5/26/17 – 5/28/17: We motored down the 8 mile canal to Houghton / Hancock. We planned to stay here 2 nights, as we both really wanted a meal out, and also had a few chores and projects to do. The marina was on the other side of the lift bridge, and according to everything we had read, the bridge opened “on demand”. This turned out to be not the case.

We reached the bridge about 10:40AM and radioed to the bridge. The bridge operator acknowledged we were there, but informed us that it only opened at the top of each hour. No problem, we just floated in the canal for 20 minutes. This gave Kate’s daughter a chance to locate us on the live webcam, and record us going under! The bridge was also supposed to have a light that was red and would turn green when safe to proceed. It went up to 75 feet, stopped, and the light stayed red. We waited. Still red. Waited some more. Still red. Finally,after a couple minutes the operator radioed us that itwas safe to proceed. Apparently the light doesn’t turn green… Oh well, all those people waiting in their cars for us to go under probably didn’t mind too much.

We were greeted by two very attentive marina employees, who helped us get settled into our slip and let us know about the marina amenities and places to eat nearby. One even offered to go to the bank for us to get rolls of quarters for laundry. The first afternoon we spent doing laundry, catching up on our website postings, and a few phone calls. Most of the restaurants were across the bridge, on the Houghton side, but there was a restaurant inside the Ramada Inn about a block away. We decided to go there, and had a nice dinner (Lake Trout for Pat and Prime Rib Dip for Kate).

The upper peninsula of Michigan was founded upon mining, so there were a couple mines in the area that had tours, and also a mineral museum. It was a little too early in the season for other activities in the area, so our stay here was short, but much needed. We spent our second day working on a couple boat projects, fueling up, and pumping out the head. We enjoyed a nice dinner at a Mexican restaurant just up the hill from the marina. Weather permitting, we hope to head to Big Bay in the morning, then on to Marquette. We will update our next posting once we find another WiFi spot (much harder to find than we thought).

Pics of Houghton / Hancock