Day 261-262 in Alpena, MI

     Wow, two full days of fun and...work (on Lucky Us) in Alpena, Michigan. The picture at right shows a sunrise over Lucky Us at the marina. It goes without saying that I did not take this particular sunrise picture since we were at the dock (and I was still asleep).
      The downtown area continued to work well for us. We went to see another movie at Noon. "The Purge: Anarchy" was interesting enough. However, it was also like watching the news in any major city in the US. Lots of murder and mayhem, but everyone got a pass on the deaths during the 12 hours period. Well, the popcorn was excellent once again. We also went into a couple of stores, including a huge antique store. It is interesting to see how these stores change regionally. For example, lots of duck decoys and fishing lures along with the usual stuff.

     We picked up a rental car at 5:00 pm, which actually turned out to be more like 7:00 pm. The car greatly expanded our horizons so that we saw more of the town, including some beautiful homes. I liked this Victorian mansion was made out of local stone, which in this case was probably cobbles and small boulders brought in and deposited by the glaciers. The Admiral was really amazed that I would bother to make a U-turn and go back for a picture. Yup, I did like this one.



     While we were out we found a nice local restaurant where (drum roll please) the Admiral ordered a perch dinner for her very first time. She has tasted mine before, but this pan seared perch might just have "hooked" her too. We also stopped at Home Depot for non-contact electrical clamp meter and electrical plugs to make our own 30 amp to 20 power cord adapter. Showing her mastery of things electrical, the Admiral stripped wires, etc. and assembled the adapter in a matter of minutes.

     On the second day we drove inland about 70 miles to pick up our friend Ann M. who had arrived there from Lorain, Ohio.  It was a quick trip, but we did get to see some of "inland" Michigan, including this wonderful barn with a Happy Face painted on one end.









     After dinner on the boat, we walked about 5 blocks to the Thunder Bay Theater, which houses the local theater company. We saw a performance of "Disney's High School Musical". We had a fun time, although it was pretty chilly during the walk back to Lucky Us.
    Tomorrow the weather forecast is very favorable so we will continue our journey northward along the Michigan coast of Lake Huron.