Saturday, October 25, 2008

Lake Express Ferry

I spent a couple of days in Lansing, Michigan, week.  When debating how to get there, I immediately ruled out flying and decided to drive.  I like driving and it’s only about 350 miles.  The only bad part about driving it was the fact that I had to drive through Chicago.  Given Chicago traffic, that could easily add a couple of hours to the drive.  So I decided to look into taking the Lake Express Ferry.

For the way there, the schedule didn’t work out, so that blew that idea.  But the schedule DID work for the way back.  I figured that taking the ferry would save me about two hours of driving.  So I figured out what the cost would be.  $179!!!!  That’s one-way.  I couldn’t justify that in my head, so I just sucked it up and drove.  I’d like to take the ferry some day just to check it out, but I’ll need to wait until I’m in a higher tax bracket. 

Oh, one more note about that trip just because it’s a pet peeve of mine.  In our household, I am the primary ironer.  I had to iron my uniforms when at A&M and learned to do it pretty well and it’s something that I don’t mind doing.  This has also made me somewhat of a connoisseur of irons and ironing boards.  Weird, eh?  Anyway, the ironing board at the hotel had one of those brackets to hold the iron at the flat end of the board.  I HATE THAT.  It makes an entire end of the board unusable - and the end that is best used for ironing pant legs.  C’mon folks, put the iron holder on the wall like everyone else.  Sheesh.

(6) Comments
Posted by Owen at 1225 hrs
Off-Duty

  1. Hear hear on both counts.

    I took the Lake Express ferry once back in 2005 - a crack-of-dawn departure that allowed me to both avoid rush hour traffic in Chicago *and* score a few extra hours of sleep before driving to Massachusetts that day.  It was a great experience but also about 40% cheaper than it is now.

    I’ll be interested to see if they start bringing prices down next year if gas prices stay lower.  I’d imagine that taking a ferry vs. driving is a highly price-sensitive decision for most of us.

    Posted by Recess Supervisor on October 25, 2008 at 1329 hrs


  2. I think it cost about half of that when I last took the ferry.  When I worked in MI, my wife took the ferry and left the car in Milwaukee a couple times.  That worked really well and was priced right.

    I took my entire family on it once as a treat.  Boy, what a treat.  Twenty foot seas left dad and the boys heaving.  The ladies of the Headless household had stronger dispositions.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on October 25, 2008 at 1350 hrs


  3. Our family has often wished we could do the trek across Lake Michigan via the ferry.  We travel to the east coast quite a bit and hate the Chicago drive.  It has never quite been affordable for us, so the experience hangs in the future, hopefully.  Who pays these prices, anyway? 

    We continue to play the downtown Chicago in the middle of the night game….  We are pretty good at it.

    Posted by GAMazy on October 25, 2008 at 1505 hrs


  4. I did it for a Lansing trip a couple months ago.  Took the 6am departure.  Coming home I couldn’t get any space so I just drove around Chicago.

    Where the cost for me was justified is I was able to get essentially a full day’s work done home and back in one day without entirely running out of steam.  That 2.5 hours saved was meaningful to me.  The one thing to remember is that on the Lake Express you can get work done that you otherwise wouldn’t be able to do if driving.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on October 25, 2008 at 1623 hrs


  5. I’ve taken it four or five trips so far.  As it’s worked out my return trips from Ohio have me getting to Chicago around 5:00 pm on Fridays.  I’m not sure the ferry saves me time but I know it saves me hassles.  I also have my ER finished before I get home.

    I also notice improvements at each terminal every year.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on October 25, 2008 at 1852 hrs


  6. Owen- Take the ferry, but rent a car on the other side.  Cuts the cost significantly.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on October 26, 2008 at 1051 hrs


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