Day 42- Saugatuck, MI

Today is the Cleveland Browns opening day! We decided to make a short trip today, for two reasons: 1. we can move farther south and be closer to our jump off spot to Illinois, and 2. Saugatuck is a spectacular destination. From their website: “Sand. And water, as far as the eye can see. With 10 spectacular miles of Lake Michigan shoreline, one of Condé Nast Traveler’s “Top 25 Beaches in the World,” the Saugatuck/Douglas region shines all year long, but especially as one of the premier summertime destinations in the country. Long known as “the art coast of Michigan,” this community traces its creative roots back 100 years to the day when The Art Institute of Chicago established its Ox-Bow School here. Today, dozens of working painters, sculptors, ceramicists, and other artists call it home, enriching our community with an open-minded outlook and an appreciation of art that spills over into the galleries around town.”

So yeah, we wanted to stop here and it did not disappoint. To get here, we again had to travel quite a bit inland from the lake. It was an hour trip to get to the city dock, where the slips are first come, first serve basis. When we approached, there was only one other boat docked. The catch for us was our size. The docks are about 25 feet long, and we measure around 42 feet from the tip of the bow to the back of the dinghy on our stern. Luckily the end ‘T’ dock was unoccupied, so we had an easy landing spot and plenty of room. The end docks are twice as long, plus add a few feet for the walkway, so we had at least 55 feet of room.

We had left around 9am, and arrived at the dock around 11:30am. This was important because we wanted to go watch the game on a big screen TV. We have been able to stream almost every Indians game, and we’ve watched Ohio State on our computer. But this is Opening Day! Lauren had called a bar in the area to ensure they would have it on. Armed with this information, we docked, got tied up and secure, walked Frank and took off on a bike ride. The bar was a few miles away out of town, but it was the closest ‘sports bar’ we could locate. Michigan has amazing bike paths that connect almost everything and that was the same here. We got to the bar about 5 minutes before kick off!

Since we all know how that ends, I won’t rehash it. The owner of the restaurant was cordial and came over to chat with us a while, then console us. We ate some lunch and watched the game. Disappointed, we left and headed back into town. WTF Brownies?!

Back at town, we went back to the boat to secure the bikes, check on Frank, and head out for a walk around town. We wandered around, stopping into a coffee shop, checking out art galleries and other shops, and just admiring the town. We stopped at a retro bar that had small boats for rent, all retro. They also had cool round boats, that sat a group in a big circle, but a driver could steer the boat from their seat. We had a drink there, then moved back to the boat. Upon arrival, I noticed another boat was docked near us. As we were getting on board, he came out and asked if we were doing the Great Loop? He saw our burgee and was curious about it. He purchased the boat he was in, and it was set up for the trip, which he wants to do. We chatted a bit about the trip and boat stuff, and he assured us we would be fine at the dock overnight. We weren’t sure if it was allowed, but figured we would try our luck anyway.

Tomorrow’s weather looks good, so our thought was to go to South Haven, but if it’s really really good, we may just go to St. Joseph as that is the last stop in Michigan for us. We’ve traveled 42 days at this point, and less than 5 have not been in Michigan, so its getting exciting to actually be planning on stopping in another state.