Saturday, October 11, 2014
Just Connecting Words: Just Connecting Words: ON THE ROAD AGAIN - LAC DU ...
Just Connecting Words: Just Connecting Words: ON THE ROAD AGAIN - LAC DU ...: Just Connecting Words: ON THE ROAD AGAIN - LAC DU FLAMBEAU 2ND VISIT : It was 1972 or 1973 when we extended our camping season into Septembe...
ON THE ROAD AGAIN - DOOR CCOUNTY PENINSULA, WI
We are on
the road again and this will be our last trip this calendar year. It was a
wonderful spring, summer and fall with our new trailer, but like all good
things it must end, at least for now. It was starting to mist as we pulled out
of the drive for Hy-Land Court campground located between Ellison Bay and
Sister Bay on the Door Peninsula. It continued to mist on and off for almost
the entire drive. We took
highway 151 out of Madison and it would take us all the way to Green Bay where
we would connect with highway 57/42 until we get to the campground. It took us
about an hour and a half to get to Fond du Lac where we would normally travel
up the west side of Lake Winnebago to Green Bay, but decided for a change of
pace and because we have no real schedule to drive up on the east side. We stayed
on highway 151 and went through towns I hadn’t been to in probably 30 years or
more. When we got to Green Bay we ran into a detour which, because of a wrong
turn, put us in the parking lot of Serrogi’s Candy Store where we always stop
when we visit Green Bay. Got back on the detour route and ended up on highway
172 that passes within blocks of Bellevue where we lived for 6 years. Decided
not to drive past the house on this trip.
We could see
the water of the Bay of Green Bay on our left about 10 minutes north of Green
Bay. I knew we were headed in the right direction. At 4 pm we arrived at one of the nicest
campgrounds that we have been at this year. Very large sites with many mature
trees, lots of room between sites, so level we didn't have to use any leveling
blocks and full hook ups that were all within five feet of our trailer. Even cable
TV for free, but probably hidden (included) in the nightly cost. Can only pick
up two PBS stations up here with our Wynguard antenna and didn’t want to miss
the Packers on Thursday so I do appreciate the cable TV. Finally saw about 30
minutes of sun at 5 pm so we are hoping it gets nicer as the week goes on.
Woke up to
cool temperatures and fog on Wednesday so we took time for a nice leisurely
breakfast and first got on the road to Cassville about 10 am. It’s the furthest
town south of where we are camped that we planned to visit. We visited a winery,
did the free wine tasting and found three that we had to have. Don’t think all
six bottles will make it home. We also did the tourist shopping thing and Lor
found some Christmas gifts that I can’t tell anyone about. We had a wonderful
late lunch/early dinner at a restaurant called “The Shipwreck”. Great food,
cheery pulled pork, great service and
their own brew pub beer that I probably wouldn’t order again.
Rained all
night but it should clear up later so we will journey to “Sweetie Pies” bakery,
just south of Fish Creek, that specializes in what else but homemade pies. It
was 11 am and we had to try a piece of Door County cheery/peach pie, another
healthy lunch, told my doctor I would eat more fruit. Definitely made the old
fashioned way with hand rolled crusts and just fruit without any type of
filling. Over 30 different pie selections and more that can be special ordered.
It was good as good as advertised so we took a small apple and small cherry
“Cutie Pie” back with us to have as desert at half time. Nice having cable TV
and being able to watch the Packers and Vikings. Lor also visited a jewelry
shop next door and found some very unique earrings that were calling her name.
Our next stop was Fish Creek, the largest shopping village on the peninsula.
Walked around all of the stores until we were shopped out at about 2:30pm. I
dropped Lor off at our trailer and drove to the northern most point on the
peninsula, Gills Rock, only about seven miles from our campground, to see if
there was some place to fish from shore. The trout and salmon are coming into
shore now and hopefully I can get a couple and have them smoked. The fish store
in Gills Rock will smoke them in 24 hours so you can take the fish with you. Found
a pier to fish from, but I wanted to get back to the trailer to watch the
Packers pre-game show.
Rained all night
again and Lor decided this would be a good day to stay in and work on some of
her projects, check emails, read and play games. I’m not a very good sitter and
always have to be going and doing so I drove to Gills Rock to fish for some
trout but the winds were 20 mph with gusts to 30 and the waves were 3 to 4 feet
breaking over the pier I had planned to fish from. If the Green Bay side is
windy the Lake Michigan side is usually calmer. I drove to Newport State Park
about 7 miles east. It’s a rustic camp ground for tents only, nice beach, water
was quite calm, but there was no place to fish from. My next stop would be
Rowley Bay on Lake Michigan just south of the park, but I had to drive back to
Ellison Bay to get there. It was one of those, “you can’t get there from here” and
of course the DNR warden meant directly from here to there. She then sent me to
an inland lake only two miles from the park, but they were already taking out
the fishing pier there for the winter. Nowhere is very far from anyplace else
up here and it only took me about 15 minutes to back track and arrive at
Rowley’s Bay. Talked to a couple of fishermen in a 20 foot boat who tried to
fish the Green Bay side yesterday and got chased off by the wind and waves and
were about to venture out on a much calmer Lake Michigan today. The water is
very shallow here and piers don’t go out far enough into the lake to make
fishing worthwhile.
No fishing
today, just cold and damp that seems to go right thru the old bones at times.
Nothing that a nice hot shower didn’t take care of. One of the advantages of
having a full hook up for the camper.
It’s almost hard to call what we do camping with all these luxuries. Went
up to Gills Rock for a delicious dinner of pan fried Lake Michigan perch at the
Shoreline restaurant right on the shore overlooking whitecaps. They start
serving at 5 and we got there at 5:15 and had over an hour wait, time to sit at
the bar drink an old fashion and enjoy the view even if it was cloudy with fog
rolling in. The wait was more than worth it and I would recommend this
restaurant to anyone who makes it to this area. We had so much to eat that we
couldn’t even look at desert and brought enough food home for dinner tonight. They
do close for the season the end of October along with many of the business
establishments up on the Door County Peninsula. Listened to the weather report
at 10 pm and they predicted more of the same, wet, cold and rainy for the next
couple of days.
Saturday
morning and we woke up to more of the same. Same weather at home so we really
aren’t missing anything by being here. It started raining about 6 am. I really
don’t mind the sound of the rain on the roof waking me up, but it usually means
we probably won’t get to do much today. Lucky for us we get ESPN 2 on the TV
and will be able to watch the Badger game at 2:30 pm. Plenty of time to read,
write and maybe even play a game or two. Lazy days are OK too. Can’t believe the
Badgers lost to Northwestern and can’t believe how bad both our quarter backs
played. I remember when Northwestern went for years without even winning
one game. I believe they have the honor of the longest
losing streak for a FBS college at 34 games between 79 and 82. I hope one of
our quarter backs gets it together before the season is over.
We woke to a
very gray and windy Sunday morning but no rain so we decided to do a little
exploring north of the campground in Ellison Bay and Gills Rock. Stopped just
outside of Gills Rock at Uncle Tom’s candy store and got some different types
of brittle, even one with bacon in it which is sweet and salty at the same time.
Also stopped at Seaquest Orchards Farm Market for apple cider, chocolate
covered cherries and fudge with cherries in it. I would recommend stops at both
places if you are up this way. The theme up here food wise is cherries and
apples if you haven’t guessed by now. The picture below is a brief period of clear skies and the scenery is why we come up here.
So windy I
didn’t even stop to throw anything that might attract those salmon that are
supposed to be here. We decided to treat ourselves to dinner at Al Johnson’s Swedish
restaurant with the grass and goats on the roof. It’s been in Sister Bay since
1949 and they are known for their Swedish pancakes, Swedish meatballs and
strawberry schaum torte. We had some of the best steaks that we have had this
summer and ate too much to have desert. Can’t visit Door County without a stop
for something to eat at Al Johnson’s.
Monday
morning we woke to this strange bright light coming through our windows. I
remember now. It’s sunshine. Decided to visit Sister Bay the city just south of
the campground and see what the shops had to offer. Nothing that we had to have
and it was still early in the day so we decided to drive the 14 miles east to
Bailey’s Harbor on the Lake Michigan side of the peninsula. Very pretty
scenery, colors are finally getting nicer and should be perfect right after we
go home tomorrow and through this weekend. Forecast is also for sun for the
remainder of this week right through the weekend. Sometimes you pick the right
week to see the fall colors and sometimes you don’t, but it’s still fun being
here. Stopped back at Al Johnson's at 1 pm for a piece of that strawberry schaum torte that looked so good last night but we didn't have room for. Fun to be at the age where we can have just a special desert for lunch and not feel guilty about it.
Tuesday
morning greeted us with bright sunshine again and a little sadness that our
camping adventure is over for this year. We are already thinking about where we
will be off to next spring, summer and fall.
My blog, “Just Connecting Words” will continue as the spirit moves me to
write about “this, that and the other thing”.
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