The Great Loop: Best Parts of Great Lakes

If you're heading through the Great Lakes, here are the places I recommend checking out:

1. The North Channel / Georgian Bay
Really, the best of the best when it comes to the Great Lakes. There are tons of places to anchor, swim, cool islands to hike, wild blueberries to pick, etc. If you're coming through the Great Lakes and don't check out the North Channel, you're wasting your time.

These photos are from our first long boat trip in 2005:

The best blueberries are the hardest to reach.

The Best Printer on a Boat?

LeeAnn (my wife) has been asking me to buy a printer for years. The responsibility falls to me as the more "techy" one in our relationship. I've resisted...because printers are a pain in the butt.

They work great for a while...then it seems the novelty wears off and you stop using it. When you need it you can't get it to connect, then after investing a bunch of time getting the thing print-ready, you find out the ink has dried up and it's $40 to buy new ink which really seems outrageous since this is the first time you've felt the need to print anything in 6 months.

The Truth About The Great Loop

The Great Loop is an awesome idea. If you've never heard of it, it's a series of connected lakes, rivers and man-made canals that allow a boater to travel from the Atlantic ocean, to the Great Lakes, Down the Mississippi back out to the ocean.

It sounds cool.

The Erie Canal, The Great Lakes, The Mississippi River. Relax in the Florida Keys. See major cities (New York, Detroit, Chicago) and charming coastal towns (Beaufort, Charleston, Leland).