Ah, home! After 5 weeks up north I arrived at Casa de Artisan on Thursday evening & have thoroughly enjoyed 4 days at home with not much planned. When I trekked northward 5 weeks ago, it was in anticipation of a rather intense crunch time on my current project & I anticipated that at least one day each weekend would be at the office. As the month progressed, the project continued to change & I only ended up working 1 of the 4 weekends that I was up there. So, with the other weekends I made the most of my time in northeastern Wisconsin – more often than not, I ended up along the shore of the bay, Green Bay. After “surviving” last winter up along the bay, it was so nice to enjoy it in better weather. Whether I was in “full tourist” mode as I trekked to Door County (twice) or just had my knitting, a book & a cool beverage to go sit along the shore, I made sure to have my camera in hand to capture scenes of the beautiful bay.

A quick Sunday afternoon drive after 82 hours at the office in 7 days – Along the shore in Escanaba, MI

Art in the Park – Henes Park – Menominee, MI

The view from a bench in the shade – Veteran’s Memorial Park – Menominee, MI

Reading (& battling flies) on a towel – Red Arrow State Park – Marinette, WI

Another Sunday afternoon drive – Bay Shore County Park – Oconto, WI

A quick stop along the side of the road – Ephriam – Door County

The view from a park bench – Sister Bay – Door County

At the end of a lovely daytrip – Hedgehog Harbor – Door County

The view from the Washington Island Ferry

West Harbor – Washington Island

Schoolhouse Beach – Washington Harbor – Washington Island

Ever since I’ve lived in Chicago, I’ve always heard great things about Door County, WI and had never trekked northward to visit. My current work assignment has me “roughly” in the vicinity…since driving northward on August 1st, I had over 200 hours in the office with only 2 days “off” by the time I left work on Friday afternoon. To say that I was ready for a bit of a break was a mild understatement.

With an iced coffee in hand and a full tank of gas in the rental, on Saturday morning I typed “Sister Bay, WI” in the navigation on my phone & began a delightful day trip.

After stopping at the visitor’s center on the edge of Sturgeon Bay, my passenger seat was filled with maps & brochures and I continued northward through charming towns and beautiful scenery. My first stop was Tannenbaum – a favorite tune is “We need a little Christmas” and indeed this shop fit the bill. I might have walked out with the start of a new nativity for my collection and some other holiday treats for loved ones.

For a late lunch, I sat at the counter at Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant and thoroughly enjoyed the Swedish pancakes and meatballs with eggs. The goats on the roof were in prime locations for capturing “touristy” pictures.

After lunch, I enjoyed the views and breezes of Sister Bay – a shaded park bench was the perfect spot to sit and read and knit for a bit and continue decompressing from work.

While I could have easily stayed on that bench for the rest of the day there were other things that I wanted to do, so I got back in the car and headed south.

As I approached Fish Creek, I stopped at a local yarn shop, Red Sock Yarns and added a skein to my stash and some cute Door County stitch markers.

In Fish Creek, I stopped for a mid afternoon sweet treat at Not Licked Yet for frozen custard – the Bee’s Knees Sundae hit the spot: vanilla custard with Door County honey & cinnamon sugared almonds – delicious!

I turned “into” the peninsula and sought out Stones Throw Winery for a lovely tasting and picked up a few bottles for my wine rack at home.

I continued across to the other side of the peninsula – by the time I got to the Cana Island Lighthouse there wasn’t enough time left to tour before it closed for the day – another time.

It was a perfect day – the weather was in the mid 70s, the sun was beautiful, the skies a gorgeous blue – and every so often the tips of trees had been touched with the first signs of fall color. (head shaking at the thought of that…)

I drove clear to the northwest end of the peninsula – when I saw the ferry to the nearby island I knew it was time to turn around and bring my adventure to an end. An iced honey latte from a cute coffee shop was the right refreshment for the trek back down and around the bay and towards my “pseudo casa” at the hotel.

At the end of the day, I had driven more than 320 miles and achieved some much needed “work decompression” in the process. Between the photos, the memories, the maps and the brochures I have plenty of options for planning another escape – hopefully for a longer stay…

All-in-all, a delightful day in Door County!