Sturgeon Bay Day

After a short 7 mile bike ride, I managed to convince Don to take a drive to Sturgeon Bay.  Not to go shopping, not for general sightseeing....I just wanted to take pictures of Sturgeon Bay, and of the 3 lighthouses that are around the bay area.  One is on Green Bay, and the other two are situated off of Lake Michigan.  I am thankful for a great husband who humors me when I ask him to drive the truck around just so I can take photos.  Maybe it is his way of keeping me out of the tourist shops!  After all, I can't browse the racks of clothes if I am too busy taking pictures!

Sturgeon Bay was stuffed to the gills, so to speak, with boats and yachts of all sizes.  The numerous slips attest to the fact that Wisconsinites love boating!  I bet it would be a challenge for people who would imbibe too much and then try to find their beloved yacht among the myriad floating in the bay.  They could even ask for directions and declare they needed to go back to their white boat....like that would help at all.   I bet 90 percent are white.  

After getting different views of the bay, we decided to go on the hunt for the 3 lighthouses.  It was not easy.  Even though the Door County visitor magazine has a section for lighthouses, there are no specific instructions on how to get there and no signs along the road.  If they want to boast about the 11 lighthouses in all of this county, the least they can do is provide better maps!   Last year, we had no problems finding all the lighthouses along the coast of Oregon.  I have come to the conclusion that people up here are much more secretive when it comes to lighthouse viewing.  We stopped at Potawatomi State Park and got better detailed maps.  But even then it was confusing.  Their county roads  of M, PD, U, etc. make absolutely no sense to this Arizona gal.  They are not in not in alphabetical order and run both north/south and east/west.  If half the fun is the hunt, then we should have been having as much fun as a barrel of monkeys!

On one of the small country roads we can across some wild turkeys.  I think they were doing the Turkey Trot!

The first lighthouse we tracked down was the Sherwood Point Lighthouse.  The road to it was narrow and halfway concealed behind a local bar.  There was a "no trespassing" sign in front of the lawn, so all I could do is take a picture from the road.  Oh well, at least we found it!

The next two on our agenda sit on Lake Michigan.  The red colored North Pierhead Lighthouse was built  in 1882 and sits on a pier that juts out into the lake.  It is still in use today to aid in navigation.  Its light guides the ships into the entrance of the canal dug in 1873 and connects Lake Michigan and Green Bay.   As you can see, it was a very windy day, creating lots of white caps on the lake.

The Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal Lighthouse sits on land almost directly in back of North Pierhead.  This larger lighthouse was completed in October, 1898.  However, there were serious design problems in the construction and the winds shook the tower so violently that the clockwork mechanism was unable to rotate the lens at a constant rate.  Big problem!  The problems were solved and it became fully functional in March of the following year.

Now all of you lighthouse aficionados know just a little bit more about these historic landmarks!  I'm feeling a bit "light-headed".  Time to call it a day and end this blog.

On the Trail Again

No flat tires were going to stop us for very long!  On Tuesday morning, we headed out again on the Ahnapee Trail, except this time we were going in a different direction.  I decided to peddle fast and get ahead of the other three, so I had a picture of the front of them.  Rather unique, don't you think?! 

I thought we had come across an alien ship sitting in the middle of one farmer's field.  Strange looking thing, isn't it?  To my relief, there were no odd people with large eyes walking around.

A sign for Alaska?  Boy, we must have made a wrong turn somewhere!  There was also a sign for S & K's Food and Spirit, but look at where it was pointing to....

a large field of corn!  Food and drinks in a corn field?  Roy said the sign is really for the winter, when snowmobilers use these trails.  I guess they have their own system of trails linking them to their favorite eating spots (or could be drinking spots...remember that this is Wisconsin).

Most of the bike path towards Casco was shady, which we were all thankful for.  On Monday, we had ridden a lot in the sun, and my face was sunburned by the time we were through with our bike ride.

These two steam engines were sitting on a farmer's front lawn.  Our grandson, Nate, would have loved the one that looks like Thomas the Train if he was still 4 or 5.  Nowadays, he is into Legos and history books about WWII.  

At the end of the trip we came across the old car turned into lawn ornament/flower container.  You know for certain there is no HOA here!  The guys from our Home Owners Association would have an absolute hissy fit if something like this turned up in someone's yard!

Trails and Tribulations

On Monday, we drove and hour and a half up north through Door County and arrived at Gills Rock in time to catch the 10 AM Ferry.  Our bikes waited patiently by the fence while Don and Roy purchased our ferry tickets.  Round trip tickets were $13 per person, plus an additional $4.00 per bike.

Another couple agreed to take a picture of the 4 of us together.  We're standing on the top deck of the ferry, with the harbor behind us.  You can tell Char is acclimated to the cooler climate of Wisconsin while I have donned my windproof jacket for the trip across the channel.  I hope I'm prepared for our trip across Death's Door Passage, which is only 6 miles wide and has turbulent currents at all times!

On the way over, Char and Roy check the map of Washington Island and discuss where we are going to bike to first.  There are some bike trails, while at other times we'll have to ride on the roads.

Yeah!  Just ahead is the dock in Detroit Harbor!

First stop for me: Take a picture of the prominent Washington Island sign.

We're off!    Well, almost we're off.....looks like we need to get a bit more organized before we head down Lobdell Point Road.

Another quick stop while Char checks the map to confirm that we're headed in the right direction.

Oh, no!  We started up after stopping and then noticed about two blocks down that Don wasn't with us. Good grief!  He had another flat tire!  He and Roy had worked on the bikes Sunday afternoon and had just put a new tube in his back tire.  That is the second flat tire on his back wheel since Saturday!  Out came the tools from the backpack.  Fortunately, we carried a spare tube and compressed air containers. At least we found a nice, shady spot for them to work in.

This cute "cat-fish" was sitting in a front yard along one of the roads.  Definitely too cute for me not to stop and take a picture of!

Roy is pushing his bike up the sandy hill towards Sand Dunes Beach.  That was tough.

Lunch time.  Don didn't want to turn around and is wearing his sun glasses on the back of his head.  I decided to make a funny face and Roy is the only serious one in the bunch.  We all were hungry at that point.

After lunch we were headed to Norwegian Stavekirke (Stave Church) when we came across the historic Island Dairy building built here in 1916.  We stopped and looked around and that is when Don noticed that his back tire was going flat again!  Roy had pulled out a small steel piece of shrapnel out of the tire when we stopped the first time, but there must have been something else that was missed.  

So, we went to Plan B.  Actually, we only had Plan A until this point, but it was clear that we weren't going to make it to the church and then back to the harbor.  It would have been no problem for Roy, Char and me, but Don would have wound up walking a long, long way.  We made another stop for water and to add more of the compressed air to Don's tire that was getting lower each mile that he rode.

We were almost back to our starting point and I stopped to get a picture of the huge Norwegian Coffee Pot sign.  My aunt Eleanor had given me an enamel coffee pot years ago with this type of design on it and I still have it in my kitchen cupboard.  It doesn't go with the southwestern decor in my house, but it holds too many dear memories for me to get rid of it.

As we turned the corner and were almost back to the harbor, this sign caught my eye.  Was someone trying to tell us something?  Was this a not-so-subtle hint?  Who knew about all of our bike issues?

End of the day:  second flat tire on the bike and 4 sets of tired legs.  Even after all of that, we still managed to bike 12 miles.

Green Bay Packers

When you think of the Green Back Packers, you probably think of the football team, especially if you are from Wisconsin.  The "team" I'm referring to are the guys that work on the ferry that goes between Gills  Rock on the most northern point of Door County to Washington Island.  These 2 spots are situated between Green Bay and Lake Michigan.

These guys really know how to pack in as many vehicles as possible for the short trips made numerous times a day during the summer season.  

First the bikes were loaded, and you can spot Don, Roy and Char ahead of me.  Our bikes were all strapped in at one end of the ferry.

Next came the walk on passengers. 

Then they started to load the waiting cars and trucks......

which were packed in so tight that both the front and back bumpers were touching.  I thought for sure the man in the white truck was going to scrape the side or back of the car in front of him.

Oh my gosh!!!!! I thought the passengers on the bus were all going to disembark before riding the ferry over!

Nope, the bus driver backed it down the middle of the ferry!  I was nervous just watching him and was sure glad that we decided to take our bikes.

With just inches on each side, the behemoth squeezed in between the rows of vehicles. They were packed in like sardines in a can!  Another successful load for the "Green Bay Packer Team"!

Doing Door County

If you ask us about what there is to do in Door County, both Don and I would answer, "Plenty"!  This part of Wisconsin is a popular tourist destination with plenty of quaint towns such as Egg Harbor, Fish Creek, Sturgeon Bay, etc.  There is Peninsula State Park with miles of bike trails, boating, fishing,  5 lighthouses , lots of hotels and B & B's, and hundreds of tourist shops.  This is almost like a "one size fits all" type of dress!  

Char and Roy had the whole day planned for us.  We left in the morning and headed an hour north to our first stop, Door County Coffee and Tea Company.  The aroma in there is wonderful (if you like the smell of fresh coffee) and there is a huge selection of flavored coffee.  Boy, this is right up my alley.  I got some Chocolate Cherry coffee beans and also some Mocha Mint.  Don found some dark roast coffee that he liked and Char found some specialty teas.   We were all happy campers.

I had Roy and Char sit in the colorful Adirondack chairs outside on the lawn so I could get a picture of them.....and the chairs.  Both Don and Jerry (our brother-in-law) had built some of these comfortable chairs this year after seeing them in a store by Glacier National Park.  

Next stop was Peninsula State Park for a bike ride on one of the many trails.  This is a mighty popular place for people not only from Wisconsin, but people living in Milwaukee and Chicago.  This weekend, all 400 + camping spots were taken.   We set out to tackle the Sunset Bike Trail, which traverses through mostly shaded, woody areas, but at some points travels along the edge of Green Bay.

This was a short rest stop for us after we just came up a steep hill.  Everyone made it up the hill except me.  But I wasn't the only one who had to stop and push their bike the last 50 or 100 feet or so.  There were plenty of bikers out in packs on this trail, so we had to be sure and ride single file.

The clouds were building up, and then we heard lightening and thunder.  But that isn't what cut our nice bike ride short......

it was Don's back tire!  He heard a "pop" and sure enough, his back tire was flat.  We had only done 3 miles of the trail when this happened.  Rats!

Roy biked back to the entrance, where we had left our vehicles.  Don, Char and I had to be content with waiting by the kayak launch while he loaded up his bike and came back for Don's.   At least we had some nice big trees to keep us dry while the storm passed overhead.

On our way out of the park, we made sure to stop by and see the Eagle Bluff Lighthouse, which was built in 1868.   It is aptly named Eagle Bluff since it sits atop a 40 foot bluff and cost $12,000 to build. The first lighthouse keeper was from Norway.  The 1000 pound anchor came from the schooner, Oak Leaf, which sank in Sturgeon Bay in 1926.

So, our bike ride was cut short, but it didn't us send us back to Algoma.  Our next stop was Not Licked Yet, my favorite frozen yogurt place.  Every time we get to Door County, I have to go here for some Butter Pecan frozen yogurt.  I am usually a chocolate type of gal, but here the Butter Pecan trumps the chocolate or vanilla flavors.

Don and Char head out after our supper that was topped off by our favorite waffle cones.

After some tourist browsing in popular Fish Creek shops, we headed over to the Peninsula Players theater.  Roy and Char had gotten tickets in the 5th row to see the play, "Murder on the Nile".

We had gotten there early to avoid the crowds, so we had time to sit in the beautiful courtyard outside.  It was cool enough for a sweater that evening.

Looking west, the glowing orange orb created a beautiful sunset over Green Bay.  There were a lot of people taking pictures!  The sunset was just about gone by the time we headed into the theater.  What a great day we had, in spite of rain and a flat tire.  By the time we got home, it was 11 PM,  past our normal bedtime.  At least we managed to stay awake for the hour's drive home, and didn't encounter any deer along the dark country road back to Algoma.