8/10 - 8/17/19 Iron Mountain, MI To Ellison Bay, WI - 162 miles (2 hours, 50 min) Hy-Land Court RV Park, stayed 7 nights
The Thrill of Discovery!
One of the difficulties of living on the road is that everything is always new. You can’t put yourself on autopilot, because you don’t know where the Walmart or grocery store, or drugstore, or salon is already. You always have to be on alert and searching for what you need. There is no routine. But one of the great thrills of living on the road is everything is new, and you get to discover places you didn’t know existed - like Door County. Bill just happened upon it when he was watching a YouTube video from another traveling couple’s vlog. We bypassed Traverse City, where I wanted to go for cherries, so was excited to learn about this place.
Door County, WI is the thumb of Wisconsin, a peninsula that sticks out into Lake Michigan. We had to take a detour from our planned route across the plains to come here, but it was so worth it. Each small village that you pass through - Sturgeon Bay, Bailey’s Harbor, Egg Harbor, Ephraim, Sister Bay - have a thriving art scene with shops, galleries, open air concerts and dramas - all set against the backdrop of a lake or bay. Since their season is short, they make the best of it.
I knew we would have a good stay when we finally arrived at our park (a whole story within itself) and were immediately greeted by other Open Roaders (its kind of a Tiffin cult). They introduced us to others and invited us to an evening concert in Egg Harbor to hear Skerryvore, a band from Scotland. With a beautiful sunset, good food and company, and this amazing band that had guitars, flutes, violins, an accordion and two rocking bagpipes, I was hooked! Check them out on YouTube or Spotify. They are GOOD. I love pub-style folk music that rocks.
The rest of the week, we explored the villages, went to scenic overlooks, enjoyed sunsets, picked tart cherries, ate out with our new friends, saw another concert, and just soaked in the beauty. When the sun went down, the nights got cool. The humidity and the bugs were not bad, though locals claimed they could be awful.
We drove to the tip of the peninsula to watch the ferries go across Devil’s Door to Washington Island. This treacherous strait gave the county its name. There are several lighthouses on the island. We tried to visit Cana Lighthouse. There used to be a narrow walking path to the island it sits on, but the lake level has risen by 5 feet, so the only way to get across was on a wagon, pulled by a tractor, through crashing waves. When we arrived, the “big” tractor had gotten stuck halfway across, almost dumping the passengers into the lake. They had to be rescued and pulled the rest of the way across by the “little” tractor while the first tractor’s driver waded through waist-deep water, trying to fix the problem. They decided to cut their losses for the day, and concentrate on bringing the remaining people from the island, so we didn’t get across. I think we made out well, but no lighthouse.
Wisconsin is know as America’s dairy land, so we had to indulge in some ice cream at Wilson’s, more than once. And our park was just across the street from the largest cherry farm on the island. We bought a pie, and ate as many cherry-filled things as possible. Bill got tired of it. I still haven’t (see the next post).
This is one place we want to come back to. There’s so much more to see and do. Next time we’ll stay a month!
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