Operation Adventure - Northern Lake Michigan Boating

Dinner on the deck at Wagners

Thursday, July 25th: We have been looking forward to "Operation Adventure" for quite a while now and the time has finally come to start our adventure! Our friends Dennis and Christa had an extra leg of towing added to the trip to bring their boat "Wet Ink" up from Lake Shelbyville, Illinois to the starting point of Portage, Indiana. They decided to come up the evening prior to leaving and stay in a nearby hotel. We used this as an opportunity to have a pre-trip planning dinner and catch up with friends Joe and Pat from "Better Yet"! 

2 Four Winns in a row

Part-way through the 6 hour tow

Friday, July 26: The next morning we towed Seapickle over to the hotel and departed Portage for our destination of Petoskey, Michigan some 320 miles away! The tow was one of the easiest we've ever had, and it was nice traveling with another couple and sharing the experience.

Storm Heading our Way - over the Petoskey Marina launch

The mad dash begins!

Wet Ink launching

Seapickle tucked into slip 19

Celebration drink - "We made it!"

Once we arrived in Petoskey, we noticed dark storm clouds were rolling in off the bay, the wind was picking up, and it was just starting to drizzle. We had to make a decision...put the canvas up and launch as quickly as possible, or try to wait the storm out. We decided to try to launch as quickly as possible and try to beat the storm.  Within minutes of reaching our assigned slips we realized it was the right choice!

Walking to dinner at Mitchell Street Pub, Petoskey

Mitchell Street Pub - Moose

After settling into vacation mode and enjoying the fact that we had FINALLY made it to Petoskey, we decided to have a late dinner at a nearby pub in Downtown Petoskey. Dana chose Mitchell Street Pub based on the fact that they covered 2 of her Friday night dinner requirements: fried fish and interesting beer. We loved the fried walleye, and salmon for Christa, along with some interesting local beers. Dana enjoyed the "Petoskey Horny Monk," a Belgian Dubbel by Petoskey Brewing.

After dinner, we were all stuffed and tired from a long day, so it was off to bed! We all had a great first day of vacation, and cannot wait for the rest of the trip!

Trip details:
Portage, IN to Petoskey, MI - 320 miles towing
Left Portage 8:10am CST, arrived Petoskey 3:30pm EST
3 fuel stops along the way (+ one bathroom stop)
 Weather: rainy, cloudy, strong west wind - which made the Petoskey Marina quite uncomfortable