Monday, June 15, 2020

A Venture Into Enemy Territory... Green Bay, WI & Door County

Wednesday, June 10th
We wake up at the KOA, and we are able to hit the road before noon! We are getting pretty good at this, and good thing, because we are on a schedule on this trip. Time to head West! We get on the road, and get to drive the entire length of the UP with the finishing point of Green Bay. Neil is very hesitant to stop there (he is a Bears fan), but we have heard good things about Door County, and it is on both of our lists to check out.

The drive is awesome. We are able to cruise through the UP and have a view of the top of Lake Michigan for almost the entire time. It is a pretty windy day, and the waves are hitting the shore, but we are trucking along. There isn't a lot of traffic, and it seems to be smooth sailing. One of the coolest thing about the UP of Michigan is that they have all of these "roadside parks", which are like rest areas, but they always seem to be in a pretty cool place.

A beautiful drive around the top of Lake Michigan

Not a bad place for a rest area (roadside park). Windy, and tons of midge flies, but pretty!

After a beautiful drive to Green Bay, we get set up at our campground, which is about 12 miles North of the city, right on Lake Michigan (on Green Bay). This is a county campground, and there are no pull-through sites. We knew this ahead of time, but it means that we need to pull the car off the dolly, and then pull the dolly off the camper. We feel like a Nascar pit crew, and we are able to get this accomplished quite quickly! Neil decides to push the tow dolly to the back of the rig to hook it back on so we are ready to go when we leave. Certainly not necessary, but ends up being a great idea. Within 5 minutes, the rain starts. It ends up raining for the entire evening - oh well, it had to come at some point...


Even though the rain has arrived, we decide to take a little driving tour of Green Bay. We hop into the car and head for the worst stadium in pro sports - Lambeau Field. Neil has been to a game there (that darn Aaron Rodgers), but Anne has never seen the stadium. Everything is closed and it's raining, but we drove around the outside. We also checked out the different areas of the city, and finished the drive by going up the coast back to our campsite. We saw some beautiful houses that are right on the lake. Honestly, other than the stupid football team (sorry Aunt Toad), Green Bay seems like a great little city. On our way, we see a family of geese crossing the road, and we stop to let them cross. Pretty cute. It's Wednesday, so Neil finishes the evening with another poker game and Anne catches up on some stuff.

Hurry up, geese! They prob like the rain though!
Just down the bluff from our campground - an angry Green Bay (Bears fans are staying here)

Thursday, June 11th
We wake up hoping that the rain is gone, and it looks like it is! We are both excited to make the drive North to check out Door County. We have both heard great things, so off we go. Anne has planned a few fun activities for the day and a few stops. The drive up to Door County looks like the rest of Wisconsin with rolling fields of farms.

Anne has found that there are some unique "roadside chapels" that were built by the Europeans that emigrated here. Often, people would build these really small chapels on their property because in the winter it was too far to travel to the main chapel to pray. Apparently, a lot of them still exist today. We pass the first one on the list (they are all in Brussels, WI - which has a large Belgian population), and it looks like we shouldn't go in. We then look for another. We see a small structure and ask ourselves, is that a chapel or a storage shed? Keep driving. We stop at the Belgian Heritage Center, and we both see a tiny outbuilding with a sign that says "Our Lady of the Snows". Bingo! As we are walking towards the building, we notice that the sign is leaning against the structure and it looks an awful lot like a storage shed. Neil opens the door... It is a storage shed! Lol. Strike 2. Oh well, we sort of give up and decide to head towards Door County.

On our way out of town, we manage to see a little chapel on the side of the road! Score! We head in to take a look, and it is a really cute little chapel. However, we are saddened to see that it looks like it was built in memory of a 14 year old that passed away:(. We pay our respects and continue the drive north.
Belgium chapel (we assume) on the side of the road - doesn't look open to visitors so we keep going.

Another Belgian chapel - this one looks a little more welcoming. 

Inside the chapel.  We sign the guest book and say a quick prayer.

As we drive past Sturgeon Bay, we start to see the charm everyone talks about in Door County. Cute little towns right along the coast that seem to have been quite untouched by time. After a quick restroom stop at a coffee shop (bars are open in Wisconsin, but public restrooms are not?!?), we head to another Door County stop.

The first stop is a biking trail that gets great reviews up at the Peninsula State Park. It is a 9 mile ride that winds through the woods and along the shore of Lake Michigan. It is an amazing trail and park, and the weather has turned really good for a ride - not too hot and the sun is shining. We have a nice picnic lunch by the water, and then make the entire ride with a few stops along the way. We stop at the coastal part of the trail and snap a few pics, and at a lighthouse that was built in the 1800's. Pretty cool.



Biking right next to the shore - so cool!


A stop along the bike path for a quick selfie.

Lunch with a view - that's Fish Creek (cute town) across the bay.

Anchor with the lighthouse in the background.

After our ride, we hop back in the car and head toward Northpoint, the tip of Door County.  On the drive, we pass through more quaint towns along the Bay.  We get to the end point and there is a ferry arriving from Washington Island, so we hop out to stand on the shore and watch the ferry come into the dock. It has a few cars, but also a lot of people on bikes.  Back in the car for our next stop, Cave Point Park on the lake side.  On our way, we see a scenic overlook sign, and we're suckers for a view, so we make a pit stop. Lake Michigan sure has a lot of great islands! Crazy.

Selfie on a narrow sidewalk that juts out over the edge - Don't look down!!

Green Bay from the overlook

Anne was also hoping to hit a winery on our way, but unfortunately we realize that they all close by 5 so we find a cherry orchard instead and pick up some cider donuts and cheese curds.  Perfect afternoon snack!

As we are driving to Cave Point, we see some dark clouds rolling in. Fingers crossed we make it there before the storm!  We pull in and walk to the shore and stand on the limestone cliffs.  And it immediately starts raining. We dash under a gazebo to get out of the rain. The storm passes quickly and a spectacular rainbow appears over the lake.  What great timing!  We walk around near the parking lot and check out the cliffs but it looks like more storms may be coming, so decide to head home rather than get caught in the rain on a trail.

Neil really wants to jump off this cliff! 


Double rainbow over Lake Michigan - a great end to our Door County tour.

We get back to the campsite and it's a rainy night, so we stay in, do some blogging and relax.  Wisconsin, it's been fun.  Tomorrow our tour of the Great Lakes continues as we head north to Duluth, MN and Lake Superior.  Until next time...

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