Saturday, July 4

#1 Getting ready to go under this double culvert bridge on the canoe trip
#2 The Landings Restaurant with the ferry in the background.
#3 Jerry as pilot of the canoe
#4 Happy 4th! Fireworks at Boyne City, MI


HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!! This was a pretty unique holiday for us this year!!

We still seem to have trouble getting up early in the a.m. Malia called us at 7:30 our time from Wisconsin and actually woke us up…the nights are so cool, we are sleeping under down comforters and both of us are sleeping soundly. We had some fruit salad and toast, then wenst a booked a canoe trip down the Jordan River for 3 p.m. and is supposed to be a 3 hr. float. After that we went driving in the area and wound up at a ferry that crosses about 1200 ft. of water to the town of Ironton. In talking with some of the local folks, one guy had recommended The Landing restaurant which is right at the ferry launch site so we went in there and had Bloody Mary’s, burgers and fries while sitting out on their deck watching all the boats coming and going. This was also a place you could pull your boat up to and get off for eats and drinks. It kind of reminded me of The Dock, but much nicer. Great burgers, but FANTASTIC location. After lunch drove back here to get ready for the float trip….

We followed the canoe tow vehicle to the take out point where we left the truck and then hopped on their small bus and continued upriver to the put in point. It was an absolutely beautiful float….the first part was rather fast current and a bit twisty with a fair amount of trees in the river which required a bit of maneuvering. The wild flowers were beautiful and the river was pretty busy, but by having a late float time we avoided most of the crowds. It was great to be on the water and the bugs were not bad either - which I guess is kind of rare. There is so much water and there are so many lakes around here, that they do have bug problems. It has generally been pretty windy all the time we have been here, so that helps tremendously.

After we got back from the float, we had a dinner of our smoked fish and smoked fish sausage again - it was delicious…I also cooked some of the fresh asparagus I got the other day…it was REALLY fresh!! The flavor was really mild and they were really tender and good.

Since it was the 4th, I wanted to see some fireworks…last year I was in MS and Jerry in MO over the 4th and I decided not to take the pontoon boat to go see the fireworks b/c of wind I think, so I wanted to see some fireworks this year. Only problem is….sunset here is about 9:30 and full dark is after 10:00 p.m. We drove to a neighboring town (Boyne City) where they had fireworks out on the water by the marina. It was a beautiful setting complete with a great sunset and wonderful fireworks. Driving back to East Jordan (about 15 miles) as we entered the city limits, Jerry did not see the speed limit sign and caught a blue light special for doing 44 in a 30. However, the policeman was really nice and b/c we were from out of town, let us off with a warning. We got back to RV about 11:15 or so and were more than ready for bed.