White Lake to Muskegon

We up anchored on Wednesday morning for the short 10 mile trip south to Muskegon. We are getting into more industrial towns and larger populations. The houses along the lake shore are almost wall to wall, now, and there is more evidence of  'Civilization'.

Because the scenery is pretty much the same as it was before, I haven't taken any photos along the coastline from White Lake to Muskegon. The day was lovely, with a little wind, and I felt more inclined to enjoy the warmth of the sun, rather than tear around madly taking photos of everything:) I need to remember to do these things, sometimes.

Muskegon has a long, 1/2 mile channel leading into the Lake. If you look at a map of the Michigan Peninsula, you will see a  lot of little lakes, just inside the shore line, that are joined to Lake Michigan by these channels, often called rivers, because they were once the outlets for the lakes. They have just been 'harnessed' as it were, and widened and concreted in, etc. They are known as Harbors of Refuge and are posted as such.

Lake Muskegon is another long lake that takes a turn in the middle. There are VERY shallow parts well marked by green markers, and a few shoals in the middle for added comfort (not).

We followed the green markers towards our destination of Hartshorn Marina.


Here we are passing the USS Silversides, the WW11 Submarine, attached to the dock at the Museum (building)
 
 And the Coast Guard Cutter that is undergoing restoration.

 Looking back down the channel from whence we just came.

 

 At the lake end, on this glorious day, lots of people out fishing or just relaxing and enjoying the views.

 These little racing yachts are parked waiting for race day, just inside the lake entry.

 This way of fishing always amuses me. The boats are so close to the water, and apparently unstable...yet they still stand up to fish. The trolling motor is on the front.

 Of course there are condos along the lake front.

 and derelict factories that are being pulled down..., including the chimneys.

 Because this is still a shipping port, the main body of the lake is very deep, but the sides are not so. See the left side of the chart, at 1,2 and 3 feet deep on that side of the lake.

 One of the old ferries that used to ply the Lake Michigan waters, but is now sitting idle.

 We had to travel half the length of Lake Muskegon to get to the Hartshorn Marina where we booked in.

 The entry to the marina is on the left. A very skinny entry for which we are most grateful. The wakes an chop from the lake can be fierce, and we still rock and rolls a bit, even tied up, here. Love the puffy clouds!

We tied up around Noon. There was nobody on the dock to help us, which was interesting, as we had just spoken to the Marina office folks, and the berth isn't far from the office. No matter, our neighbor from the boat in the foreground here, helped us to tie off. It was easy, considering there was no wind to speak of and Waz brought our baby in very quietly.

 

We were desperate for a cup of coffee so we sat back and enjoyed a cup before making our way to the Office to check in. All checked in, we came back to the boat and did the rest of the line tying and putting away and getting out of 'stuff' that is normal for us getting into a marina.

 

We finally got the bikes off, armed with the map of where to find supermarkets et al, and made our way with the red cart attached to Waz's bike, the 3 odd miles to Walmart. Remember, this is Wednesday!

 

 

Is he REALLY giving me the finger? lol.  Dinner is over and we are relaxing in the late afternoon sun.

 

We did a full shop at Walmart and with the cart packed to the gunnels we made our way to a coffee shop that we had spied on our way to Walmart. A frozen concoction followed, thankfully, as it was very hot and humid by now. Lo'! is that an AT&T store at the end of the block?? Why yes! How fortuitous. We had just been talking about throwing T-Mobile to the dogs and getting other phone access, as we had been without for 6 weeks, now.

 

Frozen drinks consumed, we rode the block to At&T and were greeted (as you are) by a tablet toting sales assistant who proceeded to record our conversation on said tablet in our quest for a prepaid SIM card. Having ascertained that he couldn't sell us anything else, he sold us two SIM cards (one each) for our duel SIM card phones. SO....we now have T-Mobile AND AT&T numbers on the same phone. Either one will get us, but at least we now have coverage here. T-Mobile is still on roaming...sigh!

 

All satisfied, we rode back to the boat. We changed bikes on the way back so that Waz didn't have to do ALL the work pulling the full to busting cart. The worst part of any large shopping expedition, is the putting away.

We wish we had known about the Farmers market, the next day, before we went to Walmart! Sigh (#2)

 

Thursday morning we ventured out later, having slept in ...again! Bikes off the boat and we were away again. We love making discoveries via this mode of transport.

We rode along the lovely bike path around part of the lake until we came to the old Train Depot.... What a lovely building ....which is now the Visitor's Center.

 

 and yes, you can rent those bikes!

 even though they spoil the overall view! sigh!

 

No, the building isn't crooked...I was riding and taking photos at the same time...as you can see, this is not a good combination!:) and NO< that isn't AMAZON as in the online store, but Amazon apartments. They have repurposed this otherwise derelict building into apartments. It seems that there are a lot of such buildings in various states of dress and undress, in these parts. This is NOT a thriving community. We give the town full marks for making some of the public spaces very appealing and doing their best to dress it all up nicely to attract more people.

 This lovely old building houses the Muskegon Museum. No, we didn't enter, but carried on down the main street.

 The stadium, home to the Muskegon Lumberkacks (Ice-hockey),  is right in the middle of town.

 Don't you love the Bike racks! We used one! a blue one actually...further up the road, and outside the ...wait for it...COFFEE SHOP!!! yay!

 I love walls like this. They totally tell a story. In this case, there used to be another building alongside...and there is now none!

His honor riding on the sidewalk...well, its what you do in these parts. Too unsafe on the roads.

 We are loving the Public Artworks in this town. They have Roundabouts too!! woohoo!

 These Hibiscus are everywhere here. That is Waz's hand, for size comparison. Stunning!

 This town is famous for it's Lumber town roots and the industry that kept that alive and consequently served as major employers. Foundry was just one of many.

 We loved the old buildings here that are being repurposed as bars, restaurants and yes, coffee shops!

 With apartments above.

 It was a really good Latte, they made!

 Biking further down the main drag, we happened upon the US Post Office. A rather grand looking brick building with this fabulous sculpture outside. Reach For the Stars.

 along with a fun fountain and this spring man sculpture.

And lo and behold....a Farmer's Market was in progress...on Thursday! We were told that the Saturday Market is the one to come to, but we were very happy to buy here what we didn't get at Walmart, and regretted not knowing this market was on, today. This area has such a short growing season, but the produce is to die for.

 It was cold in the shade, with this being a very exposed place. The county built this purposely in the past year, to accommodate the need to bring people into the downtown area.

 The color, smell and taste is just as you imagine:)

 Tomatoes that dreams are made of...This is a favorite of ours...Beefsteak!

 Stunning fruit and veg.!

 Aren't the buckets fantastic! they just make the whole thing look wholesome.

 Look at the price! Can you imagine paying $3 for this in NZ? (for the kiwis!)

 What we came home with. The raspberries were to die for, the carrots and beans I tossed in a little butter when they were steamed, and the tomatoes were eaten the next day for breakfast. YUM!!!!

 How good do these look!!!smell them?:)

 

 One can only eat so many fresh veg and fruit in one sitting...or even two, but we did our best and reveled in the whole experience.
I gave Waz a haircut late afternoon, so he is now 10 yrs younger (looking) and I was going to do mine, but we had heard about a kiwi couple who have  a yacht in the marina, and went looking for them....they had just come back when we spied them, and went to say hello.

John and Lin have lived here in Muskegon (in the summer) for 11 yrs now. They son married a young woman from these parts, and they are active Grandies with the three resultant kids...the eldest being 13 now. They live in their RV down the road in the RV park, right on the water (something about that!) and leave at the beginning of October to drive to Texas for the winter where they work in the 'off-season' for a security company, guarding oil drilling sites. It sounds like not much fun, but is reasonably well paid. They come back in April/May for the Summer.
Well, they were invited aboard for a drink and get to know you, and we ended up chatting into the evening, so by 6.30pm we decided to go across the park to the Pizza Restaurant. This was a great idea, and the pizza, being super thin base, was right up our alley. We all demolished the whole 12 inches on our own (yes, we had one each!) and left feeling very satisfied.
They had brought their 27ft yacht back to the marina and were to walk back to the RV park, so we decided to accompany them all the way there...about 2.5 miles. A good evening walk for us.

John and Lin have two cars (one they tow behind the RV and the other gets put in storage in winter) and offered us (well, the insisted, actually) the use of the Little Jeep. WOW!  Such generosity!
We were grateful to accept, as this meant we could get out and see things in the area and also we had some spare parts to suss out...as usual!
We drove back in the dark, happy to have met such lovely folk, and they just happened to be Kiwis from Timaru, NZ.