Autumn Traveler: Lakes and Peninsulas

I am not one who travels over water very comfortably so I made sure I had taken a motion sickness pill before we got on the Lake Express to travel to Wisconsin in early May. It was only the second day of the 2014 season that the Express was running from Muskegon to Milwaukee and even though it was a gloomy day, the lake was fairly calm. The waves were not super high like my last boat trip to watch whales off Monterey, California where I ended up in a fetal position on the deck.

However once the boat got beyond the channel I felt the boat rocking a bit and I decided maybe I should take a second pill. If one works well, than two must work better. WRONG! One probably would have kept me comfortable, but two put me in a catatonic state. I didn’t totally wake up until we got to Fish Creek in the late afternoon..

The weekend was a get together in Door County with some old friends, Lee and Karen Lewis. When we planned the trip I visualized cherry blossoms and nothing cooler than sweater weather. What was amazing was that although Lake Michigan was clear of ice, there were ice chunks on Green Bay which is on the sunset side of Door County. There were no cherry blossoms yet and it was jacket weather, but sunny.

Our friends Lee and Karen Lewis

Our destination was The White Gull Inn in the town of Fish Creek. Karen and I liked the pictures online showing cozy rooms with gas fireplaces and small sitting rooms. Our room opened up on a long front porch with wicker furniture on the second floor of the Inn. Lee and Karen’s room opened up on a heated closed in porch at the back of the Inn.

On Friday night we had reservations for one of the famous Door County fish boils that was cooked behind the Inn. It was a chilly night, but after the water boiled over, the fish and potatoes were cooked. It was then time to go into the dining room to feast on the potatoes, fish and coleslaw with cherry pie and ice cream for dessert. These fish boils are so popular that the restaurant at the Inn was full and there was a second boil at 7:00 p.m. that Friday night. In the summer they have the fish boils four nights a week.

Door County is much like Old Mission Peninsula north of Traverse City. There are wineries and small villages. Like the Traverse City area,the main crop is cherries. However another highlight of Door is their lighthouses. We drove to the Cana Island Lighthouse near Bailey’s Harbor on the Lake Michigan side of the peninsula. We were able to see the living quarters and the beauty of the old buildings. There are eleven lighthouses on the peninsula and surrounding islands. A lighthouse festival in June attracts people to some of the less accessible lights on the islands.

Once a year the shipyard is opened in Sturgeon Bay for people to tour where ships are made and mended. We happened to hit the right weekend. One company makes only yachts and there was one in the water with craftsmen working on the interior. The men took the tour and were fascinated by the number of jobs created by this industry. One has to be very wealthy to own a yacht like the one at the dock. The men were told it will cost the buyer around 50 million and was going to someone in the Mediterranean.

While the men were learning something new, Karen and I were shopping. We drove a few miles south of Fish Creek to the tiny town of Egg Harbor. Little specialty shops were the norm in Egg Harbor as well as Fish Creek.

After bidding a fond farewell to Lee and Karen on Sunday, Hack and I headed to the Upper Peninsula and saw that Lake Superior was still frozen. We managed to get out snow covered roads to Pictured Rocks and see some roaring waterfalls. At Grand Marais, a small town on Lake Superior, we stopped at the Sportsman’s Restaurant and had a great hamburger. We were able to pick up some colorful rocks on the beach at Grand Marais for our grandson Carter who has a collection. May is not the optimum time to visit the UP, but I find that in traveling, there are always some adventures to be had no matter what time of year it is.

Simple beauty on the shores of Lake Superior

The drive on U.S. Route 2 along the northern side of Lake Michigan is very picturesque and the first view of the majestic Mackinac Bridge is always a thrill. I liked the sign at the entrance unto the bridge that said Lower Peninsula. For us it is a four hour drive from the bridge to home. After a stop for dinner in Gaylord at my favorite restaurant there, The Bearded Dog, it was good to push the next three hours for home and sleep in our own bed. Traveling always energizes my life, but coming home also fills me with a deep sense of satisfaction in the familiar and the memories added from another road trip.