September 2, 2008: Beaver Island & Charlevoix, Michigan

Being exhausted from yesterday we slept in this morning, so by the time we finished breakfast, it was 10:00 AM. We didn’t see much of Beaver Island last night, so with a small map in hand we set out on our bikes to discover the Emerald Island of Michigan. We heard that there were white sandy beaches that draw vacationers here for the summer, but in comparison to nearby Mackinac Island, there were no fudge stores and plenty of cars. This island is a small working community with a history of fishing. On our ride we saw a rustic museum set up on an old boating shed, but unfortunately it was closed.

The dock master suggested that we find the Stony Acre Grill if we were interested in a good lunch. So we rode a mile or so out of town to an old red barn with a parking lot full of cars (a good sign). They had a place where you could plug your electric vehicle in, and there was even an electric truck parked outside. The inside was paneled with a warm honey colored pine with ceiling fans and the happy hum of the dining crowd. The waitress, a lady from California, told us that this was a slow crowd since it was after Labor Day and everyone had gone home. Lunch of fresh roasted gyroes was yummy.

Back on the boat, we picked up 120 gallons of fuel. We wanted to make sure we didn’t run out again, but the island was very expensive at $5.60/ gallon. Then we cast off for Petosky, heading south east towards the mainland.

Petoskey was once a lumber town in the late 1800s and is now a beautiful water front community. The historic Victorian Bay View area is so unique that it is a National History Landmark. Reaching the harbor, we docked at the Petoskey Marina for the night with the mission of getting a car and driving to the nearest Verizon store for a new internet card. Unfortunately, it turns out that the nearest store is in Traverse City, nearly 80 miles away. On the way, we passed through Charlevoix, with its beautiful harbor and had dinner there at the Weathervane restaurant. This restaurant overlooked the Pine River which is the connector between Lake Michigan and Round Lake (and the large Charlevoix Lake just beyond) and a thorough fare for small boat traffic. We had a great dinner although it took longer than we expected.

As it turned out, the trip to Traverse City was a practice. We arrived in the parking lot at Best Buy at 9:08 PM, just minutes after they had closed. Tom talked his way in, but the person he needed had left right at 9:00. We were somewhat discouraged by this news, and drove the two hours back to Petoskey to start over tomorrow.