who knows we will see.

The boys at sunset on Ludington beach