Between the time we had to have our luggage out to be loaded on the bus and time for us to eat breakfast, we had a while to kill, and Evelyn & I walked around & took pictures of all the great decor in this fantastic old hotel. It was so reflective of the history and culture of that area. I loved these old scythes that were hanging on the wall over the staircase.

Back at our hotel that night, we got to see – and eat – a fish boil boilover.  It’s much like a shrimp boil, but in a cast iron pot over an open fire.  I don’t exactly understand this, but they put so much salt in the water that it changes the specific gravity of the water when it boils.  What am I saying – I don’t understand it at all.  Anyway, they put in the potatoes to boil in this serious salt water, then onions, then hunks of whitefish.  When the fish oil rises to the top it’s done, and it makes sort of a head of foam on the pot.  Then they pour kerosene on the fire, and it flames up like this, and the water boils over, and it does something to that salty water that makes everything more delicious.  Again – I do not understand it, but I thought it was really tasty.  And very cool to see 🙂

Our last stop on Washington Island was Stavkirke, a replica of early Christian churches built in Scandinavia. It was absolutely beautiful – hand crafted entirely by local volunteers of local wood. This was hanging behind the altar – also made by volunteers. The words at the bottom are Norwegian for He Is Risen.

We ferried back to the mainland, and a stop for ice cream – and one more chance to admire the absolutely gorgeous flowers we saw all over the place there on this trip. Just lovely.

Our second stop on our tour of Washington Island was at the Washington Island Farm Museum. We had very little time there, which was the hardest thing to me about being on a bus tour – you couldn’t stay as long as you wanted at the different places we stopped. There were nine buildings they had moved to the site from all over the island, filled with farming tools and implements and clothing from maybe around the turn of the century?, and we had about thirty minutes to visit. There were also animals for us to visit. Here is Meg getting acquainted with one of the cows 🙂

Monday morning after our delicious Swedish pancake breakfast we boarded a ferry for the thirty minute ride across Lake Michigan to Washington Island. Our ferry was named Madonna, and it was a beautiful ride.

Our first stop on the island was Schoolhouse Beach, one of only five limestone beaches in the world. This one particular cove was covered with these beautifully smooth limestone rocks. So cool, and just not like any beach I had ever seen before. And the water was just crystal clear – this is taken through the water. Wow.

Breakfast in Door County, Wisconsin, on Monday was at Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant and Butik – Swedish pancakes with lingonberries. There was even a traditional sod roof on the restaurant – but there were also goats keeping the grass cut 🙂

Our crew: Evelyn, me, Pam, and Meg – in front of Green Bay, taken during our stop at Eagle Bay Lighthouse.

The sign inside the front door when we arrived at Rowley’s Bay Lodge – our home away from home while we were in Door County. Pretty typical of the trip – people were just so nice and friendly.

Last Sunday I headed out with Evelyn, Meg, & Pam for our first group bus tour ever, to spend a week in Wisconsin and Michigan. We flew into Milwaukee and got on the bus there, and we were off. We got our first glimpse of Lake Michigan when we saw the Green Bay. So pretty.

We stopped for lunch, and then were off to visit Eagle Bluff Lighthouse in Door County. It was seriously the best lighthouse tour I think I’ve ever been on, and I’ve been on several. The lighthouses on the Great Lakes are much shorter than the lighthouses we are used to on the Atlantic coast, because the lights don’t need to be seen from so far away. We couldn’t go quite all the way up to the fresnel lens – this is taken through a piece of plexiglass – but I loved that it really did look like the lens in the museum at the Statue of Liberty – just much, much smaller.

Last week Jeff went with some of his buddies to a Southern Culure on the Skids concert. They decided to dress up, so Jeff got a new hat to wear 🙂