Sailing on The Tall Ship Manitou

Our first sailing experience was certainly one to remember. We set out at 3:00 p. m. and returned at 5:00 p.m. The captain was a very pleasant guy and his 2 girl and 2 guy crew of 20 somethings was fabulous. Those kids worked their butts off to show us a great time aboard their ship.

We were allowed to go "below" so we could see what things looked like....the crew actually lives on the ship. I must say that isn't something I could do after seeing their "beds", but what an experience for these young people.

It was a beautiful day and as we were sailing across the bay....I thought about how awesome it would be to just lay on the deck with my eyes closed and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine as the wind and the sails take me to far off lands.

Enjoy the cruise.......

Make it a beautiful day for yourself.......

Traverse City Here We Come

Everything is packed.....even a swimsuit! HAHA! I can't tell you the last time I had it on, but you never know. There is a pool at the hotel.....I don't think the lake will be even remotely close to being warm enough for me!

The snacks are all in the fridge waiting to be thrown in the cooler in the morning. The dogs got baths. The dog/house sitters are all set. The camera batteries are all charged up and ready to go. The alarm is set for 4:00 a.m........yes, 4:00 a.m......we want to get through Chicago before everyone else wants to get through Chicago and our reservations are made for a two hour cruise on the Manitou and our 3 hour kayak trip down the Crystal River! Vacation time is here and I am so excited.

The weather is suppose to be nasty tomorrow for the drive, but we really aren't in any hurry and hopefully it won't be crappy all day. The next three days look wonderful!

I told Irv I was leaving the computer home and get this........he said to bring it in case we want to look something up! So, the laptop will be coming with, but I don't anticipate being on it much.

Have a wonderful rest of the week and I will be back soon with pictures and stories to share.

It's Time!!

I'm making a list and checking it twice......gonna make sure I don't forget anything when we leave on our mini vacation to Traverse City on Wednesday. Irv is running some last minute errands, laundry is just about done, house/dog sitter is lined up and we are counting the hours.

I've been weather watching and right now it looks like a stormy day Wednesday for the drive up, but then a couple days of partial sun and cooler temps which is exactly how I like it.

Tomorrow I will call and make our kayaking reservations and also the ones for our ride on the tall ship. I think there will be enough nice weather for that....and probably the dunes and the scenic drive up the peninsula. I am so excited!

I haven't decided whether the laptop is joining us on our little trip. If you don't hear from me for a number of days.....you will know it decided to stay home!

Have a great rest of the day and I'll chat with you soon!

I Need A Vacation

Those of you that have been reading my blog for a while know that I LOVE planning our annual vacation. This year we are only going to take a few days because I want to save some of my vacation in case Tresa needs me after our little grandson arrives in the fall. Not only that...Uncle Sam didn't give us much of our money back this year, and that is what we use for our vacation.

Our vacation is usually a trip out to Colorado, so this year's planning was really different for me. I needed to find somewhere that wasn't too far away, yet offered plenty of things to do. I spent a lot of time online over the weekend and we have decided on Traverse City, Michigan. We've never been there. Traverse City is on Lake Michigan and water is a key element for our vacation if I can't have the mountains.

In Traverse City, we will be able to rent kayaks and paddle down the Crystal River for 2-3 hours. (Photo from crystalriveroutfitters.com)

We can hike around the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes. (Photo from nps.gov/slbe)

We can even take a 2 hour cruise on a tall ship. (Photo from tallshipsailing.com)

We hope to do all three of those things! I am pretty excited and I think we found the perfect place for a mini vacation. Are you going on vacation this year?