Musings on music, sports, life in general from Quincy, Illinois.

Sunday, August 09, 2009

Ferry, Gus on the beach

















In the middle of the two-week vacation, we went to Sheboygan, Wis., to work for Gus.



The tournament takes place at the Harbor Centre right beside a Lake Michigan beach. I'd rank it in the top three of Gus Mackers I've worked. The local staff was great, almost everybody behaved, Dream Court was a blast as usual. I supervised the Gus Busters and almost all of them were awesome.

The history of this place is intriguing. About 20 years ago some progressive city fathers decided to clean up the area and build the harbor. I could think of a town or two which could take a page from this book .... not that the mighty Mississippi is Lake Michigan, but our riverfront in Quincy is sorely underdeveloped.

Anyway, loads of fun. Did you know the water is wetter in Wisconsin and the waves break away from the beach?

On Monday we took the Badger ferry from Manitowoc to Ludington. It is expensive, about $200 for two people and a car, but not dealing with construction-strewn roads or driving through Chicago is worth about a million bucks. The Badger is a huge boat but it still pitched and rolled on the high Lake Michigan water, and after awhile we had to stop looking outside to keep the stomachs from getting too queasy .... when we docked in Ludington, the Badger hit the ramp too hard and knocked it off the entrance ramp, and there was about 20 minutes of panic-stricken repairs before we started unloading.

If you have four hours and don't mind spending a few extra bucks, this is the way to go to get across the lake.

2 comments:

UMRBlog said...

When riding the Badger, one tries not to think of any Bob Seger songs.

I'm not sure it's really more expensive than going around the lake.

SheyFey said...

It's not. The time off the road is worth a million, anyday!