Happy First Day of Spring!

These photos were taken last Friday at Boaters' Beach. It was a relatively warm almost 50 degrees, especially compared to today, the official first day of Spring! There was a dense fog over the lake, as you can see in the video below, but we still saw at least one fishing boat out. If you listen closely to the video, you can hear the sound of the waves breaking on shore... ahhhhh I missed that sound.

It'll probably still be another month at least until Seapickle II returns to the lake, but hopefully we'll have a few more hikes to Boater's Beach before then. And we'll remember next time not to take the "long route" which added about an extra hour to our hike!

View from the bottom of the sand dune, looking toward the lake

Dana and her favorite hiking stick of the day

Caught Ben looking wistfully at the frozen lake

Great News for Northwest Indiana Boaters!

copied from http://www.nwitimes.com

Army Corps commits $5.2M for Great Lakes repairs

Associated Press

NEW BUFFALO, Mich. (AP) — A top official of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says her agency will spend $5.2 million in Hurricane Sandy relief funds to repair 10 Great Lakes harbors, including three in Northwest Indiana.
U.S. Sen. Carl Levin says the assistant Army secretary for public works told him Wednesday that the money will cover work at Indiana's Burns Waterway, Burns Waterway Small Boat and Michigan City harbors.
Waukegan harbor in Illinois and six harbors in Michigan — New Buffalo, Holland, Muskegon, Saugatuck, South Haven and St. Joseph -- will also receive funds.
Levin says Jo-Ellen Darcy told him the work is part of $19 million in hurricane recovery funds being used for work on the Great Lakes.
Congress in January approved emergency Hurricane Sandy relief funds. Levin says the Great Lakes sustained millions in storm damage.

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/laporte/michigan-city/army-corps-commits-m-for-great-lakes-repairs/article_25e87e13-dd98-5e50-bc52-d1b209d33ede.html

This is great news for those of us (probably all of us) southern Lake Michigan boaters who have been worried about getting our boats to the lake this spring! Bring on boating season!