Category: Glimpses of Life

Every vacation must come to an end. Ours is ending in Door County but will continue as we travel through Wisconsin and Minnesota.

We woke up to a rather bleary looking day. Rain is coming – we’re sure of it.

We had considered trying the White Gull Inn Restaurant for dinner earlier in the week but when we went they only had fish boils for dinner so we went elsewhere. (To read more on fish boils, click here.)

This morning we went there for breakfast. It’s quite a busy place even for a Tuesday morning at 10 a.m.

The White Gull Inn is a bed and breakfast in Fish Creek, Wisconsin. Their entry is very inviting — clean and with beautiful flowers.

For breakfast, we had the cranberry muffin (yummy but a little dry), the Nice Guy Hash ( homemade hash brown potatoes, cooked with onions, peppers and mushrooms, topped with melted Wisconsin cheddar and a dollop of sour cream) and apple pancakes. The hash was pretty good. The apple slices you see on top tasted old. The presentation could have been a little better also.

I think if we would have ordered something with cherry (like the cherry pancakes or cherry french toast) everything would have been perfect as it appears that that is their specialty.

Overall, it wasn’t a great breakfast but it was a good one. We’ll have to head back there when we return to Door County.

After breakfast, we started our journey to the most northwest tip of Michigan — Ironwood.

We passed through Sturgeon Bay on the way out of Door County and were glad that we stayed further north on the peninsula. It seemed a little busy for us.

Rain pelted us as we left and continued almost all the way to Michigan. Once we reached Wausau, WI, we took Highway 51 directly north.

We knew we were in the “country” when the radio station announced the noon obituaries for the area. Then, we passed a truck with about 4-5 dead deer in the back. He pulled over to collect another dead one. We have been fortunate not to hit any.

About this time, I started getting a migraine again so asked my husband to drive. I seem to be getting the “start” of them more often and am not sure what is bringing them on.

Most of the small towns we passed seemed very nice with cafes, lodging, gas stations and a few knick knack-type stores.

Then we reached Hurley, Wisconsin. Directly across from it is Ironwood, Michigan. For some reason, I thought that we would be travelling onto a large bridge to cross over but I had to laugh when my husband passed over a tiny creek and said “We’re in Ironwood.”

The town is really small although when you read about it, it boasts that it’s “the major city in the area with a population of over 6,000 – the shopping, cultural, and recreational center serving 50,000 people within a fifty mile radius.”

Uh — okay. We thought we had missed something and ran into the Wisconsin Visitor Center which is in Hurley, Wisconsin directly across the Montreal River.

Inside the visitor center was a large statue in tribute to all the people who have mined in the area. I thought it was quite impressive.

By now we were getting tired so decided to find a place to stay. We chose the AmericInn in Ironwood and we were happy with our decision. The room was more like a suite and everything smelled clean without the smell of fragrances. They also had 2 TV’s in the room — one in the bedroom and one in the sitting area. Homemade cookies were waiting for us in the lobby area once we returned from dinner.

For dinner, we went to the Ironwood Maplewood Steakhouse. We were greeted by the manager — very nice man. When seated, the waitress brought over a bowl of peanuts. How fun!

For dinner, I had a chicken salad although I had meant to order the nutty chicken salad with craisins and pecans. Oh well … my salad was good just the same.

The Maplewood Steakhouse is a very nice restaurant and bar combined. It wasn’t rowdy though. There were TV’s everywhere but they weren’t turned up really loud.

Then — finally, bedtime! Tomorrow we head to Duluth, Minnesota!

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Day 3 (continued)

After having breakfast at the Village Cafe in Egg Harbor, we headed over to the eastern part of the peninsula to the Whitefish Dunes State Park.

Another beautiful day meant that the drive was relaxing and peaceful. The entrance fee for one day was $10. Once that was paid, we put drinks in our backpack and headed to the Red Trail which was recommended to us by the park ranger.

We decided to start our walk on the beach with a beautiful view of Lake Michigan.

The sound of the waves lapping up on the shore — well, what can I say? I enjoy being around water. It brings great peace to my soul.

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a sky so blue and crisp. The smell of the water and the blue sky — perfection!

The Red Trail is an hour long walk. From the beach, we took a boardwalk for a little ways to an observation deck.

It was a long way up but well worth the walk as we were able to see the lake and the valley view from the platform.

The rest of the walk on the Red Trail was very pretty. Some of the trail was tree-lined while other parts were open fields.

At the end of the trail a big sign warned of poison ivy and pointed down to where we could see what it looked like.

The ranger came over and explained to us that the oil on the plant is what causes the skin to react with itchiness. Even when the plant has no leaves, the root and the berries of the plant can still cause an allergic reaction.

We took a little longer than an hour for our walk since the day was so beautiful.

In the afternoon we went to the Cherry Hut for a couple of pieces of cherry pie. For dinner, we went to Cooper’s Corner in Fish Creek. Swimming in the evening completed our day.

Time for a good night’s sleep.

Day 3

We are staying at the Landmark Resort in Egg Harbor, Wisconsin. The location is central to both the north and south ends of the peninsula although we have spent most of our time at the north end.

The Landmark Resort sits on 40 acres and has 4-5 buildings that are not connected to each other. Each building has its own name — the name of ours is the Navigator. There are both indoor and outdoor swimming pools. This time of year, only the indoor pool is open. For adults, the pool is open 24/7 and is located in the main building where you check in.

There are driveways to each of the buildings at the resort.

The resort is off the main highway that goes through the peninsula — Highway 42. Since we arrived on a Saturday, there were no “view” rooms available. They did tell us the room we would be staying in had a view but the view was of trees and the parking lot so I went back to clarify my understanding of the “water” view we were interested in.

On Sunday, we moved to a water view room. We were thankful we did. The view was stupendous and is of the Green Bay.

The resort is a timeshare that has condominiums. The rooms are basically all the same on the inside except for the view. They all have kitchenettes. Our room has a bedroom and a sleeper sofa in the living room. There are no fireplaces — gas or otherwise.

During our stay, the place was pretty quiet as most everyone left Sunday morning. The daily rate for the resort was $91 for the Green Bay view.

We found out from one of the locals that most of the shops will close for the winter the last weekend in October. Once it starts snowing, quite a few shops and restaurants close their doors for the winter.

(Day 3 to be continued)

Day 2

We woke up to a cool morning with an expectation of rain later in the day. After eating breakfast, we took a drive to Ellison Bluff County Park in Ellison Bay. The drive was picturesque. Absolutely beautiful! The leaves on the trees are still turning colors.

Once inside, the road got narrower and the leaves turned more yellow.

The park has a wooded bluff that overlooks the Green Bay. Steps lead you to a lookout.

The overlook sits high up on the bluff and looks out at the Green Bay.

Looking down, you can see algae growing in the water.

A very nice drive and lookout.

From here, we drove and stopped at a small coffeehouse called the Brew. They had one of the best hot chocolates I’ve ever had — made from ghirardelli chocolate. The coffeehouse had ample seating and wi-fi but we took ours “to go.”

From here we went to an Asian craft store called Linden’s of Ellison Bay. There were many things from China in this store. Most of the items were very pricey and it was hard for me to gauge whether they truly were worth what the asking price was.

I did notice one large chest of drawers which was very beautiful. The outside had recently been re-finished but when you opened a drawer it felt like it was falling apart. When working with antiques, I’ve learned that you’re not supposed to re-finish the item but leave it as it is in order for it to keep it’s antique status.

Oh — there was a cemetery in the back yard also.

There are lots of shops with crafts and art. A lot of the crafts are from local artists.

At the northernmost tip of Door County one can take a ferry that goes over to Washington Island.  The island is located 6 miles off the tip of the peninsula. The ferry accommodates both cars and walk-on passengers.

We walked through an area (forested) that was not well-kept up although it had at least one trail. Unfortunately, we did not feel comfortable walking the trail as it was right next to the edge of a bluff and the hikers who were returning cautioned us to be very careful. Since we did not have hiking boots we decided to skip this hike.

Our day ended with dinner at Gibraltar Restaurant in Fish Creek. The food and restaurant was excellent. When we arrived, it was a tad bit chilly but the waiter turned the heat on when I mentioned it. We would definitely go back to this place.

A few days of vacation led me and my husband on a trip to Door County in eastern Wisconsin.

Day One

We stopped at a friend’s family cemetery in Gilman, Wisconsin, a very small town of less than 500 people. The cemetery was a little hard to find as we weren’t sure which way to go and our GPS did not work in the area.

The chiming of church bells led us to a funeral at the local church. A long line of cars  led the way to a cemetery. Could it be this was the cemetery we were looking for? In a town this small, we decided that we would follow the long line of cars and see if this was Meadow Brook Cemetery. Indeed it was.

Not having been to too many cemeteries during a funeral without actually attending the funeral, I wondered if it would be okay to walk around and look for the headstones of the family name of Brothers. Since the funeral was on the other end of the cemetery, I decided it should be okay so my husband and I started our hunt for the headstones.

We were fortunate to find them right away. I took pictures so that I could send prints to my friend. This way, he can have a remembrance as he is 79 and will not be able to head back to Wisconsin again.

Sounds a little odd that I’d be at a cemetery looking up people who I don’t know, doesn’t it? The way I look at it is that I get to know the person I know a little bit better because of the stories they tell me about themselves. The cemetery made their stories more real. Unfortunately, we were not able to find the actual town where my friend lives, Polley, Wisconsin.

The area is really pretty and is definitely a farming community.

In addition, we saw signs warning us of Amish buggies that might be on the road. The clue to most of the farms that were owned by the Amish were that there were no cars in the driveways. And — I saw this Amish farming plowing his field.

I wanted so badly to knock on this farmer’s door, introduce myself and see if they would tell me a little bit about their beliefs and culture. But, my more practical husband decided it would be a bit much for him. So we continued eastward to our destination, Door County.

After checking into the resort where we’re staying, we headed off to dinner at The English Inn in Fish Creek, Wisconsin. We made reservations for 7:30 p.m. but had to wait a half hour in order to be seated.

The entryway has two cool “knights in shining armor.”

This was my date. (No, just kidding. This mannequin was standing in the entryway.)

The service was great. Unfortunately, my meal was not very good. I had the Pistachio Encrusted Whitefish but it was doused in too much butter and had too many pistachios on top. I could not finish eating it.

I ordered scalloped potatoes which I thought would be a “side” on my dish but I got a side platter instead which included a LOT of potatoes.

Again, the service was great once we were seated but we don’t intend on returning to this restaurant. For the price of the food (expensive) it should have tasted a lot better.

I found this video rather interesting … but, no minority women?

500 years of women in art —

There’s something about a crisp sunny day in Minnesota that makes me want to sip a hot chocolate with some edam cheese. The wind blows ever so softly on my cheeks.

Beauty can be found anywhere.

From Minnesota …

To Seattle …

One can’t compare the two cities because they each have their own unique beauty.

With the Minnesota weather being almost perfect, the geese are having a great time playing in this pond.

Occasionally, looking overhead, you can see the geese in their V formation as they get ready to leave the area for the winter.

A new season will descend upon us soon enough.

I think I may have ocd (obsessive compulsive disorder) when it comes to leaves.

The driveway is so clean. I’ve swept, leaf blown or picked up the many leaves that have fallen.

The other day, I was sweeping outside and my husband looks at me and says “Look, here comes another one” as one leaf fell from a tree. It was comical at the time but the intensity I have at having an almost leaf-free driveway is still there.

It’s similar to the feelings I have when I iron — I enjoy ironing wrinkles away.

This reminds me of the show Monk which is about a private detective who suffers from extreme OCD. It’s really funny and we like to watch reruns of it.

Oh well — one must embrace what they can’t change. Welcome ocd!

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