Birthday Girl on Beaver Island

Wednesday -- today was Gaye's 39th birthday. Before the boy's went to bed last night, they turned up their tv so Gaye would not hear them, and they put up birthday decorations through-out the boat. So, when Gaye awoke, Alex quickly woke Aaron so they could both wish her a Happy Birthday. Gaye noticed that they both were very tired looking and hugged them and told them they could go back to sleep for a bit.

To celebrate Gaye's birthday, we rented a "piece of junk"..errr..car from the other marina on the island and explored the whole island via car. In Mackinaw City we again met up with our neighbors from Purves Lagoon in Sturgeon Bay, WI. They told us a story about renting a car on Beaver Island and as they went along on the gravel/bumpy roads -- the door of the car actually fell off due to the rust. Outside of a couple spots on the island, most of the roads are gravel and dirt. So, we took off the soft top off the 1930 Geo Junker ..errr..1988 Geo Tracker ($30.00 per 4 hours - Hertz would be proud) and took off through the dusty roads. We went past the many island summer cottages, walked some nice coves, watched the beavers work, and visited the restored light house on the South end of Beaver Island. I will note that the doors did not fall off, but the brakes made a squel noise the whole time and we questioned if it would re-start every time we stopped -- now that is the business I want -- renting junk cars to not so smart tourists.

For Gaye's birthday dinner, we went to one of our most favorite restuarants anyplace -- Stoney Acres. Stoney Acres is about 3/4 mile out of town in an old barn like structure. They have a great chef and a great menu. We eat there at least once each time we are here, so this was a treat for Gaye to have dinner at our favorite place on her birthday.

We had a great day for Gaye's birthday and she certainly deserves to have a Great birthday. She is definitely the best mom, wife, bestfriend, person anyone could aspire to be.

So today was our 41st day on the boat since we left Sturgeon Bay on June 9th. I didn't know if I would be tired of the boat as we got closer to the end or not -- but I will say that I'm certainly not tired of the boat and could do this for at least a few more months if not longer. The transient lifestyle is certainly for me. The boat has been just great -- no problems and works perfect for us -- not too big and not too small.

The weather forecast calls for some wind and rain on Thursday, so we'll be staying one more night in Beaver Island. Hopefully, on Friday we'll cross over to Harbor Springs -- but we'll see how the weather looks.