Adam worked until about 2 on Friday afternoon so I spent the morning packing, grocery shopping, and prepping the house and pets for a weekend alone. I drove up to pick Adam up and we went on our way. We made a few stops before really getting on the road (picked up his newly sized ring, paid off our honeymoon, picked up some new Crocs for him, got gas, returned the cable equipment from the apartment) but then we cruised up to Door County. The road construction on 57 has definitely improved since two years ago. A greater portion of it is now 4-lane divided highway type rather than back-road 2 lane type so that was nice. We got up to the campsite and checked in. We got to our campsite and realized it was right next to the bathroom. Not too close as to be obnoxious, but close enough that it was convenient for the mid-night trips.
We also noticed it was right next to the road. I didn’t really notice the cars too much but then again the park closes at 11 and I sleep with ear plugs so who am I to comment on night noise.
We got the tent up quickly and as I began to assemble the sleeping bags and air mattress we discovered that the thingamajig we brought along to power up the electric pump was too wussy to make it work. Having not brought the battery pump as a backup (Adam’s sister still had it from a few weekends ago) we had to make an unscheduled trip back to Sturgeon Bay’s Walmart since pretty much everything further north was closed or didn’t carry camping stuff. We picked up some firewood on the way since it’s now forbidden to bring wood into the park (some kind of evil tree-hating bug epidemic…) We also stopped for dinner before heading back to the campsite. We ate at Julie’s Café which is right at the entrance to Peninsula State Park. I would highly recommend it. Adam had the fish fry and I had this Caesar chicken pita wrap. It was great food and even better dessert. And very reasonably priced considering its location. After dinner we finished setting up camp, Adam got a small fire going for a bit and then we called it a night.
Saturday morning we both woke up around 5:30 and Adam went outside and played with fire for a bit while I laid in bed some more. We got up and went to take showers around 6:30. We went back down to Welckers – we like their shower stalls. After getting prettied up for the day we went to have breakfast at our favorite Door County breakfast spot – the Gibralter Grill – only to find out they were closed. Hmm. We looked at the ads in the park’s guide and decided to go to the only place open at 7am – The Cookery. I had chocolate chip pancakes and bacon and Adam had eggs, hash browns and toast (and some of my bacon.) After the nausea of taking my pills before I ate passed it was ok. Once again, the food was great and pretty reasonable. We left Fish Creek and made the journey to Northpoint to catch the Washington Island Ferry. Once on the island we bee-lined to the Ostrich Farm. My beloved pot bellied pigs were nowhere to be found but the rest of the animals were still there. They also had a kangaroo this year (although he looked thoroughly bored and didn’t move at all the entire time we were there.) I got some good pictures and videos of Adam feeding some of the animals. (Take a look at them here.)We also got to see a newborn baby goat. It was born while we were there and we got to see the “find the mother, corner her, grab her by the horns, seclude her, bring baby to her, make them bond” process.
After the farm we drove around for a while, checked out the Sand Dunes (Very Unimpressive – if you want dunes go to Kohler Andrae), and planned to eat at a drive-in on the island but changed our mind when we got to the ferry dock right as they were boarding.
We drove back to Ellison Bay to check out one of the restaurants in the Washington Island booklet – The Viking Grill. Once again, good food. I had a chicken sandwich and Adam had some whitefish chowder and a gyro. The service was a little spotty but overall ok. We happened to hit Ellison Bay during their “Old Ellison Bay Days” celebration. We checked out the art fair and got some decoration stuff for the house. On the way back to Fish Creek we stopped at our favorite candy store – the Door County Confectionary. We got back to the campsite around 3 and sat outside for while. Then we took a nap in the tent until it got too warm. Adam started the fire around 5 to make sure we had enough time to burn all the firewood we had left. We grilled some hamburgers for dinner but had to forego the s’mores since the marshmallows took on water in the cooler and the graham crackers I had packed expired last November. Whoops. We sat outside by the fire until it burned down far enough and then we went to bed.
Sunday morning we woke pretty early again but went back to sleep for another hour or so somehow. We got up, disassembled camp, took showers, and headed to breakfast. We tried another restaurant from the park guide – Pelletier’s. They’re more well known for their fish boils but their breakfast is pretty good too. I had French toast and breakfast fries and Adam had eggs, bacon, toast, and hash browns. We tried to eat slowly since we had until 9am until the last place we wanted to stop opened but we didn’t want to take up space so we decided to just drive and wait in the parking lot for about ½ hour. After that last stop we headed home. We made a little detour in Green Bay hoping the furniture outlet we got our table at would be open but they are closed on Sundays. We got home, unpacked, and then headed out for some home-improvement fun.
The weather was perfect – no rain, not too hot, I didn’t get sunburned. Aside from the air mattress mishap it was an almost perfect camping weekend. Our second (and last) camping weekend is coming up July 13-15. We’re at Peninsula State Park again so hopefully we get a repeat performance of this weekend.
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