Lake Erie Homecoming

***   South Detroit to Detroit via Lake Erie   ***

We left South Detroit – (can’t you just hear Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing – “Just a small town boy, born and raised in South Detroit”) and cruised the Detroit River, traveling with a generous current. We made great time and entered Lake Erie, our third Great Lake, headed for South Bass Island, better known as Put-In-Bay, Ohio and our 17^th state on the loop. We cruised the glass like Detroit River and back into Canadian waters over half of our voyage letting Perry’s Monument lead us across the Lake to the Bay.

Lake Erie Voyage – circles around our home towns

Lake Erie is the fourth-largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and also has the shortest average water residence time. At its deepest point, Lake Erie is 210 feet deep, making it the only Great Lake whose deepest point is above sea level.

Situated on the International Boundary between Canada and the United States, Lake Erie’s northern shore is the Canadian province of Ontario, specifically the Ontario Peninsula, with the U.S. states of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York on its western, southern, and eastern shores.

Size, Depth, Volume, Flow of Great Lakes

Lake Erie’s primary inlet is the Detroit River (thus the strong current helping us along). The main natural outflow from the lake is via the Niagara River, which provides hydroelectric power to Canada and the U.S. as it spins huge turbines near Niagara Falls.

This lake and cruise would provide more walks down memory lane. We were both born and raised in Ohio, David in Elyria, just west of Cleveland and 10 miles south of Lake Erie. Tasha in Findlay and 45 miles from Lake Erie. Tasha’s Dad, Kurt lived on Catawba Island (near Cedar Point/Put-In-Bay) her entire adult life until just before his death 8 years ago. Our first port, Put-In-Bay, was always a favorite stop when we were with Kurt. Not having the benefit of Kurt’s yacht club memberships, we docked at Miller Marina a few blocks from the activity. A quiet, well protected dock was perfect for this somewhat exposed island. We arrived post Labor Day and this traditionally hoppin’ party island was very calm, not something we’re used to here.

Miller Marina – Put-In-Bay

Our planned one night stay quickly turned to two as we engrossed ourselves in the island riding our bikes and covering the island thoroughly racking up 30+ miles, exploring places off off the beaten path. We enjoyed visiting a few of our favorite places, the boardwalk for lobster bisque (the bowl has gotten smaller and the price tag larger), the Round House for some afternoon entertainment, and a ice cold beer Frosty’s. We tried a couple of new places including Goat Soup & Whiskey and The Keys.

Put-In-Bay

We learned from friends of friends that the old ship house (Benson Ford House) sitting atop the cliffs of Put-In-Bay overlooking Lake Erie was now featured as a bottle for Vodka, Ship House Vodka, and sold on the island. We went in search of it, winding in and out of the alley’s in back of the bars before stumbling upon it. We now wished we would have come home with several bottles, what a great memory.

The Ship House from the Lake and Ship House Vodka

While reminiscing of days of old, we included a toast to Kurt. Kurt fueled our desire for boating adventures and was our biggest cheerleader with our dreams of doing the loop.

We used our captains Senior Lifetime National Park Pass to visit Perry’s Monument. Purchased for $10 at the onset of our trip, it has come in handy for free admittance to multiple national parks along on the loop.

Perry’s Monument / Memorial

Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial was established to honor those who fought in the Battle of Lake Erie, during the War of 1812, and a symbol of peace to celebrate the long-lasting peace among Great Britain, Canada and the United States. The Memorial, a Doric column, rising 352 feet over Lake Erie is situated 5 miles from the longest undefended border. We take the ride to the top almost every time we visit the island as the view is incredible.

Making more memories at Put-In-Bay

Leaving Put-In-Bay behind we headed to Vermilion, Ohio, 31 miles southeast, passing the old Lonz Winery on Middle Bass Island. We were there in 2000, when a balcony at the winery collapsed, killing one, injuring many. It never reopened and now is merely a façade used for photos.

Lonz Winery on Middle Bass Island and other South Bass Island memories

Vermilion is a quaint little lake town, and we would be docking along the Vermilion River downtown. Again, weather was looming. We never realized how much weather would control our movements on this trip. Weather is an on-going concern and something we take seriously. We’re in new waters each time we leave the dock and many of the waters are much bigger water than our home waters of the Ohio River. Cruising and docking in unfamiliar surroundings every day is hard enough, but if the weather is sketchy, it adds a whole new level of stress and concern.

Vermilion, Ohio

The Great Lakes had an alert for high winds and unpleasant seas and we wanted to be “stuck” somewhere with access to town and things to do. As we monitored the weather, it was much worse than initially suspected, and we would be “stuck” five days.

Vermilion would provide a secure spot and a great home base to explore some old stomping grounds, David’s hometown Elyria, Catawba Island, Sandusky, as well as meet up with Tasha’s cousin Deb, who lives in Cleveland. We saw Deb last fall in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, as she traveled south to meet up with us at our cousin’s Michael and Zane’s house. Vermilion is also where Dave had his first taste of boating along with his dad, on their Lyman. The marina they were docked at in the early 60’s, still stands.

We secured a rental car and spent three days visiting our old haunts and Deb. That still gave us plenty of time to peruse the three block area of Vermilion with cute shops and some great restaurants and watering holes.

Deb had a few things planned for us as we visited her Cleveland neighborhood. But first, a walk through her house and down memory lane included some items from Tasha’s mom and grandmother. A favorite treasure was a picture of the wrecker for Wentz Brothers. Tasha’s grandfather and Deb’s father were two of the brothers in Wentz Brothers, a Chevy-Cadillac dealership taken over from their father, Pop Wentz who established it in 1915. Deb has a few cool things from the Ohio dealership, Tasha remembers a bit (the display case with candy bars is clear), though she was young when her grandfather passed away.

Wentz Brothers – Tasha’s grand dad, 2nd from right top, far right bottom

We headed to the Crawford Auto Aviation Museum for the Corvair Exhibit. Along with a number of Corvair’s, we found all kinds of cool cars, an inside merry go round, and the Big Boy. David especially enjoyed the exhibit.

Cleveland with cousin Deb

We also were not too far from the Christmas Story House, so a quick trip to see the iconic residence was in order. This movie has been a staple in our house each Christmas most likely since the 1983 release date. It’s not Christmas without watching it numerous times or saying out loud “you’ll shoot your eye out, kid”. I’m not sure we’d drive from Indiana just to see this (although some visitors were from much further), but it sure was a nice addition to our day while in the neighborhood. We then found a seat in Deb’s neighborhood bar, and the Browns season opener on all the screens. Lunch and Sunday football – what’s not to love? Unfortunately, the Browns lost to the Cowboys, who gets beat by the Cowboys? Another throwback to both of our youth with the Browns a Sunday staple.

Vermilion, OH

The weather front blew in and was stronger than initially expected. Rain, storms and strong winds had Lake Erie sporting 5 – 7 foot seas. We were happy to be hunkered down on the river and a with a car to increase our range. It was a few days where Lake Erie looked like the ocean.

When the seas settled, we left the protected Vermilion River and turned west. We had thought about cruising further east towards Lorain, but we lost of couple of days with weather and were able to visit Elyria, Cleveland, and Avon Lake by car, so instead we headed west to the Sandusky Yacht Club.

Leaving the Vermilion River

A beautiful day on the water for this 20 mile cruise around the peninsula Cedar Point is situated upon. This time of year, Cedar Point is only open weekends, so we didn’t get to watch the amazing coasters and hear the screams as we cruised by. We had planned for a couple of days of the yacht club life, but as normal on this trip, plans changed. We have found troubles securing transportation to return home once we put the boat up for the winter. We spent one night and came up with a plan, securing another rental car and making the five hour drive home to spend one night before we turned around and returned with the rental car and our truck. However, we need the truck north of Detroit in Algonac, so we made the 6.5 hour drive in both vehicles where we dropped off our truck and then drove another 3.5 hours to Sandusky and the boat with the rental car. Whew – a fast, long trip. One that didn’t come without tribulations.

The first mate was met with blue lights on her tail upon entering her birth state. She was following Captain Dave at a decent pace in the passing lane, saw the highway patrol at one of the first median cross overs after entering Ohio. Trying to be law abiding, Tasha slowed and pulled behind a truck and followed for a fair piece, as Dave kept moving. Tasha saw the patrolman drive out onto the interstate and warned Dave he was on the move. Much to Tasha’s surprise, the patrolman raced up behind and sat on her rear in the passing lane for what seemed forever. Tasha knew she was in trouble as soon as he put his hat on. He then hit the blue lights and pulled behind. He was very inquisitive as to the itinerary of the New York plated car. After a host of questions, confirmation of the rental car, and a bit of sweet talking, Tasha was given a warning for following too close to a vehicle. Welcome to Ohio! Thankful it was just a warning.

Welcome to Ohio, Tasha reviewing her warning notice

Algonac Michigan may be a great place to put your boat up for the winter but there are very few transportation options in the area . It was easiest logistically and financially making the run home to secure wheels; it was just a tiresome plan. Now, to work on our plan for our return next spring!

Sandusky Yacht Club

Upon returning to the Sandusky Yacht Club, we enjoyed an evening at the bar for dinner. We were disappointed we couldn’t enjoy it more because of out trip home as it is a well appointed yacht club, with beautiful grounds and amenities as well as a great clubhouse located in downtown Sandusky. We also needed a plan for the next day. Decision time was looming, weather was still not cooperating. Do we make the short run to Cedar Point for a weekend visit or do we take the weather window to cross Lake Erie and head back up the Detroit River making our way to Now or Nevers winter home. Our quick trip home had us wanting a down day and waiting for a better crossing window of Lake Erie, so we headed to Cedar Point, 2 miles from the Sandusky Yacht Club.

Cedar Point brought back so many memories. We both had our fair share of visits back in the day and had visited once together aboard Kurt’s boat, Total Kahos, however, that was more than twenty years ago. Where does the time go?

Cedar Point Marina and Amusement Park

We docked at the park marina and talked to some local park enthusiasts. Their suggestion was to beat the large crowds for this Halloweekend opening and to head into the park immediately. Like tie the boat up and go. No down day, no leisure today. We heeded their advice and were on the move to our first coaster before 11 on this Friday morning (we wish we hadn’t dawdled so much at the yacht club this morning). The park entrance was a mere 100 yards away from the boat. Best parking ever. We went straight to riding everything we wanted to ride before the park filled up. Lady Luck was favoring us and we had very little wait time and walked right on to most of the attractions, with only a slight delay for a few. The exhilaration, momentary fear, breath being taken away, and an oh shit moment or two were just of few of our feelings. These are not the roller coasters of our youth. Faster, taller, more breathtaking, and we’re just not as resilient. By late afternoon we had enough, and the park was starting to fill up.

We headed back to the boat (loving these flexible passes and time to recuperate), relaxed, ate dinner, and then headed back in at dusk for the spooktacular Halloweekend celebration. Fog machines, dimly lit paths, creatures on the prowl, and escalated screams from the coasters in the dark made it quite the fright night. The lines were LONG. The park busy. We found one coaster that was tucked away a bit and we were able to get on quickly, it is definitely a different ride in the dark. Thankful we did everything we wanted earlier, that was it for our night riding. We just enjoyed taking in the haunts of the season.

Cedar Point’s Halloweekend

The following day, we used as our down day. Still at the park marina, we could take in all the sounds and views, but we had our share of the park and enjoyed it from a distance. Sunday would be a short weather window to get across Lake Erie, and if we didn’t take it, we would most likely be at a closed Cedar Point for the week.

Leaving Cedar Point and cruising by Marblehead Lighthouse

We crept out of the quiet theme park basin early to get a jump on our 50 mile cruise across Lake Erie. Winds from the south and then east were kicking up and would get rougher than the first mate likes by mid-morning. We would be close to the mouth of the Detroit River before it got a little rougher than Tasha likes. It was a decent trip across though we saw very few other boats. A few fishermen but that was all. We arrived at the mouth of the Detroit River and docked at the Gross Ile Yacht Club. Unfortunately, the inside basin was full, and we were on the outside dock along the river. The wind, waves, and weekend traffic made it a rolly afternoon. Things calmed by dusk for a restful night.

We enjoy yacht clubs and found we had this one to ourselves. The bar / restaurant was open though we found ourselves alone, watching more football, with the bartender. Seems they had a big event the day prior, making this day a bit lack luster. Good service and meal someone else cooked – perfect!

Our view from the Gross Ile Yacht Club bar

We left the following morning under wonderful conditions on the river. Calm water, sunshine, and 75 degrees for our short cruise of 20 miles north that had us in the motor city for lunch. A state park to boot. Milliken State Park is Michigan’s first urban state park. This green oasis in the heart of the city along the river provides areas for picnics, fishing, trails, and a riverwalk. It also touts the small marina where we stayed and is fenced and gated from the city – a 12 foot high fence.

Tasha thought we should walk downtown for lunch – “we’re visiting Detroit!”. You would have thought we were off the beaten path as we made the mile and a half walk to the bar (actually a dive bar upon seeing it) she had picked out close to the GM building. Empty streets, empty buildings, empty parking lots and garages – eerily empty for over a mile. This was mid-day on a weekday. We saw one police officer sitting in his car, keeping a watchful eye on us, and one rent-a-security car with person sitting in the car on the street. The police officer in our crew knew this was not a good sign.

Detroit

We found the dive bar on the corner, full of people. This was the only place we saw people. Lunch was decent, salads for both of us. This wasn’t a salad place, but our captain had just declared that morning that we were going to start eating better. We have both put on a few too many l-b’s and eaten too much crap since leaving Melbourne. It was time to get back to better food choices. We even had leftovers to bring back to the boat and eat for dinner that night. Yippee.

We took the main throughfare back to the boat. It took us by more of the same, empty everything, even the GM Center was dead. We were a bit surprised that out front of the GM center were three cars on electric charging stations, two of which were KIA’s. That was a bit odd, but the whole trek was odd. We tried to get to the river walk to follow back to the boat harbor, but most of it was blocked off by a mile of empty parking lots with chain link fences surrounding them, keeping us from the riverfront. Looked to be a nice part of the park, you just couldn’t get to it.

Sadly, where we were Detroit is a ghost town. So very sad for our American cities that are struggling, just nothing happening downtown. Just this morning while docked south of the city a fellow boater at the Gross Ile Club told Dave we should visit the Eastern Market about a mile from the harbor. When David told Tasha that was suggested, she indicated she had just read that there were two shot (one dead) the previous night there in gang violence during the Lions game. We did not venture that way. We stayed on the dock for the night and were entertained by Art, the self-proclaimed ambassador of the dock, who offers tequila shots to visitors and who stayed up late with his posse playing dominos and listening to Mo-towns finest. Our captain hung out awhile with Art and friends, but it was just a little late for the first mate.

Milliken State Park Lighthouse and Canada across the river

We rose early to haze and a beautiful sunrise on the Detroit River looking at Canada. This would be our last cruise of the season. Of the year. There is a part of us doesn’t want it to end, and a part of us that is spent, tired, and ready to go home. With shorter days, cooler nights, we know fall and the cold air are just around the corner and boating just isn’t any fun in the cold. A little sad, but very much ready to call it a season. We have been on board Now or Never 18 months since we left Melbourne, without our Remy, and while we enjoy every day on the water, we’re ready to be home and try out our recliners.

Calm seas

It was a magnificent day on the water, one of those like magic.

Cheers!  David, Tasha, 

Remy channeling Tasha’s run in with the law            

& Remy forever in our hearts!   –   Loop Dog for 1 year and 3357 miles

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