Revisiting Ludington, Michigan

We're trying to do a more relaxed cruise this year, with shorter trips that slowly move us farther north. Our next stop after Pentwater was Ludington, Michigan. We had visited Ludington last year and really liked the Ludington Municipal Marina and wanted to stop there again. It is a good value for the location, amenities, and daily USS Badger photo opportunities.

Over the winter, someone had found our blog entry on Ludington via a Google search and commented that there was a revitalization effort for the downtown area being undertaken. (We had mentioned in our blog that the downtown area was losing stores.) After this year's visit, we would agree that there has been some positive changes downtown. More of the storefronts are occupied again. We only noticed one empty shop: the former chocolate shop is still vacant. Luckily for us, House of Flavors is still there, though, and seemingly going strong.

We are happy to report that Ludington has dried out after its recent (June 13) torrential rain fall. It had received 12 inches of rain in two hours! It got some additional rain the following weekend and the flooding was so bad that the Ludington State Park and the main highway were closed. Some beaches and boat ramps were also closed due to a sewer spillage into the Pere Marquette River. There were a lot of flooded basements, too. By the time we got there (June 19), the roads and state park had re-opened, businesses and the marina were up and running (they had never closed) and most of the clean-up had taken place.

Since we got into the marina early, we took a bicycle ride over to the Ludington State Park. We've mentioned this before, but it is worth mentioning again that the Ludington State Park is one of our favorites. The road that leads to the entrance is a long stretch that winds through large dunes on both sides of the road. The park itself is beautiful and has a history trail that provides information about the area's lumber history.

The recent rainfall had created a number of small "Lake Ludingtons" between the dunes.


Hamlin Dam is in the park and, on our last visit, was ringed with salmon fisherman. On this visit, though, there were no fishermen because the side walkways were closed. All the rain had caused Hamlin Lake to rise by over two feet and the dam was in full pumping mode to lower the level. One of the DNR guys mentioned that he had seen the lake level reach 9.4 feet. As you can see from the picture, it was down to under 8, but its normal level looks to be about 7.4 feet. And it was still pushing a lot of water through. Wow!

September, 2007

June, 2008

We left Ludington on June 20, heading for Frankfort (a longer trip), but thinking about stopovers in Manistee or Portage Lake if the waves and wind were not cooperative.



Last Year's Ludington Posts: Ludington, Michigan

Ludington to White Lake to Saugatuck, Michigan

Taking advantage of weather windows when we get them has moved us all the way down to Saugatuck, Michigan. (The weather has been wonderful lately - the best traveling days we've had since August.) We left Ludington on Saturday, September 22 and headed to White Lake (White Hall, Michigan). The lake wasn't as calm as we had expected it to be -- deepening Phil's skepticism of any forecasts we get on line anymore. However, it was not like "The Frankfort Trip".

We arrived in White Lake late on Saturday and just stayed the night. So there is not much to report other than there is a lot of activity on White Lake itself during the late afternoon (sailboats and pontoon boats); the White Lake area is having some water level and algae issues, and Sunday morning is apparently a good time to fish given the number of boats out as we were leaving on a foggy morning. Phil likes this picture of the fog rolling in over White Lake.


We left early Sunday morning heading for Grand Haven or Muskegon or Saugatuck. On the way down, we had our closest encounter with a freighter. The Wolverine left Muskegon after we passed that port but it quickly caught up with us (despite Captain Phil's efforts to out-run it) as it headed for Holland.

Grand Haven got ruled out as all the slips were taken up with a boat show (on the way up, Saugatuck's Singapore Yacht Club was having a "boat-in" and took up the Grand Haven slips) -- we'll have to do Grand Haven next year! As we'd stopped in Muskegon on the way up, we aimed for Saugatuck. We had a sentimental reason for stopping in Saugatuck, too. That was really the first place that we started walking around marinas saying - Let's get a boat so we can read and relax on the aft deck with a vase of flowers on a table.

We haven't been to Saugatuck in a few years. While many things are the same, there are a few differences that we noticed. First, there are more wine shops than previously. Bernie only recalled a Tabor Hill tasting room previously. Now there is the Tabor Hill Tasting Room, a Fenn Valley Tasting Room, and a general Wine Merchants. Second, there are more "foodie" shops than previously. In addition to Butler Pantry, there is now an olive oil tasting shop (similar to Old Town Oils on Wells Street in Chicago) and a spice merchant shop (similar to The Spice House on Wells Street in Chicago). Third, there are more upscale clothing stores than previously -- including Versace. Lastly, it is much more hustle-bustle than we remember it and definitely more so than any port we've been in since ... can't remember. But the favorites are still there: The Butler Restaurant for dinner, Charlie's Round the Corner (for ice cream), and Pumpernickels for baked goods, Uncharted Courses for nautical knick-knacks, Tuck's for Christmas items. We actually got very lucky with our slip. Most Saugatuck slips are $2/foot (!!!) and most of the marinas were booked up even this late in the season. We were lucky to get a slip at Coral Gables for $45. We were just down the dock from a 60+ foot Chris Craft called Good Grief that we'd seen in Leland and Traverse City.

Saugatuck is a very artsy community with many galleries and established artists living in the region. This summer they had an "Art 'round the Town" event that featured art sculpture displays sponsored by different businesses and individuals. It was not without controversy. And we love a good local controversy. Apparently, there was some vote and the favorite sculpture was to be placed by the City Hall.

This was the favorite sculpture (Click it to see the detail of what the child is writing). The Saugatuck City Council was not amused. They refused to allow this sculpture to be placed beside City Hall (I guess they didn't appreciate the humor). While they could censor the placement of the sculpture, they couldn't censor the sculpture tour brochure which labeled this sculpture CENSORED and asterisked the reason on the brochure.


Our trip down the Kalamazoo River back to Lake Michigan on Monday afternoon was much different than our trip up on Sunday afternoon. Where did all the other boats go??

We're off to South Haven, now. But we did enjoy our mini-visit in Saugatuck. Bernie will probably try to talk Phil into coming back for the 2007 Goose Fest. That's if she hasn't talked him into going back to try to visit Grand Haven on this trip -- hey the weather really doesn't get bad until November. ;)

Ludington, Michigan

What Ludington lacks in a downtown area, it makes up for tenfold with its municipal marina and its state park. Sadly, Ludington's downtown area has a lot of empty storefronts (and with two more stores having "going out of business" events, there seem to be more in the near future). We suspect a superstore on the fringe of town may be to blame but we didn't venture out that far to see.

At $41/night for our boat, Ludington Municipal is a huge bargain. It is a very well protected marina. The main boaters' building has a cozy reading room, a great deck that overlooks the marina, probably the nicest showers (overhead shower heads), irons, big washers and dryers (30 minute cycles for $1/load), beautiful grounds and two opportunities a day to see the Badger. (We didn't know they shipped semis over! You can see into the Badger's cargo area as it turns around before docking.) We can't say enough nice things about the marina.

It does seem like Ludington is going through a transition. As mentioned, the downtown is losing businesses. However, they are constructing some nice condo buildings by the waterfront. They are highlighting their waterfront area with an art walk and have quite a number of historical murals on buildings scattered throughout the town (Ludington is apparently known as the "town of murals"). There is a good grocery store - Best Choice Market - that is "walking distance" from the marina. We had a nice dinner at PM Steamers, named for the Pere Marquette River and the steamers that used to travel it, right across the street from the marina. Ludington also has its own microbrewery - Jamesport Brewing Company - which lets you order a flight of beers to do a tasting (5 5ounce portions for $6) - kinda neat! (We recommend the Nitro Stout - which is as smooth as cream - and the Hefeweizen - a great summer beer.) Chef John's Bakery has great cookies, cinnamon rolls, and cherry struedels. We also were lucky enough to be able to visit the original House of Flavors Ice Cream Shop -- right by its production facility.


We also took a historic house walk and found this prime architectural example of the McCaulian era in Ludington.



The Ludington State Park is about 6 miles from the marina along M-116. It is a very easy bike ride and the shoulder of M-116 is very wide (it's almost like a designated bike lane). On Friday, September 21, we biked over and visited Big Sable Point Lighthouse, (we'd passed it the day before on Meridian). The cool thing about the park is that its trails and roads run between some huge sand dunes. We've never had the opportunity to bike between open dunes before. And these are some pretty large, old, and fairly stabilized dunes. They also have an under-sand shipwreck. In 2004, the changing water level of Lake Michigan enabled some researchers to identify the dimensions of a 93 foot possible schooner wreck. It's under sand now but some of the wood is exposed.


The sand is an interesting consistency and, when washed by waves, forms shelves almost like wafer cookies. The park also includes Hamlin Lake. The Hamlin Lake area is an old lumber town area with an interesting history including dam breaks and moving (straightening) the river. The bike path around Hamlin Lake is a combination bike path and historical walk with signs that give the history of the region. An interesting piece of information that we got from the harbor master was that each year they release about 200,000 baby salmon by the present Hamlin Dam. Guess that explains why the dam is a popular fishing spot. But, its probably a little disappointing for the salmon -- they'll never get up that dam!

During our ride we came across this old guy. Guess he's tired of having to share the lake with all those salmon. They get all the attention.

We've taken advantage of a weather window (although the lake wasn't as calm as we expected). We're currently in Whitehall (on White Lake) and planning to move to Grand Haven or Holland or Saugatuck tomorrow -- depending on the weather of course.

Frankfort to Ludington, Michigan

Just a quick update on our location. We are currently in Ludington, Michigan.

We left Frankfort early on Thursday, September 20. Generally Lake Michigan was cooperative. We had some fairly high wave action around Big Sable Point but by the time we got to Ludington, the lake was almost glassy.


Here are three versions of the lake during our trip. The first picture is as we left Frankfort. Certainly wavy but not bad. The second is further south where the waves were picking up. The last is as we entered Ludington.









We'll write more about our "weathered in" spell in Ludington soon. It's an interesting "town in transition", we think. Meridian met a new friend.