Relaxing on the Door Peninsula

If you were to examine our travel itinerary for the past five or six years you would notice that the most frequently visited location (not counting family) is the Door Peninsula in Wisconsin.  This strip of land is a "thumb" that sticks up into Lake Michigan, with the web of the thumb being Green Bay.  Door County is a sparsely populated rural setting most of the year, but in the summer months thousands of visitors (tourists and summer home folks) flock here.  Normally this would lead to congestion and over-building,  but here it seems to be concentrated along two roads and then the rest of the peninsula has stayed amazingly rural.  But as with FMCA last week, large numbers of people attract extra resources.  Museums, restaurants, quaint shops, theatre (I count 8 professional repertory theaters), and music festivals.

Given the proximity to one of the more trafficked Great Lakes, it is no surprise that there are a couple of excellent Maritime Museums.  This tug is part of the museum in Sturgeon Bay.

Door County is also famous for their fish boils... which are a little like a clam bake in a pot, except White Fish is the meat.  This is actually very good eating, plus it is a neat show to watch the food preparation.

One of our favorite places to eat is Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant.  Yes, it is charming with the grass roof complete with goats to keep the grass cropped short.  The food is superb, especially the pickled herring that they prepare on site.  Al Johnson died last summer, and the establishment now has new management.  I noticed some things that would never have happened while Johnson was still there, so there might be some drop in quality.  But it was still pretty darn nice.

On that same property are some other Swedish style out buildings.

There are a series of islands at the end of the Door Peninsula, with the biggest (and most inhabited) being Washington Island.  Dot and I took the ferry out to the island (a 30 minute ride) and poked around a bit.

Among other things we found as ostrich farm (supplying restaurants and gourmet food stores). 

At an island farm museum, Larry found a horse all saddled and ready to ride...  actually the first time he has ridden a steed since the student/faculty donkey basketball game in the early 70s.  It is plain to see that he still does not have the makings of a cowboy.

Located in the woods on a back road on the island is this replica of a 12th Century Norwegian Stavkirke. It is made without nails. This tiny church is used for weddings, special services, and as a meditation point, and in the summer for Wednesday evening services.

I mentioned that the "development" in the peninsula occurs primarily along two roads.  We took the following picture 1/2 block off one of those roads while walking behind a Moravian Church on the way to the church grave yard.  This shift from urban to rural is very common and creates a charm that we find beguiling.

Although we do not have pictorial support, we attended an excellent symphony concert and a classical french farce (The Fox on the Fairway) on two different evenings this week.    The guest soloist for the concert was scheduled to be the former Concert Master of the Rochester Philharmonic, but he had an illness in his family so an 18 year old Avery Fisher award winner was a last minute substitute.  Caroline Goulding was excellent! We also managed to just relax in the surrounding countryside.

Just a few miles from our campground is a small island containing only this lighthouse and the accompanying buildings.  Within 30 years of its construction in the mid-19th century, the bricks on the lighthouse itself began to deteriorate from the ravages of many lake storms.  So the outside of the lighthouse was encased in a iron sheath and concrete was poured between the brick and the iron.  The lighthouse is still in use today, but the kerosene light has been replaced with a 120 watt electric light.  The lens is so efficient that the small powered light can be seen for miles.  It is the last Frenzel light on the Great Lakes.

High tide and storm surges washed across the island enough times that they finally built a perimeter stone barrier to help slow down the waves.  The result makes a good picture.

We have managed to fill our larder with kraut, cherries, specialty sauces, smoked fish, British teas and puddings, and other goodies we will enjoy next winter in Vermont.  There are farmers' markets in each of the surrounding towns at various days of the week, so we have enjoyed fresh produce and baked goods.  Yes, there has been food and fun on the road.

Robin has been a trouper as a traveling companion.  She needs to be hand-fed a couple  times each day.  She has a good appetite most days.  As long as we provide a stable platform for her and coax a little when she gets distracted, she manages pretty well.

With enough support Robin can even dig into her seed dishes.  We have not yet been able to devise a way for her to eat seeds on her own in her cage.  As it is, she still occasionally falls off one of us during the feeding process... but since we try to stay on the couch, she has a soft landing.

Tomorrow we leave the Door Peninsula for a quick visit with Larry's brother Rodger in Muncie, Indiana.... and then to brother Jack and family in Zanesville, Ohio.  Then on home....