Watching for Waterspouts in Petoskey, Michigan

Bernie and Phil reporting from Petoskey, Michigan. Yes, still Petoskey. Luckily, if you're going to get "weathered in" somewhere, the Little Traverse Bay area is a nice place to do so.

We thought the weather was going to be improving -- allowing us a window to make some progress on getting back to Chicago but a couple of fronts are moving through and the forecast for today really did say "chance of waterspouts". Thus, we haven't yet had a chance to move out. (That's a bit of a mis-statement, as there were a few half-days that we could have moved but weren't really prepared to do so. Lesson Learned: Always be gassed up and ready to move in case an afternoon or early morning weather forecast changes to your favor.)

We have been taking the opportunity to enjoy the sunsets here. I think we've mentioned that they are incredible - this picture is Wednesday night's version.

We've also continued to enjoy the bike trails and parks in Petoskey. On Thursday (September 13), we took advantage of some incredibly warm and sunny land-based weather and biked over to Petoskey State Park. We hiked the "Old Baldy Trail". (Ever notice that almost every Michigan town that has a large dune nicknames it "Baldy".) The trail leads up a very long and somewhat steep flight of stairs to a ridge that we hiked along until we reached "Old Baldy". Phil thought the dune exhibited more male-pattern baldness than outright baldness.

Bernie got to go to the Petoskey Farmer's Market again. They still had peaches and some late season raspberries. She also picked up some tomatoes and some Apple Cider. She noticed that the butternut and acorn squashes were coming in but refused to believe that was any indication of autumn's pending arrival.




We've gotten to explore the town a little more than other towns we've visited. And it really just adds to the charm of the area. We had lunch at Jesperson's in Petoskey on Wednesday. Jesperson's has been a family-owned business since 1903! (We also biked over to Harbor Springs and had lunch at a family-owned diner there called Juilleret's. Juilleret's is over 112 years old but seems to be closing for good this year.) Bernie's new favorite coffee drink is called the Accidental Tourist, a coffee/peanut butter syrup/caramel/whip cream concoction that Roast and Toast created. Although it is a bike ride away (it's four miles from the marina), the Crooked Tree Breadworks has great selections of fresh bread (they have a great breakfast bread with dried fruit and nuts), scones and cookies. There are two good book stores in Petoskey: Horizon Books and McLean and Eakins. Most of the restaurants have live music most of the evenings. And we've already mentioned how great the marina staff is.

Tonight's Petoskey sky picture is a full rainbow.


Although we are more than a little eager to get moving toward Chicago, we are looking forward to coming back to Petoskey next year. (Phil's going to be checking out winter boat storage prices up here if the weather doesn't break pretty soon. Seriously. Well, sort of.)