Door County, Wisconsin….


I know I’ve been MIA for the last few weeks. There’s just been too much action around here, which kept me away from blogging for a while. But I’m back:)and I hope to stay or at least visit more frequently.
We went to Door County, Wisconsin for the Labor Day weekend, September 2 to the 4th with another family, who are our close friends. We left on the 1st, which was Friday. We left at about 3.30 in the afternoon for the 5-hour drive. We drove in two vans because of all the luggage. (As always, I had my handy rice cooker and lots of yummy snacks). My friend too had her van filled with the good stuff:) The drive itself was quite uneventful, excepting the occasional squabble in the back seat for the MP3 player or which movie to watch. We stopped at the lone subway restaurant at a sleepy little town for dinner. I cannot remember the name of the town but it was so quiet! The pizza there was delicious, though. The sandwiches were, well, sandwiches. After dinner, we resumed our drive. After we passed through Sturgeon Bay, the road was very dark and very quiet. It was late and all the stores were closed. We left the highway and drove through many little towns before we got to Ellison Bay.

Oh, I’m sure a lot of you are wondering about what Door County actually is? The county is named after the strait between the Door Peninsula and Washington Island. The French explorers gave it the name, "Porte des Mort Passage" or “The Door to the way to Death" because it was a particularly hazardous passage for ships.I got this bit of its history from Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia.

Well that’s the history of the place. Door County is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. I have been there a couple of times before on day trips to see the fall colors, which are absolutely spectacular. The County is home to several state parks. Its serene atmosphere is soothing and is a much-needed breath of fresh air in our busy lives. Its supposed to be bear country out there. We didn’t get to see any, though. We however, did see some deer and other little animals.



We arrived at Ellison Bay at about 10.00 in the night. We had booked a cottage at one of the many resorts. The resort was tucked away in the natural surroundings and we had to drive around a bit before we found it. We found our cottage after again driving around a little bit, and parked our vans. When we got out, we looked up at the clear night sky, with millions of twinkling stars. The whole atmosphere was picture perfect. We walked in and found the cottage to be very pleasant. It was in fact, a fully furnished, log cabin. The kids were kind of scared at first at the unfamiliar surroundings and the dim lights. But they soon became comfortable in the serene ambience that it exuded. We went right to bed that night, awoke fresh, and ready the next day.

We had a good breakfast on the back porch with the trees around us swaying in the gentle breeze, dancing to the timeless tune of nature. The kids played in the woods and then we left for Sister Bay to go to the Potawatomi State Park. We reached there just in time for lunch and ate at a charming little restaurant. We then went to the beach at the State Park and did a little boating. The paddle boats were fun but not as much as the Water Cycles. The kids had a blast, trying to race each other on their water cycles. Apart from the many water activities, the state park is great for biking, hiking and other outdoor fun. We played some more at the beach and when it started to get cold, decided to head back to town. We stopped to play miniature golf on the way. It was so much fun. Even our friends’ toddlers had a great time running around with little plastic putts (Is that the right word? I’m terrible at golf and its lingo) claiming they had made ‘a hole in one.’ We then got back to our cottage and watched a movie together. The next day we hired a huge boat that could accommodate around 12 people. We were eight of us and so we picked this one. We set off, and everyone got a turn steering and feeling like the skipper, of course no one wanted to be Gilligan:) (I’m probably giving away my age here, talking about Gilligan’s Island.)



We got back for a very late but delicious lunch, thanks to my rice cooker and my friends assortment of spices. After lunch, we went for a walk in the woods and to the shoreline of Lake Michigan. The weather was just perfect for a late afternoon stroll. Later in the evening, we went swimming at the indoor pool at the resort. The kids took turns diving into the water, seeing who could splash the water the farthest. We then went to dinner at a little ice cream shop close to the resort. The quaint, old-fashioned ice cream shop, also sold pizza, sandwiches and other food. We were all so hungry, and the pizza was going to take a while, so we had dessert before dinner. It was the yummiest ice cream…mmmm….The pizza was good too. After dinner, we came back and relaxed in the cottage watching another movie.



We left the next morning and drove back home. It was a fun, relaxing vacation. I think this is what vacations are all about, some R&R, good food and great company. Thanks, S&S.

I will be posting more pictures soon.