WHEN IS A DOOR NOT A DOOR?

     If I asked "when is a door not a door" the obvious answer is "when its ajar."  Wrong!  The real answer is "when its a county."  Huh?  Thats right...Door County, Wisconsin was fabulous.  Door county is on a peninsula which juts out into Lake Michigan near Green Bay and prides itself as being "New England-like." We could see similarities...small, cute towns; farmland; pretty coastline, etc.; but a lot less people.  We found it very relaxing and quite beautiful.

The peninsula is a mix of rocky shoreline and sandy beaches.

Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal Lighthouse.
The peninsula is full of lighthouses.

     Some interesting things about the county are that all the towns were located directly on the water and they coordinated their outdoor concerts, so you could be entertained with free music every night.  Since the weather was favorable for our visit, we took ample advantage of the entertainment.

The ferry from the peninsula to Washington Island.

Jacobson Museum, Washington Island.

     We located ourselves in the Town of Egg Harbor which was on the coast directly in the middle of the peninsula.  This allowed for great touring of the towns and parks both by car and by bike.  A couple of times I biked several miles to a nice brew pub and had Nancy rescue me.  This worked out great as I got to the places early and secured a table just in time for the band to start playing.  We were very happy with the quality of musicians touring the area.

Skerryvore came all the way from Scottland
to entertains us in Egg Harbor, WI.

Fork in the Road Band at
Sonny's Restaurant, Sturgeon Bay, WI.

     Our favorite day was a tour of Washington Island at the tip of the peninsula.  This involved a ferry ride, with the car, and a tour of a quaint Island.  We had lunch on Jackson Harbor; a beautiful setting.

Jackson Harbor, Washington Island, WI.

Jackson Harbor, Washington Island, WI.

     Then we made way to Schoolhouse Beach for Nancy to get a "rock fix."  The beach is filled with white limestone cobble which has been worn smooth as glass.  The bad news for Nancy was that it was illegal to remove any rocks from the beach, so my job was to keep her under control lest she end up arrested by the "rock police" and end up doing hard time on a rock pile.

Limestone rocks in the water at
Schoolhouse Beach,

Nancy in "rock heaven" at
Schoolhouse beach.

     One evening we attended a play in Peninsula State Park.  This state park is very interesting as it has a great shoreline, 10 miles of bike trails, and an interesting hike under a limestone cliff full of caves, as well as, a golf course and a theater under the stars for "summer stock" productions.  We saw a musical/comedy written by Wisconsinities.  The play entitled "Dairy Heirs" was about Wisconsin farming and Door County.  Surprisingly, the play was hilarious!

Eagle Point Lighthouse in
Peninsula State Park.

Limestone cliff and caves above the Eagle Trail in
Peninsula State Park.

Limestone cliff and caves above the Eagle Trail in
Peninsula State Park.

     For us Door County was the warm-up for our long anticipated journey through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  So after almost 2 weeks in Door County we were off to see what was around the next corner.
     CHEERS!!!