6/15/23 - Leland Harbor to Charlevoix City Marina- SHROOMIN

Baskets of morel mushrooms at todays farm market

If we can say one thing about Michigan weather thus far it would be that it’s consistent…..consistently chilly and currently wet.   Yesterdays all day fog event finally ended but was replaced by a steady overnight rain followed by a persistent cold light drizzle today.  Being the  glass half full folks that we are we dealt with it and we’re grateful that Mother Nature at least offered up conditions that kept the lake reasonably calm and comfortable for travel.  We had made slip reservations in Charlevoix for tonight and Friday night so after a chill morning involving lots of coffee and Cinnamon Toast Crunch we moved on from Leland at about 8am.  The 34 mile jaunt was uneventful and not particularly scenic especially given the low hanging gray skies.  We discussed and considered briefly whether we should head south as we crossed the wide opening to Grand Traverse Bay to make the ~35 mile run down to see Traverse City but ultimately held course toward Charlevoix.  This would keep us moving north and in-line with our “planned schedule”.  We arrived at the entrance to the channel back to Round Lake (Charlevoix is another town that sits tucked between the big lake and another smaller one) at 11:02am just as a string of boats were coming out of the channel after passing through the raised drawbridge.  Erik sped up briefly in an attempt to make it through  while the bridge was raised but as we drew close the bridge began to lower….fooey.    The bridge opens once every 30 minutes so we would have to wait until the 11:30 opening.   Rather than wait in the fairly narrow channel and have to remain running we turned and headed back out onto the lake where we shut motors down briefly and utilized the time by going down into the engine room to check fluids.   An added benefit was that the engine intake manifolds make marvelous hand warmers (see….the glass is half full again).  

Charlevoix South Pier Lighthouse
Current all metal structure has been guiding boats to the channel entrance since 1948

Our slow and steady 10.6 mph average cruise over 34.8 miles produced our best fuel economy yet this trip
At almost .98 mpg we may be giving Erik’s Prius a run for its money soon! 

Our arrival timing turned out to be good in that after securing the boat we were able to walk just a few steps up from the marina to shop the weekly farmers market for its last hour.   It was a lively market that lined the one side of an entire block.  The usual assortment of yummy foods were on display, many with samples.  We walked away with a bottle of garlic/herb seasoning and a delectable looking ‘Dutch Oven Special” which is a stiff sugar cookie dough encapsulating a filling of over 1” of caramel and walnuts.   Small pieces of it after lunch prompted two thumbs up reactions.  

Riva looking for doggie friends (she found many)

Our goodies

After shopping we returned to the boat for a sandwich and nap 😴. Then took Riva for a walk and headed for the “ mushroom houses”.   In the early 1920’s Earl Young dropped out of college after his first year studying architecture at The University of Michigan to quickly put his unique and characteristic ideas into action building a series of 25 homes and 3 commercial buildings up until the 1970’s.   At least a dozen of the homes are concentrated in an area surrounding one block very near our marina; others are also nearby.    His idea was to have homes that fit into the natural landscape as closely as possible.  They typically had irregular, rounded roof lines with very large eaves giving them the appearance to many of mushrooms.  They are quite unique and interesting to walk the streets and look at.   

The Thatch House 

History of The Thatch House
Quite different than what Young originally built

We saw about a dozen of his homes….may go see more in the sun tomorrow 🌞

All of the blocks surrounding the area of the marina have many beautiful old homes.   Most don’t resemble mushrooms at all but are still quite pleasant on the eyes.  

Beautiful, well kept old homes

On the way back to the boat to prepare dinner we stopped in at a couple shops to browse and came out with a large beach towel (see the glass half full optimism coming out again!?!) and a sweatshirt.  The cold drizzle started again which made us happy to arrive back at the warm and cozy confines of Happy Destiny.  Grilling dinner, relaxing, blog writing and some leftover strawberry shortcake rounded out our day.  We are both excited about the sunny 🌞 70 degree forecast for tomorrow that is sure to set us up for creating memories…..warm ones!