Crossing Back Home, day 10 & 11

The near shore forecast for the day was wave 2-3 feet and winds at times 20kts. Susan got up early and went for a walk down to the beach to look at the lake. When she returned she said it is time to go. She said the waves were not as bad as the day before, so I agreed lets go for it. After getting out on the lake I asked her if she really thought this was better.  In my estimation the wave heights were more like 3-5 feet. She then told me that the open water forecast was for 3-5 footers with occasional 6 to 8 foot waves. Yup it was all of that. Again these waves were coming at us so again it was a long ride. There were larger swells that were fairly steep that were quartering our bow and causing me to drive the boat more north then I would have liked. We ended up going off course by 5-6 miles to accommodate the wave and swell action. Luckily, this time we thought ahead and before we left the boys both took motion sickness pills so they did not get sea sick as yesterday they both were vomiting when we arrived in Frankfort. The crossing took us over 3 hrs due to having to go slow and steady due to the seas.

When we where about 20 miles out it began to settle down. By 5 miles out we were able to run the boat at our normal cruising speed. We were so glad to see the big red buoy at the entrance to Sturgeon Bay and were greeted by a large rain cloud when we finally tied up at Centerpointe Marina. The intention was to get the boat on the trailer and go home, but the rain stopped us from doing that. It was actually a good thing as we were all just exhausted from the ride and needed some time to relax. The plan was now to relax and pull the boat in the morning and go home.  It was a good feeling once we got home to unpack get everything put away and take the boat down to the launch to put it back in it home port slip in Neenah. When I came under the bridge and saw our little city and the docks it was almost a sigh of relief to be done with this vacation.

Susan and I both discussed if this was going to be our last trip across the lake for awhile. Although the adventure is fun and exhilarating we just were unable to enjoy it. There was only one day that we "enjoyed" ourselves. It was the day in Suttons Bay when we road from Frankfort to Suttons bay. We did not get a good week of weather and when we can not get the boys off the boat for that long of a period it is just not that enjoyable.

Next years plan is to just put the boat in Door County for a month and take some long weekends rather than push for a big trip.

We're Getting Good at This

It was a struggle to get all the things done this week in order to leave Friday morning. It did not help that we had the hottest week of the year so far and everything we did was slow and sweaty. In addition to the heat, our lives get busy with kids that is for sure. Pierce had his last soccer game in the heat as well on Wednesday. The league cut the skills portion out and just played the game. His coach ended the game with a water balloon fight.

Susan ended up leaving work earlier on Thursday so she could get the grocery shopping done and get a head start on the packing. It was still so hot and we ended up trying to wait until the sun would be lower to get the bikes on the boat. When I finally grabbed Susan's bike that was hanging in the garage  I noticed her front tire was flat. Yup it had a hole! It was already after 8 and all of our bike shops where closed. Quick trip to the local Walmart and we were back in business, however, this delay was enough to give the mosquitoes a jump on us. As soon as the sun went down it was on and we were still putting the bikes on the boat. We quickly finished up covered the boat and called it quits.

Friday morning we ended up getting out about 10:30am. I wanted to clean up the boat's hull and polish some of the repairs I had done. Once that was done we where on our way. We ended up taking a back route to Green Bay to avoid road construction. Around 11am tummies began to rumble. We ended up stopping at a truck stop and getting some food in Forest Junction. The thought was to eat now verses waiting until we get there as we had much to do once getting to Sturgeon Bay.

Once we arrived in Sturgeon Bay we called Center Point Marina to get our slip assignment. After getting into the slip Susan and I had a plan on how we where going to get the boat back together and entertain the boys.  Remember the heat index was well into the triple digits on this day!!!! Once we got into our slip we started re-installing the canvas and electronics. The original plan was to have Susan take the boys to the pool once the canvas was removed from the cabin and in place. Not completely installed just pined in place. I needed to get the electronics on the arch before we can zip the canvas into place. It went so smooth that the boys helped out and everything fell into place quickly and we all went to the pool afterward. 

On a very positive note: my Sister and Brother-in-Law offered to watch our dogs because of the conflict that my parents had. This was a wonderful surprise and we appreciate it very much. It was amazing to not have the dogs amongst the chaos that ensues when we have to put the boat back together.

Day 8, 9 & 10 - Sturgeon Bay

Another vacation is in the bag and we have decided to keep our boat in Sturgeon Bay for the Month of Aug.  With the weather we have seen this summer it is probably best. Lake Winnebago has been unbelievably green with algae.  The lack of rain and hot temps has spoiled the lake.

On Saturday we started out struggling with the boys and are contemplating a slight change for next years vacation.  Our plan is to have a long weekend with the kids and then have our crossing trip just Susan and I next year.  We have decided it is just not fun to have the stress for that long.  Maybe it is the cramped quarters I don't know what it is, but we agree it may be best to shorten it until they are a bit older.

The rest of the day went well.  We spent it by the pool and had fun with the boys.  It helped that Pierce found a 12 year old girl that was an awesome playmate.  She and her younger brother who was 3 and they all had a lot of fun.  Peyton had some other kids on and off that he played with, and Susan and I would get in the mix when we would get too hot sitting poolside.

On Sunday we got up late cleaned the boat and decide to go home after having a meal at Mel's. Mel's Place was a greatnew find for breakfast. It is located right across the street from Centerpointe marina. I had the best salmon eggs benedict.  It was severed perfectly and had quite a kick to it as the hollandaise sauce was fused with many spices as well as jalapenos. The kids enjoyed french toast that Mel should win an award for.  Peyton had the normal serving and Pierce did the kids version.  Each dish had it's own twist.  Neither boy could finish.  Peyton was convinced he should get the normal serving as he has bad luck with the last few places.  He seemed to come away hungry all week; not at Mel's Place though. Everything here was fantastic! Their service was a bit slow, however, we gave them some leeway, because they were getting slammed.  We also over heard a cook called in sick.  The food made up for the time we had to wait and we sat outside on a gorgeous day.  I am excited to go back and try more of the menu.

We will be back to Centerpointe for the next few weekends and look forward to enjoying door county some more and possibly even staying on the hook some night. Until next time~bye~

Day 7: KIDS DAY!!! Sturgeon Bay - CenterPoint Marina

After a bit of a wavy night in Egg Harbor we made breakfast on the boat and then headed to Sturgeon Bay to finish our vacation. After some challenging times with kids this week, we decided to make it a day geared towards everything kids and have as much fun as possible!   Once in Sturgeon Bay we pulled into our final marina for the vacation, CenterPoint.   This marina is absolutely beautiful with a great pool, georgeous landscaping and very nice outdoor cooking stations.   We lucked out with a perfect slip, off the way a bit from the main house, but right near the front so it is easy access to the potty zone for the dogs!!  I don't think we could have asked for a more perfect location as it will also come with beautiful sunsets as our stern is positioned towards West.

We settled into the slip and then headed off for a short walk to get the truck.   We were required to walk over the bridge and was presented with a great learning opportunity for the kids, as the bridge was opening.   Peyton had a great suggestion to actually walk to the top as it was opening, but obviously we all know that would be impossible.  It made for a quick lesson in physics!   Once in the truck we were off to PC Junction which is the ultimate kid zone.   We were there back in 2009 or '10 and had a great time on a rainy day, so we were excited to see what we could do on a sunny day.  Unfortunately, the wait was an hour to sit at the main train track table so, with tummy's growling, we decided that a table that allowed us to view the train would be good enough.  Deep fried goodness was had by all and with stomach's full, we were off to enjoy the atmosphere of go carts, slides, swings, basketball hoops and the quest to search out our wood plank we painted on our first visit there 2 or 3 years earlier.   If you have never been to PC Junction, they allow you to paint a wood plank with whatever you fancy and then they nail it to the walls on the property.   It makes for grand entertainment looking at everyone's masterpieces, unfortunately we never did find ours.  We searched and searched with no luck.  Oh well, guess that means we will need to return to look again someday. After PC Junction, we went to another sports park for some motorized go carts, ice cream and arcade games.  The boys had a blast and it was nice to have some good quality fun with them.

In the evening we grilled out and had a relaxing night on the back of the boat while listening to it rain... one of my favorite vacation activities!

Oh... and I should probably mention this huge boat that was docked here for the night.  Paul obsessed over how large it was and with some quick Google searching had the full details for me on when it was built, where, how much gas it uses,etc.   If you know me, I don't really get worked up on the size of other's boats. From my perspective, if it floats, then it is a good boat :)  Let's just say there was a whole lot of things packed onto this boat, if I recall correctly it was over 100' in length, and it was still floating, so that is as much of my attention span it would get.

Note from Paul The boat was a 2008 Westport 130, Hull number 1525, Ships Name was Antares.  130' OAL, 26' beam. This was a monster and held 9,901 Gal of Diesel for the two engines that put out over 2700hp! Cruised at 24 knots or MPH could not find the measurement where it was listed either way that is fast for that boat!

Day 4 & 5 - Indecision!

As the title says, day's 4 and 5 of vacation were definitely the most indecisive of any of our vacations.   Monday was a scorching hot day with the winds all over the place on the lake.  Our largest concern was not necessarily getting over to Grand Haven, it was in fact to get back.  I absolutely need to return home by Monday and it looks like wind and wave forecast continue their strength through the week.  Normally, we would target to come back on Saturday, but 3-6 foot waves are not something that we would cross in.   If we were alone it would be different and we would risk something like that, but with 2 small boys and 2 dogs, one of which doesn't necessarily like boating all that much, 6 foot waves on Michigan would be treacherous.

So what to do???   After much deliberation, and due to the extreme heat we decided that Monday would be a day at the pool and that bright and early Tuesday we would head to Milwaukee.   Once there we could find plenty to do, such as a Milwaukee Brewer game, the children's museum or just hanging out at their beach and enjoying their parks and restaurants.  At 3AM Paul woke me up and told me that he was putting the canvas on the back due to rain, at 5AM, like clockwork the dogs woke me up for their morning potty break, then at 6AM it was a wake up call from Paul.   Apparently huge storms were due to go through Milwaukee, it was either leave now or never.  After much review of the various weather stations we monitor, it looked like that if we went to Milwaukee that we would spend the day in rain, with additional rain scheduled for the remainder of the week.  




So we did what we seem to do best, chase the sunshine!   We loaded up the trailer and headed north, up to Sturgeon Bay where we decided that if we couldn't cross then why not go to a place that had more options where at least we would be less dependant on the wind.    We packed up the boat in record time and were off, trying to beat the rain that was on it's way to Sheboygan.   In a few short hours we arrived in Sturgeon Bay and then quickly put the boat back together.  We called around to see if we could get a deal for keeping our boat somewhere for the remainder of July/August, and yet to find a place that is cost effective for us.  

For those of you that know me, I am a control freak and not having a plan is quite challenging for me, however, I woke this morning and decided that whatever the day would bring I would just go with it.   One thing that Paul always wanted to do was stay on the hook.   Since we didn't have a plan, or a slip at this point, we decided that we would head to horseshoe island and try our first night without being in a marina.  Once we arrived, we looked at the wind forecast and found yet again it was not in our favor.   Horseshoe island is protected by all winds except for from the south east.  You guessed it, winds were scheduled out of the east south east, and rain was scheduled.  After enjoying some time swimming and soaking up some sun at Nicolet Bay we decided we would have to wait staying on the hook due to the wind and rain.  We called and found a slip at Alibi Marina in Fish Creek.  

After what seemed like a completely exhausting day, I would have never guessed that I would be blogging from Fish Creek, but alas it was a beautiful day and I am always happiest when with my family!

Day 2: Should'a Could'a Would'a

Pierce Swimming with Mom and Peyton being a fish

Today we awoke to a sprinkle of rain on the boat. Not even enough to get the ground wet, so we tuned into the weather and saw storms to the south and storms to the west. We thought maybe we should go across lake Michigan in between the storms, but the one to the west was heading over at 60mph.  It looked strong and was covering half of the state. When it finally arrived I was driving around getting some groceries and could count the rain drops on the windshield. While out I went down to the Sturgeon Bay Coast Guard station out on lake MI and saw that even though the wind was blowing from the east the lake looked surprisingly good. I came back and said we should go, but at this time it was already 5pm. Susan convinced me to hold off (we should have went across).  

Peyton in the dinghy after we blew it up

One thing holding me back is the radar is not working. We spent big money this spring on a raymarine c90w, and the damn thing has never worked right. We even have the big-special-brand-new raydome. I am soooo pissed about that. I spent about 1.5hrs today pulling it all apart making sure the wires are all correct, making sure they are not run next to other things that may interfere. We will have it looked at when we are across, or if we are here next week I will just have it looked at here.

So today we went to the pool and swam a bit and got Pierce to relax. He had a episode where he drank some water on winnebago that has made him gun shy with going in. We also got the dinghy out blew it up and our patch held, so after dinner we went across the channel and got ice cream downtown. 

Just have to wait and see what tomorrow brings....

Back to Sturgeon Bay

We crossed on Sunday and it was the most beautiful water we have ever seen on lake Michigan. The water was so calm and flat. We ended up spending two days in Frankfort. Our first day was great weather the second was raining all day and then we left on the next morning. Embarking at about 9am.  We were not in a hurry, because there was fog in Sturgeon Bay. Ended up just having breakfast in sturgeon bay and then left to go home. The end to our Michigan vacation. See you next year!

Day 3; Crossing Lake Michigan to Leland

Crossed! Left Sturgeon went to Leland, MI. Waves were not bad. Not anything to write home about. When crossing the manitou's islands things really got flat. What a great lake this body of water is. It is amazing as we are running in hundreds of feet of water and there is an island right next to us. I guess you can anchorage at the south manitou island your bow be in 70' and your stern in 3'. Nuts! We will have to do that some time.


Spent the day exploring and playing on their beach. It was great the kids had fun and we had a good time. The kids, however, did not end the day well. It was a rough night.

Leland is a cool little town, worth the stop. We will be back. This location is perfect to relax and rejuvenate before pushing on to the next town (the fuel is less too).

There is a restaurant that has a camera you can control in the harbor. We ate there and called Grandma and Grandpa so they could play with it and see the kids... The Cove TV the camera is on top of the building in the above picture.

Day 2; Another day in Sturgeon Bay

Saturday was wet all day just like Friday. Friday had a great sunset and was followed by late night showers with little wind, so that was nice for the wave conditions. The weather was still too ify to make the call so we decided to wait one more day.

We went to the farmers market and rode our bikes to the grocery store to get some last supplies. Later in the day we did have some pool time, grilled out, and sat by the fire, but all and all not a great boating day. Who am I kidding any day is a great boating day!

We are very confident that tomorrow will be the day to cross.

Leaving for Sturgeon Bay

Friday July 23, 2010. I took the day off of work to prepare for the trip to Sturgeon Bay. Susan had to work at least half of day. We woke up and the weather was not pleasant. The day prior we had received 4" of rain and many streets were flooded. Our vacation companion, Scott, was suffering from the storm Thursday and Friday with a sewer water filled basement, however, that was not going to stop him from his trip.

By the time we had left the house it was close to 4pm (not the stellar start I wanted). I had purchased a new winch handle (the trailer did not have one when we bought it) and was impressed on how well it worked. Even though I had the new handle I did not crank the boat as much as I should have. We did not have the proper tounge weight and the truck could not go more then 60 mph without feeling like we where going to end up in the ditch!

Once in Stugeon Bay after the white nuckle trip through Green Bay at rush hour with hwy 172 closed we could finally relax. Well not really we had to put the boat back together which takes a few hours of messing around (the boat is too tall for the hwy and needs to be disasembled and then put back together). By the time the kids were in bed it was time for us to hit the sack too.