Summer Road Trip #2

Last week I decided to take a 4 day vacation to Michigan for some good American lake action. I am scheduled to go on this exact same trip at the end of July but thought it would be pretty hard to pass on any boating action this week.

Day 1 – Driving and Chicago

Mike H, Jeff, and I began the journey after work on Wednesday. Dave and Steve did not arrive to late the next night. We thought neither was going to come because Dave decided to hold up a jury by saying the person up for trial was guilty while everyone else thought he was innocent. Needless to say, Dave has now lost all faith in the court system. But I digress, on our way and about 11 o’clock at night, we came up with the idea of staying a night in Chi Town. I was all for it since I knew I could get my own bed that way since we didn’t have the clubhouse till the next night. I called the HoJo we always stay at and got a great rate so we showed up around midnight. We went to Rino Lounge. If this trip is starting to mirror our last year trip, it gets even more similar. We paid the $20 cover at Rino to find out they had a Grey Goose special so vodka drink cost only $1 until 1AM. This made me super happy since I spent a fortune at this place last year. We enjoyed the night greatly and ended up at McDonalds (like last year) to see the sunrise. We did get two noise complaints but is it really a noise violation when it is daylight outside?

Day 2 – Driving, Spring Lake, and Grand Rapids

We slept in (one difference compared to last year) to drive to Spring Lake so we could go to Grand Rapids that night. I decided to be the DD and drove the 30 miles to Grand Rapids (albeit late since we didnt get there till midnight and the bars close at 2AM). We went to the B.O.B. but it was pretty late so we worked our way to MaFaddens (which is where we went last year) but it had a huge line so we went to the dance club next door which I can’t find the name for. We ended the night like last year by going to the same McDonalds on the way home.

Day 3 – Spring Lake, Grand Haven (a.k.a. Coast Guard USA), and Hanky Pank Cove

We woke up extremely early to do some king salmon fishing. Unfortunately we did not catch anything for about 6 hours. Fortunately I caught it and it was huge…16lbs. It was a bleeder too. My hand wouldn’t bend back for 10 minutes after I reeled it in.

We spent the rest of the day on the boat even though there was probably only 20 boats in the cove. We all had a good time. We went to Kirbys that night.

Day 4 – Spring Lake, Grand Haven, and Hanky Pank Cove

This was the day we were all waiting for since we figured it to be the best day for the cove. Unfortunately it was not sunny for most of the afternoon and it never broke 70. Once the sun did come out, more people got in the cold water. I did do some jumping off house boat plus did “flip and shit” on one of those big trampolines that someone towed in their yacht.

We had my giant fish that I caught for dinner. It was delicious. We went to Kirbys that night and unfortunately (and like last time) I got sick. I took motion sickness pills right before I left and I think my stomach did not agree with them. I instead walked the 1.5 mile journey to Lake Michigan since I had to get out of the bar. The fireworks were good too.

Day 5 – Driving

We all slept in, had to clean the place and the boat, plus had lunch with Jeff’s parents so we did not leave until about 2. We also hit 4 or 5 construction zones between Michigan and Chicago so it took us a lot longer to get home. I drive most of the way and fell in love with Jeff’s satellite radio.

Conclusion

Overall the trip was a blast. I was really against going to Chicago in August but it was a blast this past week (with a couple memorable moments that I can not post) so I am looking forward to doing it again in 3 weeks. The weather sucked in terms of warmness so that was sort of a downer but at least it did not rain like in the StL. The idea of having a boat is really awesome. I just love the water and it is always a good time. I am really looking forward to going again for Coast Guard Weekend at the end of the month.

Here are some of the pictures. Having trouble with Flickr uploader and don’t feel like going through all of them.