Ahoy Blog Followers 😊
On August 31st we completed the Great American Loop, and then spent a week celebrating in New York City! After a fun week in NYC we continued up the Hudson River to Albany (retracing our summer 2014 trip). From there we traveled the Erie Canal. The Erie was new territory....and we really enjoyed the unique towns, history and scenery. Thistle is tucked away in heated winter storage along the Erie Canal until next spring or summer.
Yes, everyone is asking us....what is your next plan? We really don’t know 😱 at this time we are keeping most of our options open 👍. Promise, Blog Followers, 🤞 you will be the first to know.
We have now had a few months to reflect on our Great American Loop Adventure and thought it would be entertaining to post a TOP TEN list in honor of David Letterman, since we started and finished the Loop in New York City. The two of us made separate lists, then compared and discussed until we agreed on our TOP TEN “STOPS” and “MOMENTS” on our Loop ⚓️. We hope you have as much fun reading the list (below) as we did creating it 😍.
LOOPER TIP: We follow many Looper Blogs and have appreciated all of tips we have learned. Hopefully, our list will inspire you to create your own...to help guide, past, present and future Loopers.
Sending warm Holiday wishes to Y’All ♥️!
And a special Thank You to The AGLCA Home Office 💙!
P.S. We thought you would like to know that some habits are hard to break😜 after being back to our land home for months.....We still read the AGLCA Forum every morning, check the NY marine weather forecast for Thistle, text our Looper Boat Buddies, look at Eddy’s Weather Wag, read your Blogs and dream about our next adventure 🇺🇸❌⭕️.
Up the Hudson River (RED line).
Along the Erie Canal (BLUE line).
Thistle @ Winter Harbor Marina (⭐️).
Along the Hudson River we stopped at Chris & Alison’s home...Thank you 😊!
Our friend Jen (from California) visited for a fun week!
Loved the Erie Canal and sang “Low Bridge Everybody Down”🎼
Thistle is in heated storage for the winter ⭐️.
We visited Niagra Falls and took a ride on the famous “Maid of the Mist” 💕
Our TOP TEN STOPS
On the Great American Loop.
(Not in any order......).
1.♥️Galleon Marina, Key West, Florida.
Right in the heart 🌴 of Key West!
Access to all of the Galleon Resort amenities (Pool, Spa, Laundry, Roof Top Deck,
Entertainment, BBQ).
2.♥️Charlevoix City Marina, Charlevoix, Michigan.
Charming town with lots of restaurants and boutique shops.
The town is on Lake Michigan with a distinctive red lighthouse, crystal clear water,
sparkling beaches and historic homes.
3.♥️Liberty Landing Marina, Jersey City, New Jersey.
The boat slips have a view of the Manhattan Skyline and the Statue of Liberty.
The Liberty Landing Ferry transports visitors from Jersey City to NYC every half hour.
4.♥️Sunset Harbour, Miami Beach, Florida.
Located in a hip new area of Miami, with trendy restaurants, bars, a gourmet grocery store and ultra modern shops.
The Marina is beautiful, with a 25 yard pool, spa, workout facility, BBQ area, great showers and restroom.
It’s a short bike ride to all the action and fantastic people watching 👀 in South Beach.
5.♥️Annapolis Town Dock, Annapolis, Maryland.
The Docks are right on famous Ego Alley in picturesque downtown Annapolis.
The United States 🇺🇸 Navel Academy is right next door,
restaurants, shops, historic buildings and museums within easy walking distance.
An impressive Fourth of July firework show 😊.
6.♥️Camelot, St. Lawrence Islands National Park of 🇨🇦 Canada.
Gorgeous rural setting in the 1,000 Islands.
Pristine water and hiking trails on shore.
7.♥️DuSable Harbor, Chicago, Illinois.
Here you can enjoy the City or take advantage of being airport close.
We departed at sunrise to cruise the river through downtown Chicago...spectacular!
8.♥️Old Port Montreal, Montreal, Canada.
Downtown Montreal is the best!
And we were there for the 2014 FINA World Masters with Water Polo 🤽♂️ Friends.
9.♥️Benjamin Islands, Ontario, Canada.
A group of Islands in the North Channel.
Fabulous scenery, carved by glaciers.
These pink granite islands are simply breathtaking.
10.♥️ Longboat Key Club Moorings, Longboat Key, Florida.
The Marina Resort is on a white sand beach with nice seashells 🐚 ...need we say more?
Our TOP TEN MOMENTS
On the Great American Loop.
(Not in any order....).
1.💙Sharing Boat Cards.
We have exchanged over 300 Boat Cards...it’s the first step towards making New Looper Friends 😊.
The comradery between Loopers is very special!
2.💙Swimming at Alligator Reef...Florida Keys.
On a beautiful day we were headed north along the Keys towards Miami.
On the navigation chart we noticed a reef about 5 miles off shore.
We decided to head out to Alligator Reef...
Once there we snorkeled in the warm, crystal clear tropical Atlantic Ocean 🐠!
✌️ Smile 😊
3.💙Mama Bear and two cubs on Beausoleil Island, Ontario, Canada.
We had family visitors aboard Thistle and decided to go on a bike ride around the Island.
The ride was much more strenuous than anticipated....
and all of the sudden we realized that the two cubs were between us and the Mama Bear 😱‼️
No time for a picture.....we peddled so fast back to the ranger station (Never 👀 looking back 🤣).
4.💙💙💙Festivals.
We enjoyed three unbelievably memorable Festivals.
💙 The Ottawa BeerFest 🍺, Ottawa, Canada.
Docked along the Wall in beautiful downtown Ottawa we noticed a Festival
being set up across the Canal.
We decide to attend and the next day our picture was in the newspaper!
A few locals stopped by Thistle to say 👋.
💙Wine Along the River, Mobile, Alabama.
We docked in downtown Mobile for one night. Upon checking-in, we were informed that the First ever Mobile Wine 🍷 Festival was happening that evening. We walked to the Festival (~ 50 yards) to purchase tickets and were asked if we would rather volunteer...that sounded great! We were arbitrarily assigned to pour California wines...too much fun 😊.
💙Mile O Fest, Key West, Florida.
While docked in Key West we read about a Red Dirt 🎶 Music Festival.
We looked into purchasing tickets and they were astrometricly expensive💰.
So, we signed up to volunteer. Three days of great music..with a few hours of volunteer assignments.
We are now Red Dirt Fans 🎻.
5.💙Bad River, Ontario, Canada.
We were anchored in a picture perfect location in the Georgian Bay.
That evening we were invited to another boat in the Bay to play cards (Euchre).
We paddled our Stand Up Boards over in the daylight...but,
the card game went on longer that anticipated?
Paddling back in pitch darkness (no lights for miles) ....
we witnessed the dazzling Perseids Meteor Shower.
Just close your eyes and imagine 100’s of shooting stars 🌠 !
That area of the Loop there is no cell service...we had no idea what was happening 🤩.
We slept on Thistle’s flydeck, “Counting Our 🍀 Lucky Stars”.
6.💙The Crossing: Applachicola, Florida to Tarpon Springs, Florida.
It’s the only overnight passage on the Great American Loop.
We were both slightly nervous.. all went well👍.
We departed Applachicola about 11 am and reached Tarpon Springs about 11 am the following day.
There were 7 Loopers in our flotilla,
the lead boat checked-in with all of by radio ever hour on the hour.
7.💙Isle Cook, Key West, Florida.
We celebrated Greg’s 60th Birthday with Looper Friends, cooking an Italian Dinner.
Then an after party aboard Thistle 😎.
8.💙Clearing The Peterborough Lift Lock, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada on our Stand Up Paddle Boards.
We paddled from the Peterborough Marina to look at the Lock.
The Lock Master allowed us to traverse up the Lock and back down again 👍.
Toooooooo Cooooool😎.
9.💙Bobby’s Fish Camp, Tombigbee River, Alabama.
One of the oldest restaurants in Alabama and a must stop for Loopers.
The Camp was fantastic....but,
The reason it made our Top Ten Memory list is because of the beautiful sunrise on the morning we were departing.
While on the Loop we have had some spectacular sunsets and sunrises...this one was tops with the fog and pink morning sky🎀.
10. 💙Statue of Liberty, New York Harbor, New York.
We started our Great American Loop at The Statue of Liberty on June 30, 2014
and
completed our Great American Loop at The Statue of Liberty on August 31, 2018.
We were in awe both times 🗽 .
Merry Christmas 🎄
and
Happy New Year 🥂
♥️Greg & Reenie
