Door County, two days, let's go! Scott and I left early in the morning, and just over four hours later we were in line for the ferry to Washington Island. Washington Island is north of Gills Rock, the northern tip of Door County. The ferry was still there, but it was full and we would have to wait about 45 minutes to board the next one. The departure time is on the hour in the fall 8am to 6 pm. In the summer its every 45 minutes starting at 7:45 and in the winter it runs every two hours. Time to hop into the Information center, and then walk along the shoreline. The day started out in the 50s but it was sunny and 65 degrees now! Before getting in line for the ferry, you can check out the Overlook above Death's Door. That is the passage, 6 miles wide connecting Lake Michigan and Green Bay, with turbulent waters and strong winds, this was a dangerous place for Indian craft, for French explorers and in 1872, 100 vessels were stranded or damaged. Today, with modern navigation aids, there is little or no danger to large watercraft.
Here it comes!
The cost of the ferry is $7.00 a person, $26.00 for a car. The trip takes about 25 minutes.
Washington Island
Detroit Harbor on Washington Island
We drove off the ferry, and it was time to eat. About a mile from the ferry dock we found The Danish Mill. Scandinavian theme, homemade bread and pastries. It is also a deli, you order your food and sit down. We both had sandwiches, they were good, I especially liked the homemade bread. After we ate it was off to see what this Island is all about.
There were no crowds, actually very few other cars anywhere. There are 700 permanent residents on the island but we did not see many people, anywhere. We drove around 3/4 of the island, the road is not along side the water, so you only see trees.
We then drove to the Lookout Tower. We had to climb up stairs first, A LOT OF STAIRS, then walk up the tower for the view.
Unfortunately its only 180 degree view, trees are higher than the tower to the south. But it is a great view and would have been fantastic if the leaves were more colorful. The Color Report for this area said trees were only 15% in color at this time.
Then back down ....
We had a Island map but the road wasn't clearly mark and we missed the turn that lead to Jackson Harbor and the ferry that goes to Rock Island State Park which is mainly a bird sanctuary.
We did find the Double K-W Ostrich Farm. It was actually a petting zoo, and once again, we were the only people there.
4.00 a person, the owner showed us an ostrich egg, asked if we wanted to buy any food for the animals, no we'll pass on that.
The Ostriches were interested in us...
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| Walk this way... |
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| Black Bear sunning himself |
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| Pot Bellied Pigs saying HI! |
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| Llamas were friendly |
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| Camel was interesting..he almost spit on us..gross.. |
My FAVORITE...the Zeedonk
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| zebra donkey |
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| Goats wanted us to feed them..don't they always |
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| Billy Goat Gruff |
These animals were in VERY good shape. They looked healthy, and their living quarters were clean. It was really nice to see a petting zoo in such good condition. The house next to the animals is for sale..farm animals included ...if you want? Hmm..not sure what that means..
The animals live in the neighboring barns over the cold winter months. The zoo is open May through to October.
It had been over two hours, so we decided to head back to the ferry dock. What was this Island all about, I guess you could sum it up by saying quiet but not much else. Maybe its more bustling in the summer. There are quite a few lodgings or resorts along the water, mainly on the west side of the island. How would I compare this island to say...Mackinaw Island? Well, about the only thing similar is both have bicycle rentals.
It takes about an hour to ride around Mackinaw Island, majority of the bike path along the water. No cars are allowed there, but it's easy to walk to everything. Washington Island is much bigger, and it would take a long time to ride a bike around this Island and rarely even see the water surrounding it. They rent Mopeds, there is a full size golf course, and horse stables. During the summer they have kayak rentals, there is a trolley that can take you to three sites on the island so you don't need to bring your car, there is a nice beach area and it is a major bird flyway. There are a couple of hands-on museums. We had fun, it was a nice day to ride around in a convertible and glad we visited but we probably will not be back. The ferry was full when we came out, no idea where all those vehicles and people were or what they did but the ferry was full again as we got in line to go back.
Waiting for the ferry, we saw this little sailor...
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| too cute! |
Very windy on the ferry on the return trip, but still a very smooth ride.
Back on the mainland we decided to check in to a hotel, then continue our day of investigating. We drove through Gills Rock, then Ellison Bay, and decided to stay in Sister Bay. There are A LOT of places to stay in Door County, so how do you choose? We did not reserve a room before we left. First, many of the lodgings online need you to stay three nights, that wasn't our plan. Second, we wanted to stay somewhere close to somewhere we could eat dinner, and a bar where we could watch the Badger game. This was the off season, I am sure during the summer choices are limited, but vacancy signs were visible as we drove in the morning to Washington Island, on our trip to pick out a place to stay no vacancy signs were now visible. Make note, next time get the room first thing in the morning. Not to worry, Church Hill Inn B&B, looked great. Happy Hour, full breakfast, whirlpool, outdoor pool (won't be used) and a really large room. We chose Wisely!
Cleaned up a bit and headed back out, going north. Ellison Bluff County Park was the destination. We passed the sign earlier on Hwy 42, so we had an idea where to go. First a stop at a Apple Orchard Market, big place, a lot of choices, bought some HoneyCrisp. Back on Hwy 32 north, turned west at sign, drove over a mile then turned north again onto a gravel road. Proceeded on this road for over a mile, one car passed us going the other way. Scott mentioned how I always find the unpaved roads. Then paved road again, phew, and the area looked like a park. Then a sign, Lookout. A short hike. What a view, worth the trip!
deck with overlook
another deck, another view
looking down from deck
Back in the car, no other way out.. back over the gravel road, back onto Hwy 42, north to Door Bluff Headlands County Park. This park was listed as being primitive, which sounds exciting to me. Turned off Hwy 42 onto Garret Bay Road, once again it seemed like we were in the middle of nothing. Then following a sign, we came to a boat launch. This area had a sign that told about a shipwreck not far off shore.
Traveling upward, further along the road, we entered Door Bluff Headlands County Park and a small parking lot. We followed a small path,
that turned into something less than a path. Basically, walk where ever it looks like you can. Look up for tree branches hanging down, look down for tree roots sticking up. It was starting to get dark, and we would have had to sit down to lower ourselves down the hill way to get to the breakwater rocks along the shoreline. Fun hike but as they listed it, very primitive.
After all that walking we were hungry. Back on Hwy 42, back to our hotel. Shower, happy hour, then we decided to eat at a well known location in Sister Bay. Al Johnson's. Yes the place with the goats on the roof.
Al Johnson's established in 1949, has a Swedish theme. No Abba but plenty of Swedish food. I had Swedish meatballs, Scott had the special Prime Rib. Entries were served with Swedish Limpa Bread Basket and Swedish Lingonberry jam. (we bought a jar of it when we checked out). Our food was good, nothing spectacular, but we didn't leave hungry. Then we went to a bar advertising multiple TVs
to watch the uninspired Badgers and the totally pumped Brewers. A couple hours later, with two wins, we both decided it was a full day!
Next day, after a full course breakfast we checked out and headed to Peninsula State Park, located between Ephraim and Fish Creek. $5.00 park fee for one hour (well, it was close to an hour)
We always stop to read the Historical Marker Signs.
We took the Shore Road which lead to Eagle Bluff Lighthouse, then Eagle Tower.
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| Strawberry Islands |
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| A" little" Fall Color |
This tower was a challenge. Narrow stairs, Hand rail on one side only and it was super windy!!!
HorseShoe Island
Then we took the Skyline Road
Eventually the amount of cars started to increase. Peninsula is a camping park with 468 campsites. There were a lot of campsite being used, lots of people walking and biking. Views are fantastic. Just a Beautiful Park!
We said good bye to Peninsula State Park and continued south on 42. Fish Creek (lots of small colorful stores, then Juddville, then stopped at Egg Harbor Marina.
Shipwrecked is next door to the Marina. Its Door County's only Microbrewery. Even though its 5:00 somewhere, it was only around 10 am here, so we passed on by.
We traveled out on Hwy E to find Stone Throw Winery or Harbor Ridge Winery. Just as we were about to give up, miles outside of Egg Harbor, we saw their VinoVino sign. Turned in and saw "Open at 11:00 am". Oh well, check the map and found a way to connect back to Hwy 42.
Onto Carlsville. Right on Hwy 42 we came to Door Peninsula Winery.
This place has everything. And at 11 am we were not the only people there.
One area was a distillery. One area the wine tasting. I loved the sunset splash, cranberry and cranberry apple. Then we went to the Olive Oil tasting. Chocolate oil was surprising good. How about a little fudge tasting as well. Snickers yummy. Of course we bought some bottles of wine and we were on our way.
Next and last stop was Sturgeon Bay for lunch. I said wouldn't it be cool to find a place on along the water, where we can sit outside and watch the boats go under the bridge. Well, as we were driving on business 42, kind of like a main street, I suggested turning here...Scott did and we found the perfect place to eat. Stone Harbor restaurant and pub.
Sat outside, watched the boats, the bridge go up and down. Food was great. Just Perfect!
Then as we traveled over the bridge we had been watching, we say good bye to Door County.
We did a lot in 2 days and had tons of fun. Of course there was one thing we didn't do. Shopping, well I did buy something from Peninsula State Park, does that count? And we did buy apples and wine remember, so technically we shopped. But we didn't go into any of the cute stores, and there are plenty to chose from. Shopping is very popular in every town. Maybe next time!
This was the perfect September weekend to go to Door County, it was sunny, warm and we could drive with the top down. Though I will admit it would have been nice to have more color in the trees. Unfortunately, in October when trees are the most colorful... Door County is packed. There are a couple large festivals the first couple weekends, and many lodgings raise their rates because people come to see the fall colors. As I mentioned many times, we were the only people at a lot of places, which we loved. So, we will drive north in a few weeks to see the fall colors, but this weekend was to see Door County, and we had a great trip!
