Race Day

Michigan Day 10

Sunday, July 20 was the second “race day” for us on this tour. We were up early and packed up the van. We wouldn’t be coming back to the hotel after the race

We stopped for coffee at Sweetwater Coffee & Tea in Ann Arbor. 

We relaxed a bit and then headed towards Belle Isle in Detroit. The race started at 9:00 but we still wanted to get there in plenty of time to prepare.

We arrived at Belle Isle Beach on the Detroit River and found many people already there, mostly paddle boarders. We would be competing in the Belle Isle Classic. In addition, the organization was hosting a national Stand-Up Paddle board (SUP) championship. While there were 45 or so doing our race, there were over a hundred SUP paddlers completing the last part of their three day event.

This race was one lap around the island a little over 6 miles. Having 150 boats and boards start at the same time was challenging but we made it around in good time. We encountered sunshine, rain, 3′ waves in the shipping lane and river current-all in a little over an hour. But the challenge was worth it.

I will say that the Detroit River was nice-very clean and clear. The river connects Lake St. Clair with Lake Erie and when we were on the South side of the island we were facing Canada.

We cleaned up in the pavillion locker rooms, loaded up the boats and gear, and headed back across the river and west out of Detroit. We had some place we needed to be by evening.

We were soon on the interstate heading back west. Our destination for the day was Ludington, MI-right on Lake Michigan. The first stop for coffee was the Coffee Beanery in Brighton, MI.

Another hour or so, we needed a fuel break (and coffee since we were right there) in Grand Rapids. We made a quick stop at Biggby Coffee. We generally like to find local coffee shops and even though Biggby’s and Coffee Beanery are regional chains, we enjoyed the offerings from both shops.

About 5 hours later, we landed in Ludington and checked into our hotel.

We drove to the ferry loading area to scout out where we would line up the next morning for the ferry. We drove back downtown and found the Sportsman’s Restaurant for dinner. 

It was Sunday evening so the restaurant seemed very busy. Luckily, we were seated right away. The service was very good and we didn’t have long to wait for the food.

Along with an order of pretzel bites with queso dip, Mary had a rice bowl that had chicken, corn, salsa and other ingredients we could not remember. David had the Mac and Cheese bowl. All the food was very tasty.

As we left Sportsman’s and were walking towards the van, we couldn’t help but notice an ice cream store that was still open for business. Kilwin’s Ice Cream sells both ice cream and delicious chocolate candy. We couldn’t pass that up.

We snacked on the candy a little then headed back to the hotel. We were calling it an early night. It had been a long day and our biggest and most interesting day of the Michigan tour was happening tomorrow.