As I mentioned last time, this week was a little different. Almost every summer, my mother takes my children and me on a trip. In the past, we've visited Indiana Beach in Monticello, Indiana; Bowling Green, Kentucky; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; and Traverse City, Michigan. This year, she called me up and said, "Hey, what do you have going on next week? Wanna go to Door County in Wisconsin?" Of course we did! So we packed up, and Monday morning we hit the road.
Of course I made good use of my time in the car:
On the ride up, at around lunch time, we were reminiscing about last year's trip to Traverse City, and how we stopped at a restaurant called Pizza Ranch on the way there. We'd never heard of Pizza Ranch before and assumed it was just kind of a local thing. When my daughter announced she was hungry right outside of Sheboygan, we began scrutinizing the signs for a place to stop. (I'm vegetarian, so some places are better than others for me to eat at.) We passed by one sign and the choices didn't impress me, so we drove on. The next sign, I began reading off the options. "Subway, McDonald's...OMG PIZZA RANCH!!!!" My son, who absolutely loved Pizza Ranch, was like, "WHAT?????????"
We had no idea it was a chain!
It was indeed Pizza Ranch, and a tasty lunch was had by all. After that, back on the road again!
We arrived in Door County in the afternoon and checked into our hotel, then drove around Sturgeon Bay and picked up a few things Target and Walmart (who knew swim floaties could be so hard to find?). We had a fantastic dinner at a local Mexican restaurant:
My daughter and I shared, and we still had leftovers. This was sooooooo good.
And then my son and daughter went swimming in our hotel's outdoor pool. BRRRRRRR!!!! My mother and I stayed along the edges. WAY too cold for us.
The next day, we visited a cute store with great food (lots of delicious samples to try) and Door County gifts. The giant apple outside was adorable!
The store also had a Little Free Library! These things are all over Door County; quite a few of the hotels had their own. How awesome is that? Made my reader heart very happy. :)
After that, we headed into Fish Creek. They have an adorable downtown with a lot of kitschy little shops, all local. We visited quite a few of them, and then took in some local history by visiting the Alexander Noble house.
The elderly gentleman docent was incredibly knowledgeable about the home, the history, and the area. Their current exhibit here is "A House in Mourning," and it's set up to show the mourning customs of the Victorian area. Very, very interesting, and the family who originally lived there produced some really innovative women for the times- one was a pharmacist, another was a doctor and pilot. Go Nobles! And I had to take a picture of the kitchen. Check out this stove:
I can't even imagine cooking on this thing.
Afterwards, we went mini golfing.
An unconventional putting stance, but it worked for her!
Have you ever seen a mini golf course without tadpoles? Me neither.
Hey there, little buddy!
We found some interesting lawn sculptures:
And then we headed into Death's Door Maritime Museum.
I had no idea of the history of this area- I'd never even heard of Death's Door before- and it's truly fascinating. So many shipwrecks, lives lost and fortunes destroyed. I'm definitely going to look into reading more about Door County's history, because I found it unbelievably interesting (if anyone has any suggestions for further reading and learning, I'm all ears! I thought a lot about Loreen Niewenhuis's A 1000 Mile Walk on the Beach during our time here). A few pics of some of the interesting info from the museum:
That evening was our last night in Sturgeon Bay, so we took a walk down by the water near our hotel. Lovely view!
There was also a mama duck with a flock of babies. One quack from her and the baby that was charging off on its own would hurry back. I need to take lessons from her!
Wednesday was our beach day! My daughter was thrilled, she loves the beach. My son hates sand, but went along anyway. On the recommendation of a hotel employee, we headed to Peninsula State Park, and it was wonderful.
Ahhhhhhh. So relaxing! Let's not talk about my sunburn.
Last year in Traverse City, we watched people paddleboarding. I'd never seen it before and was intrigued. I didn't try it at the time; I was worried it would be too hard on my back, but this year, after my mom and son went hydrobiking, I leaped at the chance to try paddleboarding with my son.
It was a little weird at first. My first thoughts were along the lines of, "WHO INVENTED THIS AND WHY??? AND HOW DOES EVERYONE ELSE LOOK SO STEADY???" A yacht drove by us and the water got wavy enough that I sat down and paddled like that for a while (and my son stayed down the rest of the time). After the water calmed, though, I thought, "You know, I may not ever be able to do this again, so I might as well go for the full experience." Up I stood, and I stood the rest of the time! It felt a lot more steady, and I found it soooooooo relaxing. If I lived in a place where I could paddleboard regularly, I'd be out there every night.
C'est moi! :)
I'm so, so glad I got to have this experience! If you get the chance, try it, it's really a lot of fun and seriously relaxing.
On the way back, we drove by Al Johnson's Swedish restaurant, more commonly known as the restaurant with the goats on the roof. No goats out when we were there, but it was still neat to see.
It was pretty hot when we were here, so hopefully the goats were cool inside.
The next day was rainy. We were hoping to take a boat tour of Death's Door's shipwrecks, and fortunately, the rain paused long enough that we could indeed go out. This. Was. Crazy. So, one of the reasons that the water there is so very dangerous is that the area is part of the Niagara Escarpment, which goes all the way from Wisconsin to New York (isn't this fascinating???). And those cliffs that are at the edge of the water are also UNDER Lake Michigan!!! I had no idea. So as we were bobbing along out in the lake, I was watching the depth changes on the screen that measured it. At one point, it went from 143 feet deep to 24 feet deep!!!! I gasped out loud, and the tour guide was like, "Yup, it changes in an instant out here." The captain pointed out a buoy that marked a dangerous spot: on one side of the buoy was a depth of 20 feet; on the other, 4 feet. A lot of ships wrecked at that point. The last commercial shipwreck happened in the late 80's, but the currents are so wild out there (again, because of those sudden depth changes!) that the guide said they lose unsuspecting kayakers out there every year.
We were fortunate enough to be able to tour Plum Island, one of the small uninhabited islands off the tip of the peninsula.
The boat house.
There's an old building on the island where victims of shipwrecks used to be taken and held until the water had calmed enough to get them back to the mainland. It's being restored now, and when we were there, the roof was being fixed.
And a few pictures of the water and waves. The weather was gray and ugly, but the island and lake were still gorgeous.
The boat ride there and back was extremely bumpy. I would've liked to have taken pictures of that, but I was hanging onto my daughter with one arm and clutching the side of the boat with the other so we didn't fling out! My daughter, ever adventurous, loved every second of it...until she fell asleep on the way back. Too much vacation! :)
We had a quiet night in the hotel that night, and the next morning, we had breakfast at Fika. Their cardamom rolls are fantastic, if you're ever there. YUM.
'A watched kettle never boils,' it says in Swedish. So cute!
And that was it! We headed home after that, to the land of three loads of vacation laundry and unpacking the bathroom bag (all of which was accomplished immediately; I hate vacation stuff sitting around).
Saturday was a rough day. The car trip home was a lot longer than going, and I don't know if I was sitting in a different position or what, but my back was absolutely terrible. I was having a hard time walking, and at one point, I wasn't actually sure I could get my left leg into bed. Fun times! I spent most of the day icing and heating my back. Sunday, I still woke up in pain, but it got better as the day went on.
And hey, remember when I said I made good use of my time in the car on our vacation to Door County?
I wasn't joking!
Twelve! Twelve dishcloths! Ah ah ah! /Count von Count voice. My mom was the driver for the trip, so every time the car was in motion, so were my needles. I've got one more solid colored dishcloth on my needles, and then I'll use the scraps to make one or more multicolored cloths. Any remaining scraps will go into other scrap projects. Not a bad start on some gifts, although I obviously still need to finish ends. I also knocked a book off of my Goodreads To Read list, so yay for that!
And there we go! That was my exciting week in Door County, Wisconsin. Have you been there? I'd love to hear your experiences. I adored it and wouldn't mind visiting again someday. :)
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