The long forecasted and much anticipated cold front finally made its way through northern Michigan last evening and night. We woke up this morning to decidedly different weather conditions than yesterday - cool northerly winds, a clearing sky and much lower humidity. We eventually pushed off at 1030 hrs and headed out into Little Traverse Bay toward Northport, about a 35 mile run southwesterly into the tip of Grand Traverse Bay. Only a few boats were out today, two powerboats headed toward Harbor Springs and three sailing boats traveling in our general direction. About two hours later we were tying up at the Northport Municipal Marina. Northport is a postage stamp size of a town located near the tip of the Leelanau Peninsula which forms the northwestern edge of Grand Traverse Bay. At the base of the bay is Traverse City, the largest city in northern lower MI. West and slightly south of Northport lays the fishing village of Leland which is on the western shore of MI. It’s been years since we were in Northport and by appearances not much has changed. We’ll spend the night here and head out tomorrow for Frankfort, around the Leelanau Peninsula and down the west shore, about a 50 mile run. From there it’s only about 55 miles to Door County, WI.

They docked us bow in to a southern sun exposure so we have the cool north wind on our stern which is shaded.....brrrr! We made like turtles on a log and sat out on the sun pad this afternoon to get our vitamin D. The recent rains has made the grass green and summer like but the angle of the sun tells a different story. Locals said we have 30 days of boating left then........everyone’s off the water and all marinas shut down October 15.

Locals have directed us to “The Garage” for dinner tonight. Review to follow!