It's such a rough life...

I just remembered that I had this photo (taken last month sometime, when we still had Dunnage aboard before going to Toronto) and was going to post it. This is basically what I've been doing the past few days, only not on the ship under a life raft and, obviously, not in such an adorable fashion.

Home Sweet Home, Erie

"The best laid schemes of mice and men oft go awry." ~ Robert Burns

Don't get me wrong. I love the freewheeling life of a sailor I'm having right now; I adore making plans and figuring things out as I go along, taking and enjoying opportunities as they come, etc. For the most part, that's a totally rockin' way of living, but there is the occasional downside, like thinking I might end up stuck in Bay City, MI for eternity.
Thankfully that didn't happen, however, and I'm safely back in Erie hanging out at my friend Amy's apartment for a while before going back to the Niagara to resume sleep deprivation and keep building up the calluses on my hands.
Dave's mom came up to Bay City without him being aware of her intent earlier, which threw a wrench into our plans to rent a car or take a bus back to Erie, but Dave's mom being awesome, she gave us a ride to Erie, since they were passing through anyway. So the five of us piled into the Chevy sedan, crammed as much luggage into the trunk as possible, carried the rest on our laps and had a cuddlefest in the backseat the whole 6 hours from Bay City to Erie. It was an interesting experience, and I think I'll leave it at that.

We got in around 3AM day before yesterday, got to sleep somewhere around 5, and slept until quarter past 1 (1315, in other words). We all (Amy, Phil, me) ended up dressed, in some sense of the word, around 3:30 (1530) and spent the remainder of the day lying around watching TV and eating copious amounts of Chinese food, the leftovers of which I'm currently eating as breakfast. (Yes, breakfast at 12:45. I know, Mom, I know. Reading this is probably hurting you.)
Today has followed a similar plan, though I'm headed back to the Niagara later this afternoon. So I must bid adieu to this glorious laziness and get back to working like crazy.
I love my life.

Jumping ship

We arrived in Cleveland last week, and I've just now (the day before we leave) figured out that there's WiFi here. Way to go, self.

But, more exciting than that is the fact that I'm sailing on the Roald Amundsen for the trip to Bay City, along with Phil (also known as Pip, or simply that guy I like to hang out with *coughboyfriendcough*), Amy and Dave. At Bay City, Pip abandons us for college, and Amy and Dave and I will wander our ways back to Niagara like poor lost puppies.
It's nice on the Amundsen, everyone is incredibly nice and hospitable, and I must admit that I find the fact that we sleep in real bunks in cabins incredibly exciting. Being able to stand belowdecks is a nice bonus as well.
I don't, however, have a clue what's going on most of the time, as 90% of the conversation is in German, which I most inconveniently don't speak. I can often pick up the general gist of what's happening however, and they're kind and take mercy on this strange American visitor by translating and explaining what's happening, so it's all good.

But now it's late, and I'm finding myself writing more run-on sentences than can be forgiven, so I bid you goodnight.

To Toronto and back!

My goodness, where to start? It's been a long time since I had sufficient time or motivation (not to mention internet access) to update.
So here goes, as best as I can remember (so this'll probably be a disorganized and hard to follow narrative; you have been warned).
After the first weekend in Put-in Bay we anchored off of Kelly's island for a few days doing maintenance and had a swim call, put on the Niagara's new headrig net, partied in it, etc. good times were had.
Then we went back to PIB for Pirate Fest, and I got to meet up with three entirely flamablamablous people; Grant, Ebeth and Ebeth'sFriendBen (also known as Ben). It was great to see them and visit, call other friends to gloat that we were together, try on goofy hats....in short, it was epic.

Then after other sundry brief stops, we locked down the Welland Canal into lake Ontario and headed to Toronto for the first stop of ASTA (American Sail Training Association)'s Tall Ships' Challenge.
Toronto was cool, I didn't see more than the main road where the other ships and showers were, but it was good.
Seeing tons of tall ships in one place was amazing, and I'm so excited for all the other ports.
The parade of sail out of Toronto was exciting, boats EVERYWHERE, and then sailing along getting ready for canals and looking out and seeing other sailing ships on the horizon, at one poit I was out on the headrig furling the jib with Claire, looked over to the Pride of Baltimore II under sail and just had one of those total "my life is so epic" moments. It was good.
We locked up either yesterday or the day before, I honestly don't know which, but it was a very, very long day. It's been a lot of very, very long days recently.

Today is prepping to go to Cleveland, so a brief overnight here in Erie. I'm on the laundry crew, so we're waiting for the laundry and I have WiFi, yay!