There is a particular comfort that comes with rain on the roof at night when you are camping. First it may wake you gently, then it soothes you back to sleep and makes everything right with the world. We slept well listening to the rain falling on the roof. It was still raining when we woke and continued through breakfast. And then right on queue the rain stopped, Harper had a good walk and we made plans to see what we could see. The rain brought relief to the hot weather we had been having so as we headed out to explore on an overcast morning the weather still seemed quite nice.
Our private beach on Lake Michigan
We went north to Ellison Bay and discovered another quaint little town. Someone along the route said that Door County is the Nantucket of Wisconsin, they may have been right. The small towns are just as cozy. We were in search of hikes and the woods and vistas as over the next several hours we crisscrossed the peninsula first to the east coast to Newport Beach where we found a spectacular beach on the shore of Lake Michigan. Harper ran the beach and sniffed out everything. Carol stuck her feet in the frigid water… I was a coward.
The hiking trails are something out of a story book, Door Bluff Headlands
We found a beautiful trail out through he woods. This is a state park and they had remote camping sites back along the trails, they even had designated sites for bicyclists. From here we headed up to the top of the peninsula to the town of Northport to check out the ferry to Washington Island, a place we had visited by boat so many years ago. Then we were off to Gills Rock a cute little village with shops that enticed. While Carol was shopping, Harper and I found an ice cream. We then traveled down the Green Bay side and Found the Door Bluff Headlands and hiked there a bit.
We crisscrossed the peninsula
We met a nice couple there traveling by RV as well and chatted for a while, the credit to meeting so many nice folks of course goes to Harper who seems to start conversations where ever we go. From the we found the Ellison Bluff County Park and hiked out to the overlook, a scary proposition for Carol who isn’t so fond of heights, but a trooper nonetheless.
Out over the edge…. Green Bay in the backgrou nd
The Doodle ambled back down route 42 on the west side of the county and we arrived at Sister Bay and walked around for a while. We ordered a veggie pizza from the Wild Tomato, which we took back to the campground. This was a fine finish for a great day of exploring. Pizza, cribbage and a quiet evening at the campground, and again the rain fell overnight providing another good nights sleep. We had a leisurely morning at the campsite and plans for breakfast at the famous Al Johnsons Swedish Restaurant. We found parking in Sister Bay right by the water and walked over to Al Johnsons, where we had a one hour wait for a table.
Amazing breakfast at Al Johnsons
Popular guy, this Al Johnson. They had a great gift shop of Swedish stuff, even a rather large book on ‘How to Stack Firewood’! Once we got seated the service was great. The coffee tasted very good. We both had the Swedish Breakfast Special, a stack of Swedish pancakes with lingonberry sauce,Swedish meatballs and eggs. Breakfast was awesome.
The jetty in Bailey’s Harbor
By noon we were back on the road exploring once again. After poking around in Sister Bay we crossed the peninsula again and went over to Bailey’s Harbor. We walked out on the jetty and all around the village. We chatted with the docent at the Historical society about the area and popped in and out of shops. Carol gathered lots of brochures and we found a winery called Stones Throw and headed ff for a tasting. We ended up walking out, this was the snottiness bunch of people we had ever met. Even the signage was offensive..we have been to a lot of vineyards and wineries over the years and never had an experience like this. We moved on.
Main Street Fish Creek, pronounced Fish Crik.
Our stay for the night was at another farm, Waseda Farm near Bailey’s Harbor. We pulled in around 4 in the afternoon and chatted with the host, she was very nice. This is an organic farm that grows vegetables, grass fed beed and pork, and had lots of chickens for eggs. To our surprise the ‘campsite’ was not at the farm but rather about a mile down the road, turn right go up the hill take another right and park back in the woods.
Our home for the night in the ‘back forty’ - not a soul around.
This was a wonderful unexpected place to camp for the evening. Complete seclusion, away from everything. Harper could just run and play as she liked. And there were hiking trails all around. We walked down past where they kept the chickens, 2800 layers. They have Leghorns, Araucana and Bovan Browns. This 500 acre farm supplies many of the local stores with organic produce, meats and eggs. We had a great evening except that I lost two straight games of cribbage to Carol…argh! In the morning we had a spectacular sunrise and as I walked out to take a picture or two I heard the strangest bird cal I think I have ever heard outside of the tropics. Harper and I went to explore. We saw two very large Sandhill Cranes feeding in a field that had been freshly mown. I had never seen or heard Sandhill Cranes before, an app I have helped me identify them. They were awesome.
Not the best quality pic but there they are, Sandhill Cranes
We has coffee in the sunshine, made a good breakfast and took our time breaking down out little camp. We rolled out of the camp and began to explore once again.
A perfect setting for coffee and muffins. . . .
We wandered over to Whitefish Dunes State Park, then off to Grandma Tommy’s country store. We had discovered when we first arrived in Door County the there is an abundance of Cherry orchards up here..we bought lots of cherry jam and such at Grandma Tommy’s. From there we found a regular grocery store to refill the pantry and then on to Renards Cheese..we are in Wisconsin you know. So lots of cheese and cheese curd have filled in the empty spots in the fridge.
CHEESE!!!!!!!
The we wandered down to the Sturgeon Bay Area and found a hiking trail at the Lake Michigan some of the canal that cuts through the peninsula. We transited this canal on our Great Loop trip back in 1999. We hiked and watched boats exiting into the lake, Harper had another nice Long Beach to run on and just sniffed everything.
The Lake Michigan end of the canal….
We are now camped in a nice little campground near Algoma called Timber Trail Campground. It is nestled in the middle of farm land, but nicely kept and wooded. Our site is directly across from the laundry and the dumpster is nearby as well, all is right with the world.
In the campground relaxing after a nice hot shower. . .
Our exploration today took us into Green Bay and Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers. Harper and Carol and I had a great time. What a stadium it is, just what you would expect from a team like the Packers.
I know, it’s difficult being a Patriots fan here.
We walked the grounds and looked at the statues of Lombardi and Lambeau, and read all the plaques and took in the sights. In the pro shop, even though we are die hard Patriots fans we couldn’t resist t-shirts and hats and stickers and even a Green Bay jersey for Harper. As we walked around everyone was so friendly and helpful, except for the snotty kid when we wanted to take a tour. He all but told us to go home because we had Harper with us. This is amazing as Harper makes friends where ever she goes. At one point Carol and Harper had a dozen or so little kids wanting to pet Harper. I think Harper loves the attention.
Harpers’ fan club
After we left Lambeau Field we found a Mexican/Southwest Grille and had lunch, it was pet friendly and Harper was welcomed there. Lunch was awesome, and when you eat out it always seems just a little better than home made, certainly less work.
The road names don’t make sense!
And another thing that we just have not figured. out. The county roads all have letters, which seem not to follow any particular pattern. You can cross County Highway C and the next crossroad may be County Highway S — I just cannot figure it out. It just isn’t logical. We asked the waitress at the restaurant and she said: “Huh, I never thought about it…Thats V over there and then it turns into CV there. I don’t know., it just what they call ‘em.”
Below is a gallery of images that you may enjoy in no particular order and without explanation
