Adios Door Co

Tonight will be our 11th here this trip, but given how much we have enjoyed this RV spot we will likely be back in the future.  It was a nice day today as well; highs in the mid 70s.

We had breakfast at the the White Gull Inn... a Fish Creek landmark since the late 1800s.  Not counting two ice cream sessions, this was only the third time we "ate out" since we arrived; one breakfast and two lunches. There are many nice places to eat but we have gotten very comfortable with our own cooking.






The flowers around most businesses in this area continue to delight us.  Here are the ones by the sign to the White Gull



We then walked the two blocks to a small public beach for another look at Green Bay. It was still an overcast and hazy morning.

We spent a last hour at the dog park and then shared a slice of cherry pie from the major cherry packer's store just down the road.

We will head to the city of Green Bay in the morning.  It is only 1 1/2 hours and we plan on trying out the RV sites at the Brown County Fair Grounds.

 

 

Blue Skys

Another "easy" day.  We headed to the one laundromat that we are aware of and helped the local economy by doing about 40 lbs of laundry.  So we are now set for another couple of weeks.  Then a trip to Ephraim to mail a card and deal with our love of ice cream and we stopped at the dog park for an hour.  I only played with my camera for these of a lone hawk over the open fields.

Not much else to take a picture of at the dog park.  Although very nice, it is next to a waste treatment plant on one side and a softball park on the other.

 

Expanding Knowledge

It brightened and warmed to a beautiful 73 by early afternoon.  However, we spent the morning in the coach doing a bit of cleaning and prepping for a week's plus laundry we have to do tomorrow. And as usual, we like to read about our surroundings.




Here are some "interesting" facts we came upon during our reading in the last day or so.  Door County will produce 9.2 million pounds of cherries this season...from over 2,000 acres.  Harvest began last week and should extend into the first part of August.  Although we have seen acres of cherry trees, we have also seen many acres of apples, which we have picked with relish in our past visits.  The county as about 500 acres in apples. We especially like the McIntosh.

For our geologist friend in Plano,  Door County peninsula is a part of the Niagara Escarpment which you can read more about  Right Here.    It is from U. of  W. Green Bay where Carol got her BS degree.  As is no surprise to me.. the state of Michigan really does sit in a giant depression.

It is pictured here in the bright pink.

The bay and city of Green Bay were discovered and founded by Robert Cavelier de la Salle who was a French explorer credited with claiming Louisiana and the Mississippi River Basin for France. In addition, he explored much of the United States' Midwest region, portions of Eastern Canada, and the Great Lakes.  This guy really accomplished a lot...  Check Here

And finally, for today... this part of the country is known for its fish boils.  We have tried this in the past but found the boiled whitefish and potatoes to be a colorful experience but rather bland in taste. See a picture HERE

I prefer the Chicken Booyah which my papermill coworkers in Green Bay made on special days. There are many folks of Belgian decent in the area and they make it in a large pot over a fire in their back yard; letting it cook for hours and hours. What was interesting to me is that they just hack the whole chickens into pieces and pitch them in.  Straining the bones out of each mouthful is an important part of the process.
Pretend to be in Wisconsin and Make Some

A Down Day

Milestone.... last night was our 300th night spent in this RV since we got it in Oct of 2006.

A down day but we aren't "down" at all.  This was a day to do little and to enjoy it.  Light constant rain/drizzle from 9:00 to 4:00.  About 57 degrees.   We took the opportunity to drive the 1/2 hour south to Sturgeon Bay where they have a new super WalMart.  Stocked up on groceries and bought a slow cooker.  We had a 3 # roast for supper and it was very good.  Lots of reading, embroidery, and work on the reunion pix today.

No new pictures.

Out and About Again

Partly cloudy today.. has stayed about 65 all day. Cloudy at first then the sun came out.   Everything we have done in the week since we arrived has been within a 20 minute drive of our RV site.  We started today at Ellison Bay Bluffs county park. As usual.. a rather dense forest of maple and white birch.  It overlooks the Green Bay side of the peninsula.  We took the dogs along for a brief walk and I got a few pictures.

 

Then we stopped at the new Sister Bay dog park. This was really very nice.. about 1/2 acre fensed with benches, some shade and reasonable grass. The dogs seemed more interested in the smells than the other dogs but did play a bit.

 

Here is my first movie with the Nikon.. should be about 1 minute.  It is fuzzy in full screen but that is the quality of the upload I chose.  The file  itself is just fine. I'll learn.      Let me know how this runs.. it seems to stop and start for me, but could well be our slow WiFi connection.

Then to the other side of the peninsula to Bailey's Harbor where we had "lunch" ... frozen custard ... and made a stop at a nursery and gift shop on the way home.  A very cool and relaxing day.. The dogs had a good time too.

Today's photos are HERE



Relaxing in the Rain

It was cloudy this morning and a series of rain showers began about 9:00 and have not stopped for more than an hour or so since.  It is now 9:00 PM.  Not the kind of "frog strangler" rains that Houston gets.. but just basic gentle showers off and on all day.   So today was a good day to stay inside and read and work on my Bennett 2013 Reunion pictures from last month.

So no pictures for today but we thoroughly enjoyed it anyway. The area needs the rain.  Well.. OK..here is one picture that week... this is the Laser Tag crowd which includes most of you.

Go... Take a Hike

Another fine day.. It has been about 72-75 most of the day with light breeze and scattered clouds.  We took a short drive north to the tip of the peninsula to Gills Rock.  A little town where a ferry operates to take people across “Deaths Door” to Washington Island.  Carol and I visited the island in the distant past, and stayed a night in the back of our station wagon after warming up well in a small local tavern. We have also been there with the 3 kids.

 

Then a short drive SE to Newport state park and wildlife area which is on the Lake Michigan side of the peninsula.  This is a fine little park with “hike in” unimproved camping sites.  It is considered wilderness camping.  We mapped out a trail we thought would be suitable and enjoyed a nice 1 ½ hours of varied terrain and varied biology. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Come along with us on this 3 mile hike at THIS LINK

And if you have a further interest in Door County trivia… this is a short article on “Death’s Door" I found worth a save.  Ship Wrecks

Favorite Park

About 68 all day today and mostly sunny.  We spent today at Peninsula State Park in Fish Creek.  This is one of our favorite places and we consider it very special.   We began driving the hour north from our home in Green Bay in 1970 and camping on raised boards in the back of our Volkswagen Bus.  Throughout the 70's the 5 of us camped, hiked, and bicycled here and enjoyed the nature center, fishing, and the cool evenings. We graduated to a tent, to a pop-up, and finally to a 20 ft. travel trailer.  All were just great.

Established in 1909, it is Wisconsin’s most popular camping destination, but is so vast, it doesn’t feel that way at all. Although there are “RV sites”, many, many people are in tents.   Everything remains quite rustic and quiet with only one modest park store for supplies and snacks.

 

Eight miles of Green Bay’s shoreline wrap around northern hardwood forests, wetlands, meadows and 150-foot high dolostone cliffs.  Three quarters of the park’s 3,776 aces are totally undeveloped except for being chris-crossed by hiking and biking trails. The majority of the trees are maple, white birch, and cypress. 

We started at the small Weborg Point campground.. where Chip and the girls caught bullheads and Chip still bears the scar from poking himself in the cheek with a glowing marshmallow stick.  It was here our white German shepherd, Coco, dozed so close to the campfire that her fur started to smoke a bit.

 

Just across the road from Weborg is a hidden spot that Carol and I always find delightful and peaceful. Pioneer Cemetery is what the aging entry sign says.  In history texts it is also called the Thorpe-Calflin Cemetery.  It is not shown on any of the park maps. Containing not more than a dozen or so headstones from the mid 1800’s; our favorite is shown here.. from 1905. It is also the most recent although it has badly weathered since we first saw it in 1971. 

The stone reads:

Hugh A. Son of  E. Melvin
Dec.18 1898    Aug. 9 1905
"Our darling son hath gone before,
To greet us on the blissful shore"

 

The small lamb on top is hardly recognizable.  People have left coins, feathers, and flowers around this headstone of a 6 1/2 year old boy.  There are also the stones of two brothers who died in the civil war along with a marker for Mr. Increase Calflin who was the first white man to settle with his family in what is now Door County in 1834.
 

 

We walked about 4 miles along several of the trails and visited the lighthouse and fire tower.  Then we had an early diner at one of our favorite places in Ephraim.

More of our site visits and pictures in today’s web album. HERE

Sunny and Cool

In the high 60's today so again we went out to sight-see and shop; mostly in Fish Creek.  We will visit the large state park there in a day or so.  We made a trip to an art gallery to see the work of Chuck's childhood friend Fred Somers.  Although he lives in MN, he has displayed here for years. They were having a festival there so there were many people and artists of all sorts.  Also artists at work at Anderson’s Dock in Ephraim as we came through.

 

This little 1900 cottage in Ephraim caught our eye… It is just off the main road, only one short block from the water.  It would be a great retreat.  Now if only they didn’t have 9 months of winter and 3 months of bad snowmobiling in this area.   And if it were not priced as displayed at this link which is worth a look Cathy.

Click Here

 

For the 24 or so other pictures I took today you can Click Here

Life is a Bowl - Monday

Yes... life is a bowl of cherries this week in Door County WI. 
 

 

 A beautiful day… Needed slight heat last night. Today, Monday, is our first full day.  I was up at first light.  Carol somewhat later.   I took some pictures around the site this morning. 

We then took off for some shopping and visiting of places we have enjoyed so much in the past.  Today we went to Ephraim and started off with ice cream at Wilsons.   My pictures are in a web album you can see just by clicking HERE  if you choose.   

Wee Bee Here

We got here just fine. 1433 miles.  Site D-11   At Hy-Land Court RV Park which is between Sister Bay and Ellison Bay in Door County WI.  It was 6 years ago that we were in this area but then we stayed in Sturgeon Bay.  This is much more convenient for the things we want to do and see.  We were not aware of this RV park before… found it on the internet.  The older half is totally in shade from big hardwoods.   We have full hookup, cable is extended channels, wifi seems just fine, and,  as is true throughout this region, cell phone may be a bit iffy at times. 

 

Likely more than others need or want to know, but this is a record for our future reference. We expect to come again.

As you can see … our site could not be much better.  It is crushed rock but very level, surrounded by nice blue grass and good trees… yet open to some sun.  Temp when we arrived at 3:30 PM was 68 degrees. Wow..   Nice…  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Open grassy field on the left across from us.

From our picnic table...

On D Road Again

This is our third night on the road for our outing this summer.   We left on Thurs and headed NE to Arkansas.  First night was spent at Arkadelphia AK.    Last night at Benton AK. We have been doing about 400 miles / day which is our comfortable max.  Carol has been driving as well which helps a lot.  All has gone very smoothly at our decision point in mid Illinois, so we are now heading on up to Door County WI before the rally in Goshen Indiana.  Tonight we are in Rockford Illinois.  

We are much pleased with getting back into farm country.  Wide open spaces with fields of corn and soy beans that fill a whole section.  We are not used to seeing these large commercial farms.  Huge meticulous fields.  A small old farmhouse with huge storage facilities, and sheds, and rows of equipment.. So much for the family farm idea.  

I am quite fascinated by how different the corn looks from when I was in Nebraska so long ago.  Planted much closer together.. almost looks solid, but there are very narrow rows. The leaves mostly point up, rather than hanging out and over. We saw this stuff from all the way up in Illinois.  Must the modern genetically engineered stuff or something.

 

Of course, it could also be that we have been in Texas so long that I don't know corn when I see it and it is something else.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the CoffeeBean and Toad at a rest stop as well as a few other pictures.  Sunday we should be at an RV park in the Ellington Bay region of Door County WI.

 The Master Gardner Takes The Wheel