This post was originally going to be titled "Advanced Logistics" but subsequent events have caused us to feel nostalgic for the simpler times last week. [See posts: Sooo...We're Taking on Water and Failure Analysis at Sea.]
Sturgeon Bay was our first hop on the way from Marinette to Chicago. A smooth, almost boring, cruise across Green Bay that took us only a couple hours. Sturgeon Bay is a real yachting Mecca, due to its being a convenient shortcut across Door County, Wisconsin to the open waters of Lake Michigan. This also means it's kinda pricey to dock there but it's really nice. We chose it for the availability of rental cars and proximity to the Green Bay airport since Kent still had to retrieve Hannah from her 9pm flight.
As soon as we were tied up at the CenterPointe Marina, mere steps from downtown Sturgeon Bay, Kent and Jim unloaded one of the folding e-bikes given to us by Jim's folks. The e-bikes are extremely handy for shopping and errands when in port because stores tend to be a bit inland and usually uphill. Kent biked off toward the Sturgeon Bay airport to get a rental car and Jim and I set off on foot to explore the town. It definitely catered to the tourist trade but there were interesting shops to look in and I scored big at a clothing outlet where I found three dresses WITH POCKETS! We also picked up some artisan pasta and pesto for an elegant boat dinner.
In an hour or so, Kent texted us a photo of the e-bike in the trunk of his rental Toyota. (I told you it was advanced logistics.) He picked us up at the marina and we headed out to the Log Den in Egg Harbor for their Friday night Fish Boil since we had somehow neglected that part of Kent's education. The meal was excellent, of course, though the showmanship was somewhat low-key compared to others we've seen. That's OK because the architecture of the restaurant provided all the spectacle you could need. It was made of HUGE logs--not your typical uniform log construction--and there were gorgeous carvings of wildlife on many of them.
By the time we finished dinner Kent was ready to drive to Green Bay to retrieve Hannah so he dropped us off at the boat. A couple hours later we welcomed her aboard. Kent ran the car back to the Hertz and got Dan's Taxi to bring him back to the boat since it was just too late and dark to ride a bike.
Somewhat early Saturday morning we completed our passage through the Sturgeon Bay canal, somewhat sad that we couldn't take in the art fair. With the New Yorkers on board, I was assured of a steady supply of good coffee which is good because I needed to pay attention to the new navigation equipment where I faced a bit of a learning curve. Kent was a tremendous help getting me started on that as well. We are lucky to have such a competent and helpful crew!
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