In Your Own Backyard

Blogging has kind of taken a backseat lately.  As I said before, I don't have a lot of new stuff to blog about.  I pretty much do and make the same things over and over again.  I still make boiled eggs in my pressure cooker twice a week, I make bone broth at least once a month, I make a pitcher of decaf iced tea every other day, I make bread when needed and prepare anything else we want or need, I knit and read books.   Life is pretty darn good, and I have written about most of it.  The only thing that really disturbs me is the news and the lack of respect I see wherever I look.  A lot of people are mean and self serving but they can't even see it in themselves, so I won't go into that.  It won't change things.

Being retired allows us to do most anything we feel like.  Every now and then we take a little ride.  We are so fortunate to be able to see some wild Whooping Cranes in our area.  We have seen adult cranes who spend their summers nearby and some young ones who are learning the ropes and will hopefully learn to migrate to Florida soon.

There are 7 young cranes and 2 adults eating from a harvested corn field.

These are two young birds.  They still have some brown coloring.

One of these cranes is Henry.  He is 5 years old and comes back every year.  He has taken a year old bird under his wing.

The past weekend was cold and rainy, but today we had gorgeous weather.  We decided to take a little ride to see if the rain had destroyed the fall color.  We headed north toward Stevens Point, WI.  Since we live 45 to 60 minutes in any direction from a nice sized town, we decided to go this direction today.  The fall color map for Wisconsin said the color in that area was at 75%.  As we traveled along, we saw a tree now and then that was pretty, but nothing spectacular.  We crossed the Wisconsin River and saw some slightly pretty views, but the trees looked like a lot of leaves had already fallen.

Slightly past this railroad trestle we decided that the trees were getting past peak color, and we decided to head back home.  We could see a large factory in the distance so we headed in that direction.  When we got there we saw the factory was a cheese factory and it had a retail store attached.  We got out to see what they had.  They had a lot of merchandise plus all kinds of cheese.  The name was Mullins Cheese.  It was near the town of Knowlton, Wisconsin.  We bought some brick cheese which was on special and fresh white cheese curds.  Needless to say, we opened the curds in the parking lot.  They were super squeaky.    http://www.mullinscheese.com/about-us-66445

From here we continued back to Stevens Point.  Even though we had plenty of cheese curds, we felt we needed to eat lunch.  It was already 2:00 so we stopped at a Panera Bread.   It was delicious.  We changed our route home slightly because we were still hoping for some beautiful colors.  No such luck.  It is still quite green in our area.  Maybe we will have our chance yet.

Just as the sun was going down, I saw the best view of the day.  It was right outside our window.  The marsh was already in the shadows, but the sun was shining on the trees on the horizon.   The trees looked golden, and they reflected in the water.  I traveled 100 miles today, and the best view was in my own backyard.

Escaping the Heat to Washington Island and Cave Point Park

Whatever is going on, I don't like it.  Temperatures have been in the 90's at the end of September in Wisconsin.  This is usually the time of year for crisp sunny days, when there is something in the air that reminds us of apples, pumpkins and beautiful trees.  Not this year.  I haven't counted, but we have had many days this month with temperatures over 90 degrees.  As I was watching the weather last week, I noticed that northern Door County usually has temperatures 10 to 15 degrees cooler.  Since that area was on my list of places to visit, I thought let's go.  We looked at the forecast and yesterday, September 25, 2017 looked perfect.  We considered finding a place to stay overnight but realized that a day trip was doable.  We asked some friends to go along.  It was pretty short notice, but we were on the road by 7:00am.  We traveled up highway I-41 past Neenah, Appleton, Green Bay and then onto highway 54 to the Door County peninsula.  Our electronic GPS navigator kept trying to change our course to a quicker route, but we ignored her for the most part.   We wanted to go through some of the tourist towns on the West side of the peninsula.  We went through Egg Harbor, Fish Creek, Sister Bay to Gills Rock and over to the Northport Pier to take the ferry to Washington Island.

Al Johnson's Swedish restaurant in Sister Bay has a grass roof with Goats.

At the Northport Pier visitors center.

There a lot of Cormorant's fishing on Lake Michigan

The ferry to the island leaves every hour so we didn't have to wait.  It is a 30 minute trip with beautiful views although it was too early to see any fall color.  We saw very little for the entire day.  We took the car over so we could drive around and see the sights on our own.  We didn't want to rely on the trolley, but it is an option for those who want to don't want to take their car.

When we arrived on the island we were greeted with these signs.   

Welcome sign showing the Scandinavian influence.

As we began to drive around, I noticed that Washington Island is more than a tourist destination.  It is a small town surrounded by Lake Michigan with a police station, school, medical clinic, library, one grocery store and a bunch of bars and eating establishments.  There are about 700 permanent residents.  We asked how people get to the island in the winter.  The ferry operator said they have ice breakers to open a path for the ferry, making it able to go to the island and back twice a day.

The first place I wanted to go was Schoolhouse beach.  I had watched a piece on Discover Wisconsin that toured some of these points of interest.  I also read a Kathleen Ernst book called "The Light Keepers Legacy" which made me aware of this area.  Washington Island and Rock Island were established as a town in the mid 1800's.  Schoolhouse beach was the site of the first log school.  The school is gone but the beach has the most beautiful perfectly smooth stones and clear water.  When you pick them up, they feel like pieces of soap.  They are limestone of all shapes and sizes worn smooth by the water.  There is a $250 fine for anyone taking a stone because this type beach is so rare.

On the way to the beach we noticed an old farm museum.  It was 9 buildings that were filled with displays of authentic items from the time the island was settled.  It had farm animals and a fully furnished log cabin which showed how everyday life was like.  The whole house was the size of our dining room.  It is hard to believe how spoiled we are compared to life more than 100 years ago.

The blacksmith shop.

My grandfather also came from Denmark and traveled to Green Bay in the late 1890's.  The sister he lived with came earlier and her name was also Hansena.  My family traveled to Withee, WI which is in central Wisconsin.  My grandfather also settled in central Wisconsin in a place called City Point and Pray, Wisconsin.  I think land was free and they were able to start a homestead.  This farm was a connection for me.

Next we went to Mountain Park and the Lookout Tower.  When we pulled into the parking area we saw a tall set of stairs.  We thought the steps would take us to the lookout.  We soon saw that the steps only took us to the base of the tower, which we then climbed to the top.  Between the stairs and the tower I think there were a total of 180 steps.

View looking down the first set of steps.

The lookout tower at the top of the mountain

View from the top of part of the island and Lake Michigan

 

Down the road we found the famous Fragrant Isle Lavender Farm that a lot of people are familiar with.  The lavender plants were done blooming, but the store was filled a huge variety of items made with lavender.  Next we saw the Island Dairy with the Norwegian Stavkirke garden pavilion.  The pavilion was built from drawings of a Church of Staves, built in Borgund, Norway in 1150 A.D.   Today it was closed as were several places on the island.  I imagine this happens after labor day.

Norwegian Stavkirke pavilion with a view of the lavender farm.

Lavender plant

There were other things to see and do, but it was time to have lunch and head down the road.  The trip back, on the ferry was breezy and almost cold.  It was wonderful and hard to believe it was 90 degrees at home.

On the way way home we followed the Garmin girl.  Because of a detour she gave us a couple bum steers but overall she was fine.  We had one more stop on our journey.  Our friends knew of a county park near Whitefish Dunes State Park.

The state park had a little to be desired.  It didn't allow camping, campfires, biking or grilling.  It did have a swimming beach.  Next door to the state park was a little known (at least by me) Door County park.  It was called Cave Point County Park.

The sign was a little frightening.

This park was so beautiful.  It had a variety of cliffs and caves.  This was the icing on the cake for me.  I don't think the photos do it justice.

When we finally got home we were all tired but happy we had such a nice day.   It was surprising that there were no fall colors.  I wonder if we will see much this year.  The nights are not getting cold enough.  I noticed the heat has caused some of the leaves to fall prematurely.  I will be watching and maybe we will have another trip in the future.  Sorry this blog is so long, but I had so much I wanted to include.

Nana and Papa's Adventure #???-Columbia Park

As long as the weather holds, we are determined to get to places we have heard about but not visited.  Last week when we visited Fond du lac, Wisconsin and the Lakeside Park lighthouse, we were actually looking for another park.  Our grandson Ewan and his other grandparents visited a park with a 70 foot climbing tower.  We couldn't find it last week so we finally got the correct name and headed out this afternoon.  It is about an hour from our house, so not too far.

Columbia Park consists of a boat landing, a camping area, a playground, a basketball court, an open shelter area and an observation tower with a navigational beacon on the top.   Our goal for the day was to climb the tower.  We parked in the parking area.  There was a couple about to leave so we were the only ones there.  As we approached the tower, it looked really tall.   I guess 70 feet is pretty tall.

The Columbia Park Observation tower.

The information on the sign said the tower was originally built as a water tower for a Fond du lac factory.  Then in 1936 it was moved and erected at this harbor on Lake Winnebago by the WPA.  It was to be used as an observation tower and navigational aid.  Over the years it deteriorated and needed to be rebuilt.  About 25 years ago the tower was restored with metal stairs, landings and observation decks.  From the top of the tower you can see a panoramic view of Lake Winnebago and the surrounding areas.  We actually climbed to the top without much trouble.  We briefly rested about half way up, but did well.  I got seven stairs on my Fitbit.  While we were standing on the top a gentleman joined us on the top.  He said on a clear day you can see Menasha and Oshkosh.  It was a little overcast on the horizon, but we could see very far.

View looking toward Menasha WI

Boat coming into the harbor.

Leaving the lake, there is a channel with a 900 foot harbor wall leading to the boat landing.

Wind energy is important but these turbines kind of spoil the beautiful view.

Coming down was easier than going up.

But it was still nice to be back on ground safe and sound.

About 3:10 we left this beautiful park.  We needed to get to our grandson Dylan's soccer match in Berlin Wisconsin which was about an hour away.  On the way out of the park, we saw the roadside was lined with these Wild Aster plants.  They are gorgeous this time of year. 

We spent the next hour watching Dylan play soccer.  He played the whole game a little bit injured but still did a great job.  It was a beautiful night for a game.

Another afternoon adventure in the books.  Let's see where else we can go in a few days.