Sister Bay,WI

31 August – 1 September 2014

We got a very early start and headed out of Escanaba marina. I headed the boat down towards Washington Island, Susan had heard there was good trolling for Salmon in the area.

We did two 30 minute passes in two different locations and not a nibble. So we headed the rest of the way to Sister Bay and got docked after a 5.5 hour ride (we don’t go very far at 3 knots while we are trolling. I then spent an hour hosing off the boat to rid us of spider nests (well past webs here) and all of the bugs they had collected.

We were moored in the section of the marina for larger boats. Tucked into the corner was the Lady KK flying a platinum looper flag (showing that they had been around the loop more than once). I spent some time talking to the Captain, he explained they had not completed the loop yet, but it was taking them so long that the flag had faded from blue to platinum. They started in 2012 and expect to complete it in 2015.

Sister Bay is a cute little town, heavy on the tourists. Susan found a brew pub that had a pretty extensive menu of beers and wines and lighter fare. As we arrived the skys opened up, not to rain but a bright blue sky day!!! We spent the rest of the afternoon there, relaxing and enjoying our first afternoon out in many days. Welcome to Wisconsin!

On the way back we checked out Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant. It’s famous for good food and their grass roof that has goats on it. You can check them out with Goat Cam. We decided we would come back for breakfast.

Because it had rained on Saturday, the fireworks were postponed until Sunday night. So we pulled our chairs up onto the dock. First we got a great sun set and then when it got dark watched a great fireworks show! For once, being a day late paid off.

In the night the rain came to help wash the bugs away. Monday we awoke to fog. I had wanted to head down 8 miles to Fish Creek, it may be on hold.

We walked the four blocks to Al Johnson’s and had a great breakfast of Swedish pancakes and Swedish meatballs. After breakfast the fog was thick as ever. But about 11AM the fog was gone, it had been blown off by the ever increasing winds. Wave estimates in the Bay were 2-4 feet and even just going out 90 minutes I was having visions of the Manistique crossing. So I decided that we would stay and headed down for a nap.

Turned out to be a good move, since the moment I hit the berth, it started to rain again.

The rest of the day was spent napping and reading books for both of us. (Belle opted for an extra nap instead of reading her book) It was a nice day, except for the 25 mile winds moving the boat around.

For dinner we headed back to Al’s. I brought First Mate Pig to see if we could get a Pig to Goat shot, sadly the goats were inside their pens because of the rain. I’ll try Tuesday before we leave. Dinner was OK and we waked farther through town. Most shops were closed because of the Labor Day Holiday.

On Tuesday we are off to Fish Creek for the day and hopefully we will be able to see and eat a Fish Boil!