Friday we drove up and did a little winetasting along the way. Wisconsin is no Napa Valley, but we did have fun trying the different wines. They ship in most of their grapes from California anyways, but they do have some local wines- including a lot of fruit wines. I like sweet wine, but this stuff was over the top, even for me. On the way up the peninsula, we stopped at a state park and did a little walking around. We went up a tall tower to check out the view, but just then a downpour started and we had to make a mad dash back to the car. We checked into a little hotel in Ellison Bay- at the top of the peninsula, kind of away from most of the tourist action. Then we went to a wonderful dinner. The waitress brought out a dessert at the end and said, "we hear there is an anniversary over here" - it was so nice. I thought Mike had arranged it, but I guess someone just overheard us talking and told the waitress. Talk about great service :) Set the tone for a romantic evening!
Saturday was a crazy active day. We scarfed down some breakfast and then ran to catch the ferry to Washington Island, off the northern tip of the Door County peninsula. The weather was pretty gloomy and the ride was rough, but it got sunny and warmed up a couple of hours into the day. In Washington Island, we rented bikes and rode across the island to another ferry to get to Rock Island, which is a state park. There aren't any cars or even bikes on Rock Island. Just a few buildings, a campground, and a lot of hiking trails. It is really an amazing place and I really want to go back there and camp sometime! We walked up to a lighthouse there and went on a tour, then we hiked all the way around the island. It isn't too big, but the hike took a bit longer than we expected and we missed the ferry back. Turned out to be a good thing so we could just relax on the beach and enjoy some quiet time. Then it was ferry, bike, ferry again to get back to the mainland. And no, our day wasn't done yet! After a little rest, we headed down to a "fish boil" for dinner. It is pretty cool- they boil fish, potatoes and onions in a huge kettle and then make it boil over with a huge flame at the end. It is a huge Door County tradition, and I was excited to show Mike. Sounds gross too-- boiled fish-- but it is pretty tasty. Then after dinner we found a great little bar/restaurant that had live music and the packers game on. We sat by a firepit outside and had a really fabulous time.
Sunday we had breakfast at a funny little Swedish place that has a sod roof complete with goats on top. Mike had Swedish pancakes and Swedish meatballs. Love it. Then we went off for a kayak ride at Cave Point. This was really the highlight of the weekend. The weather was glorious- sunny and warm. Lake Michigan was smooth like glass and the water couldn't have been clearer. It was like the carribean, only with much colder water! So we paddled out for a while and came to these really cool limestone cliffs and caves. We could even paddle into some of them, which made me crazy nervous, but it was fun. We stopped at a little beach and decided to go for a bit of a swim. The water was shockingly cold at first, but then it was fine, and so fun to swim around!
Then we just paddled back and drove on home, stopping to pick up some famous door county cherries on the way - still have to make a pie with those! On the way home, we stopped by Mike's brother Joe's house and spent some time with his family. We picked up Caroline's cousin Henry who was coming to spend a few days at his grandparents house. We also picked up a few more of Joe's famous veggies- mmmmm, fresh garden tomatoes!
OK, we're still on the iphone pics here, so take what you can get:
Fish boil!
Mike eating his Swedish fare
One of the pretty marinas
Mike enjoying a post-bike ride beer. Capitol Brewery "Island Wheat" beer. The brewery is in Middleton, not far from Mike's parents house. But the wheat they use is all from Washington Island, which is pretty cool. So we drank that beer all weekend.
The lighthouse on rock island
Rock Island shoreline with boathouse
Sadly, we didn't get any pictures from our kayak trip, because I didn't want to risk getting my phone wet, but here is one I found online just to show you what it looked like. Doesn't really capture the magic from that day, but better than nothing :)
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