Well the theme for Lake Michigan is Big Waves, Beautiful Sand Dunes, and really nice villages along the shoreline. We just spent 4 nights in Grand Haven, Michigan, which was 2-3 nights longer than we wanted (are you surprised by that?). The wind was howling out on the Lake, creating waves of 8+ ft. We had no desire or business to go out in that kind of stuff, so we sat. Yesterday, we rented a car and drove to several of the places that we had not been able to take the boat to as we came down the lake.
Several of these photos are Silver Lake which resides along the shores of Lake Michigan, separated by these 200-300 ft. sand dunes. Silver Lake continues to get smaller and shallower each year as the consistent wind off Lake Michigan moves the sand into the little lake, and fills it up. This is especially true in the winter. The lake freezes over and gets covered by a ft. or more of sand over the course of the winter. Springtime comes and all the sand sinks to the bottom filling the lake. Several people have built houses close to the dunes, which of course were soon covered with sand up to the rafters, just like snow. Their choice was to abandon the home, or move it. Several haved moved them. We toured the dunes in this bright red Ford 250 custom made to handle the sand.
I have to give these Michigan'ers credit....they love their summers. It is cold up here at night, and the days are nice, but not hot by any standard. Maybe it is in the mid 70's. I know my family and friends are suffering through a record setting summer of 70+ days of over 100 degrees, but up here it is cool at best. Yet these folks are in their shorts and T-shirts and swimming in Lake Michigan like it was the Caribbean. Every town celebrates summer along the lake, with band shells, live music, water shows, farmer's markets, sailboat races, and half the population on the sandy beaches of Lake Michigan. It is cold, but you would never know it with these folks dressed like it was a 100 degrees. Oh well, it is what you are used to, and it is a short summer, so they live it to the max.
Today, after sitting for 4 days, we watched the weather then decided to head out and down the Lake. The wind had moderated to 15 kts. but the waves were still in the 6-8 ft. range. Every one else stayed in, but we thought we could make hay with these waves, especially with a following wind. Rock Chalk does well going downwind, so we made a 46 mile trip in a little over 2.5 hours. I had the boat up on plain, which is a normal cruise of 16 mph. But we could get her to surf down some of these 8 footers, and easily get to over 22 mph. It was fun. Shelley went up to the bow, and had a wild ride. I wish Max and Leo, could have been here for this part of the ride. At times, there was 8 to 10 feet of the bow out of the water as we crested these waves. Surfing Lake Michigan. Cool.
We are now in South Haven Michigan, and ready to cross the lake to Chicago. We will watch the weather and find a good window, with winds less than 10 and waves of less than 2 ft. Right. We plan on spending several days in Chicago and see my old friend from law school, Lauren Hogan and his wife Joyce. So the next blog will probably show the skyline of Chicago from Lake Michigan. I can't wait. Marc
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