Whitefish Point (Day 8)

We’re going to stay in this remote place a 2nd night, to allow the racing yachts to vacate the next marina on our itinerary, so it’s a relaxing day. Yay. Eric and Gary come over for a blueberry pancake breakfast. Then, a long beach walk, picking rocks and watching the oar boats pass by. A quick swim — in my clothes, because I forgot to wear a swimsuit, but they are quick-dry clothes so what the heck. The water is deliciously warm for Lake Superior! Then a long afternoon nap, because it’s cloudy and a bit drizzly and the boat bounced around in a stubborn south wind all night long … and well, why not?

I refocus on some daily habits I want to keep while under way: exercise, journaling (does this count? ;), contemplative time. There is no Wi-Fi here and even the phone signal is weak, so I can’t blog or read Facebook much. Just as well! I take my beach blanket and chair to the beach for a solitary hour or so. Ahhh. Forced disconnection can be good.

In the evening, we take out the games — chess, checkers and dominoes — and try to remember or learn the basics. I hope to learn chess on this trip. Yep, “The Queen’s Gambit” got me interested. (Like a lot of people, I hear.) It’s going to take awhile to learn to play it well, or even decently. Tonight, we learn the board set-up and basic moves. That’s enough for now. Jeff beats me badly at checkers and I decide I hate that game. 😉 Neither of us remembers how to play dominoes, other than lining them up on their ends and watching them knock each other down. It’s fun to fool around anyway.

Tomorrow, we head for Sault Ste. Marie on the border of Canada and the U.S. That means navigating near big ships and going through the locks. I’m both nervous and excited about that. I’m still wide awake when everyone else in the marina turns in, so I listen to my audio-book for an hour. It’s “The Outlander” series, book #7. It’s more stimulating than relaxing (!!) but it works. I fall asleep with the book still narrating, waking up at 1 a.m. to finally turn it off. I’ll have to rewind a few hours…

Editor’s Note: This blog was written for Aug. 6. No Wi-Fi connection meant a tardy posting!