Anne and I kayaked on Friday. We paddled over to Cedar Point, which is across the bay from Birch Point, where the ospreys are hanging out. I should say thank you to my Courtois out-laws for the loan of one of their yellow kayaks, but I’m sure that they saw it all on their birdhouse security camera, the Bill-Cam. We just thought it was too, too much to haul another one of our purple kayaks down to the beach, but I’m sure that they will understand, right? [Ooh-ooh, Sally, Teri, Anastasia and friend just arrived.]  😉

The objective of our voyage of discovery, were eagles, bald eagles. Jay and Carl had previously posted photos of the Cedar Point eagles. On their expedition, they had rock-hopped around the point. We chose the water route instead. It was unusually calm, so I felt comfortable bringing a camera with me. A waterproof canoe bag to put it in was an additional comfort. We set sail for Cedar Point. It turned into a three hour tour, but the weather never got rough, there were no movie stars either, but we had fun anyway. As we passed around the point, with all its many jetties and bay-lets, we continuously scanned the shore’s tree line for eagle signs. Eventually, we saw an eagle. It was on the beach of one of these little bay-lets. It saw us and flew off around the next jetty. We continued on and saw it roosting in a dead tree. I drifted into shore, quietly, snapping pictures.

A salty passed by, the Barbro, out of Malta. On the way back, we headed towards one of the rock piles in-between the shipping channels. It was covered in cormorants and I hoped to repeat my success with the eagle, but they got spooked before I could get a shot off. Continuing back along the coastline of Cedar Point, we saw a pair of mature bald eagles soaring and wheeling in the thermals. We never did find their nest though. It will be something to look for when we return.

Saturday, today, we head south. We’ll pick up Kelly, a Saint Louis biking buddy, in Mackinac City. Our next stop will be Saugatuck, where we’ll pick up Dan. Then it is on to New Buffalo and the start of our big bicycle ride. Dan will drop us all off and keep the Prius. Nine days later we’ll be back in Mackinac City and Harry will drive the Corolla down to pick us up. It ought to be an adventure. In addition to Kelly, his wife, Dawn, Tom, Stew and Nancy, all Saint Louis cyclists, will be accompanying us on this bike tour.

It was actually hotter here (Brimley) than it was in Saint Louis. The lake is still refreshing, but it is not as cold as it used to be. Anne has gone swimming with me every day. While out in the lake, she happened to remark, that her vacation was more than half over. I pointed out that this was only the third day of my vacation. This exchange reminded me of something that I had heard from a manager years ago. After working a month of Saturday, the boss announce to the team one Saturday evening, “Guys, everyone else’s weekend is already half over, yours is just getting started, enjoy it!”