Wednesday, August 25, 2010

August 25, 2010. Rest day at Beaver Island, MI.

Knowing this was a rest day, we would not really have had to get up early, but Liza had an appointment to skype her parents at 7 AM. Bill's watch alarm went off at 7 and there was no sleeping after that... we walked to breakfast, but there was a power outage, so we were unable to have the hot breakfast we had planned and instead had cinnamon rolls and coffee.


We returned to the boat and Liza and Toby did some cleanup and I started reading a new book.... Erika took some photos of me up in the V-berth and Liza working on her macrame bracelets. After a while all the young folk went for a walk to feed ducks and go to the toy museum and
Bill and I walked around town.The photo below is the old jail, which was actually used in the early 1900s until the building around it burned down. We had a light lunch and ice cream and then walked over to the lighthouse at the other end of town.
There was a plaque at the lighthouse honoring all the Beaver Island residents who lost their lives in the lake--and they are many. The saddest part was the multiple family members lost on the same day, whether in the 1800s or modern times. We had already read a marker dedicated to 3 brothers lost on the lake in 1982, and their 4th brother killed in a small plane crash in the 90s. It reminds me of the stories of the families who made their living fishing in the Atlantic Ocean. I never thought of it happening in Michigan.
Bill and I read historical markers all around town. I did not know there was a large Mormon presence here, a breakoff from back in the Brigham Young days. Erika and I found this interesting having just read a book (19th Wife)
that includes the history of the Mormons in this country including stories of Brigham Young!

We all met up back on the boat in the afternoon, and then Erika and Liza did some sketching until it was time to go to dinner. Now we are going to settle down for the night. We leave here tomorrow to sail back to Cahrlevoix, and will head home from there.
Erika fixed the settings on this blog so now comments can be left anonymously. But you have to click on the "anonymous" button twice--once upon starting the comment and again at the bottom of the window.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Just checking I can get through. You all look great. The idea that Mormon's traveled so far north is amazing. df