Summer Fling Loop Adventure

07/12/2026

Lake Huron! The last bit of our trip has been a blast! Decent weather and lots of fun with friends! ❤️ We had several beautiful cruising days on Lake Huron. We went to Harbor Beach, about 2/3 up the Thumb, to an anchorage in the world's largest man made, fresh water Harbor. We dinghied around & spotted one of the five shipwrecks in the area!

The next morning we left for Caseville to see our friends Matt & Sharon Clor. They gave us a tour of town in their golf cart, beginning with their lovely summer home. We had dinner at a quirky and unique place called Beachy's, then ice cream at Shaker's.

It rained the next morning, but was calm, so we headed across Saginaw Bay to Au Gres, where we're docking Summer Fling until fall, when we'll put her in winter storage. It's bittersweet to be done with our 2nd Loop, but we do love being at Lake St Helen! I haven't added up the miles from the past 2 years, but I'm sure it's close to another 6,000...mostly good and always an adventure! 😎❤️🥂

07/08/2026

Detroit in the morning and Port Huron late afternoon, where we met our friends and lake neighbors, Randy and Bev Wolford Maiers. We've only passed through Port Huron by car on our way to Canada, so it was a treat to see this vibrant friendly city with friends to show us the sites!

Our friends treated us to dinner along the Black River, near where we had our slip, then gave us a tour along the St Clair River under the Blue Water Bridge, past the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse and through charming neighborhoods to Aldi (lol, we needed a few things!) and stopped for ice cream because. As usual, I was "in the momen" on land, so no pictures of our lovely evening.

The next morning, we fueled up, then cruised into Lake Huron! A much more comfortable cruise than Lake Erie, I might add.

*edit: the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse was built in 1829, not 1929. I can't seem to edit comments under the photos. 🙄

07/08/2026

Our departure Sunday was delayed due to a torrential downpour and rain forecasted to continue all morning...we had planned to leave at 8 a.m. and meet up with Looper friends Mike and Mary Wolf on Just Relax, who were leaving Maumee Bay State Park Sunday too. We both decided to wait out the rain and leave late morning.

We (Frank) decided to put our eisenglass enclosure back up so he could drive on the flybridge in the rain and that project delayed our departure a bit, but we also had to wait for 2 trains at the RR Bridge on the Maumee River, so another half hour delay. We were able to meet up with Mike and Mary north of Toledo, as we headed up the Detroit River to the Great Lakes Steel Boat Club (home for them!), where they put us at their fuel dock for the night. We got to chat as we ate dinner, but really need to spend more time with them!! Hopefully we can get together later this summer.

The entire trip across Lake Erie 2 weeks ago, we had west wind...now that we're at the west end of the Lake we had a north wind, so Erie ended our trip with another rolly ride! Frank drove from the flybridge, but I spent the last bit on Lake Erie in the cabin, doing my best not to get seasick. 🤢 I managed ok, and it was only a few hours. Needless to say, between the cloudy, rainy weather & not being able to stand up without holding on, I didn't take any pictures!

Once we got in the river it was calm as could be and the weather cleared. The sun actually came out! Nice ending to the day! Until more rain moved in just before dark!

07/05/2026

We celebrated our Anniversary on Summer Fling July 4th! Special thanks to Josie & Rob Stultz for bringing us down to Glass City Marina and treating us to a delicious lunch! Frank cooked a delicious dinner on the boat and we enjoyed fireworks displays all around us!

We reached out to Mike and Mary Wolf to coordinate Sunday departure, but Mother Nature rained on our parade...we're letting the storms get ahead of us before we leave Toledo and head north to the Detroit River this afternoon.

06/22/2026

06/22/2026

So glad to be home! We cruised into the Maumee River up to the Glass City Marina a little after noon on Fathers Day. After 4 rough and rolly days on Lake Erie (& 2 rolly nights!) wouldn't you know she flattened out like a Sunday pancake as we passed the Toledo Lighthouse coming in the channel! Eva & Cody met us at the marina & took us to Swanton after dinner at Tony Packos.

06/20/2026

We're in Lake Erie now & almost to Toledo! But here's some pics of our last Locks on the Erie Canal and our arrival in Buffalo!

06/15/2026

What fun the Erie Canal has been! Not as many Loopers, but almost every town has a wall to tie to and electricity available to plug in. Everyone is very friendly. Some towns have more restaurants and shops than others, but it's been very interesting an scenic!

06/13/2026

We arrived in Waterford NY at the entrance to the Erie Canal last Friday (June 5) & found out that evening that Lock 6 ( #5 of the "Flight of 5" locks you go through one after the other because they're so close together there's nowhere to stop in between) was down. We enjoyed visiting with the other boaters, did some provisioning & Frank changed engine oil in what turned out to be a 2 day delay. Saturday afternoon they updated us that Sunday afternoon would be the earliest they would open, then Sunday late afternoon they said it would be Monday morning. There was a bit of a backup on Monday, but we got underway and went to Amsterdam, then to Ilion, then Sylvan Beach, then Baldwinsville. Now we're in Fairport and over halfway across.

During our delay in Waterford, the Seneca Chief, a replica of an early canal boat was also docked at the wall & after talking to some of the volunteers traveling with the boat, we decided to go the entire length of the Canal to Buffalo (instead of our original plan to go north on the Oswego Canal and taking Lake Ontario to the Welland Canal into Lake Erie. The Welland is a large commercial lock system bypassing Niagra Falls. There are fees, you have to have a 3rd person on the boat for the day long trip (hire a stranger), plus you have to make a reservation ahead of time and they only take pleasure craft on certain days..
all reasons we changed our minds! So far we're really glad we did!

The western portion of the Erie Canal has quite a few low bridges, several of which have only 15' of clearance. That meant we had to remove the eisenglass (plastic and canvas enclosure on the flybridge) so we could put our top down to get under the low bridges. We removed the enclosure in Baldwinsville yesterday and put the Bimini top down today...we're now in Fairport and are looking forward to a few more days before we get to Buffalo!