Skip to main content

Day 123-125. September 23-25. On to Lake Dalecarlia, the Sundstrom family lake house. no miles, we drove

 Woke to a beautiful day to finish packing before Mike, Bill's cousin picks us up to go to the family lake house on Lake Dalecarlia that has been in the family for over two generations.  

After stowing the engine oil, Mike got for us, we headed out, driving south for 30 minutes and  arriving at the lake house. Collecting our stuff from the car, we headed inside to be greeted by the cousins (Mike and Karen, Ron, and Adam) and we all took our places in the rockers on the back porch to enjoy the lake and to boat watch.  Then the old stories of growing up on the lake began- lubricated by a beer or two the stories got longer!!  When a friend, Glen, who grew up with the cousins joined us,  the stories continued and expanded!




Newt provided much love and playfulness to the day.


Next we all took a pontoon boat ride around Lake Dalecarlia which is one mile long and has about 5 miles of shoreline- lots of long fingers on this lake.  During the boat ride, we learned about who still lives on the lake and the stories and memories continued.  Was fun hearing all the old tales with each cousin offering their own version.  Bill liked seeing the cottage his parents originally owned and the houses that his Dad and Uncle purchased later on.








After the boat ride, we had delicious dinner thanks to Karen, Glenn's wife, Linda, and Ron and his burgers.  Of course, the stories and catching up with each other continued.  



September 24.  Visiting at the Lake House at Lake Dalecarlia

Woke to a cool beautiful sunny day and returned to the back porch and the memories and stories started again.

Bill and Ron took a kayak ride around the lake and then Mike took Bill to get a warmer coat.  Bill does like being cold! 





Another friend from growing up, Linda, joined us on the back porch.  You can guess what came next, the stories went on.


Next we went on the another pontoon ride.





After the boat ride Bill took a few drone shots.  This one was the best, but it was too long for the blog so you must click the link below.

 Then we had another wonderful dinner with much teasing and story telling.  


September 25.  Leaving Lake Dalecarlia and returning to Hammond Marina

Our last mornning at the lake was filled with sharing pictures, old and new, as well as, sharing family stories.  We said good bye to Ron early on.  The rest of the gang went to an early lunch at a local restaurant Tastee Top Grill which the cousins went to as kids.  We ate tacos and sloppy joes and each had a sundae or shake or malt.  Must admit we had fun and were quite full after that meal!

After the meal, we returned to the lake house and packed up and said our good byes.  Is always bittersweet to say good bye to those who we grew up with us.  Thanks Mike and Karen for hosting us! 

Mike drove us back to the marina in Hammond with a stop at a bank and grocery store. Thanks, you were the best taxi ever!  Hope your GPS was cooperative and got you back home without too much fuss!

Returning to the boat, we unpacked and put groceries away.  Then we went about our chores and caught up on the blog.  Had a simple dinner and visited with some other boaters before hitting the sack.




Popular posts from this blog

Reflections on the Great Loop -

 Over the 5 and half months last year and the almost 7 months this year for a total of 351 days, we travelled 6348 miles, through two countries 19 states, traversed over 200 locks to find large cities, small towns, farmland, and vast natural waterways and bays. Our route took us through sites of the Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and Civil War, as well as the history of  how America grew along her waterways.  Beginning with canoes, rafts and barges people and goods moved through these waters.  The sailing sloops and steamships changed these rivers, requiring locks and canals to be built to facilitate travel and commerce.   Today it is amazing how much commerce moves through these waters.   We developed a healthy respect for the freighter and tow captains and lock masters and harbor masters that keep the system working. We have lasting impressions of early morning sunrises, beautiful sunsets, and moonlit bays,  the hospitality in all the towns we visited, the vast undeveloped shorelines
Read more

Day 194-195. 2nd year. December 3. On to Redington/Clearwater and then to Home. Miles 15 Total MIles 6021

 Slept in again. Was nice to finally catch up on our sleep.  Found our morning a bit foggy but promises to be a sunny day once it burns off. One of the boaters attracted a female manatee and her baby with his hose, so we walked over to the next dock to enjoy the show.  Manatee are often found in shallow areas this time of year as they like the warm water.  They also will take advantage  of access to freshwater, especially if a hose is left hanging over the side of a boat. Bill also took some drone shots of Caladesi State Park. We did one last beach walk before we left today, turning north to explore that part of the island.  Found a few turbans, an olive, 2 small horse conch and a whelk for our shell treasures today.  Sea fog started to come in off the Gulf so we turned around and headed back to the boat. We left later in the day as we had to be close to a high tide to get out the channel at Caladesi.  A local boater offered to lead the way to a cut that provides more water so we took
Read more

April 2 2022. We cast off our lines!

 Day 1. April 2 We cast off our lines at 9:00am on out Great Loop adventure.  Our friends, Phil and Aggie helped record our departure.   The weather was overcast as we traveled out our canal and into Tampa Bay.  As we approached the Skyway bridge a dolphin twice leaped completely out of the water, playing in our bow wake.  An omen of good fortune for our adventure! As we ended our Tampa Bay crossing, the sun began to peek out and as we traversed past Longboat Key/Bradenton and entered Sarasota we had ourselves a sunny day.  We traveled 34.4 nautical miles in four hours and anchored behind Otter Key, a mangrove Island near Lido Key in Sarasota.  There we joined another boat from St Petersburg, FL.  The owners were for many years sailors from the Caribbean down to Panama.  What adventures they shared! The anchorage sports lots of manatees, dolphin and of course, the osprey who lords over Otter Key. Once settled properly, we took a nap,  Will spend the rest of our day with a glass of wine
Read more