MV WILD GOOSE II: Sister Cities, Port Huron and Sarnia are Like Night and Day

The dock we were assigned in Port Huron gave us great protection from any type of weather as we were upstream quite a ways. Near the community college, it is a restful setting with great people watching, and of course visiting as well since we are asked a lot of questions about Wild Goose II.

There is a sidewalk that is a favorite spot for walkers and bikers as well as a nice lawn for boaters to stretch out upon.. We watched these two have fun playing Frisbee for a good part of a day right in front of their boat.
Ron got busy on engine stuff, so, I took a bike ride to the new Port Huron River Walkway. The pictures say it all! Thanks for the tip Sarah Schebil!

This new river walk has allowed locals and visitors alike enjoy a quick swim or just a place to watch the freighters go by. Kids enjoying their last two weeks of summer here were hard to miss along with the "regulars" on the trails.

The clouds are still prevalent and we decide on a quick bike ride to check out the Fort Gratiot Light from land. The visitor center at the light offers tours, souvenirs, and a washroom. It is always a picture opportunity from the boat and we find that it is great from the beach too!

Provisioning in Port Huron is not easy and on Sunday's it's even worse...but, after searching online and doing a google earth search of a location, we took the bikes to Allen's Grocery just up the road from the 7th St bridge on Erie St. The small building was a throw back to when each neighborhood had a small corner grocery....maybe 1940's?? We were pleasantly surprised that they had fresh banana's, lettuce, and even found a sweet potato stashed in between a selection of small grocery and mostly fast food and high sugar stuff for kid's hanging in the area. ...great find!

Afternoon weather prompted us to get the dinghy down and explore the river Ron wanted to see if we can get to John and Sarah's home by boat without instructions or a map. We opted to keep camera's on the boat since the current was running pretty strong. We hooked up with John and Sarah aboard their pontoon boat up river quite a ways (under I-94), before following them to their canal home. Sarah was welcomed by son Andrew who was anxious for her arrival. He was anticipating pouring ice water over his mom who accepted a "bucket challenge" for ALS. We stayed to watch the festivities.

Monday morning travel across the St Clair river took only a few minutes, however, the new landscape was entirely different....Upon entering the harbor of Sarnia, a Canadian firetruck was spraying water near the freighter docks...it reminded me of our fire boat welcome earlier in the season on Lake Erie.....(Huron,Ohio).

Remembering that there was a beach to explored, our bikes came off the boat quickly. After a successful beach glass hunt and picture taking, our stomach's guided us to a local diner for some lunch,,grilled chicken and local gyro style sandwiches....Canadian style "fresh cut fries" served with a smile by the owners. Wish I had written down the name of it....darn! I'm getting too old to not carry a pad of paper and pencil!

After dinner we had a surprise visitor...This nice, funny gal, (again... should have written down a name) was celebrating her birthday and had been wanting to see our boat. What she really wanted was to blow the horn to signal to her friends that she "made it" on board. She was a hoot! They were on a vessel out of Bayfield Ontario...after a half hour visit, her companion came to "fetch" her. Her visit was a fun change for us :). Reminded both of us how much fun we have always had in Bayfield in past years. Great people there.

Exploring the harbor bicycle path to downtown Sarnia we found these plaques with wonderful info on the Great Lakes Region....

The path went along the river for quite a distance south and at the end we cut up one block into downtown and passed quite an eclectic mix of shops...would have been a great time to shop if I'd been with a girlfriend. As we circled back around, we followed the path to a park near the freighter docks.

Wild Goose is not the only boat with o bulbous bow...this is huge!

It's a maintenance dock and we watch crewmen paint the side of the hull on a ship out of St Catherine's (Lake Ontario, CA) and observe a really cool wading pool shaped in the form of the Lake's Superior, Michigan, St Clair, and Erie...including Georgian Bay.