door county

the first part of this week was spent up north in door county as we used long-ago received gift certificates through the county's chamber of commerce.
i was in the midst of my first cold/flu of the year and (spoiler alert) greg would not be immune to it by the middle of the trip.
however, despite the fact that vacationing while sick is not quite as good as vacationing while well, i would argue, it is much better than facing deadlines and responsibilities while sick... and possibly even facing deadlines and responsibilities while well... maybe?

we stayed in a bed and breakfast which was cozy yet not overdone in floral motifs... basically our one criteria.

the balcony.

from the balcony-- a leafless corkscrew tree...

our first full day there we decided to go for a bike ride from sturgeon bay to egg harbor. 5 miles into it though, greg got a flat tire, ending our bicycle excursion for the day...

while greg went back into sturgeon bay to procure alternate transportation, i stayed at the county park looking at old boat parts...

and beaches...

after we got to egg harbor and ate lunch, we walked around and found these (to us) peculiar flowers...frayed-leafed tulips?

our second full day we took our bikes and their fully-inflated tires up to washington island.

on the way to the ferry... in some unincorporated town or other... and i know the picture does not convey it well, but the windy (long /i/) road was quite unique in that you could see all the many winds (long /i/) ahead of you because the road was so flat and the curves were not too ambitious... anyway, perhaps you should drive up to the ferry to get to washington island to see this road.

speaking of ferries... the robert noble...

washington island is a small island town. part of door county, it is fairly secluded (like much of door county when not in peak tourist season... many of the towns have populations of 300 or less).

inland... a small town intersection...

small town field with trees...

small town field without...

small town news circulator...

small town communication options?

when we first got to the island it was at least twenty degrees colder than on the mainland and we had not dressed with such a scenario in mind, so we stopped at the local tourist shop and bought the least touristy sweaters/fleeces we could find... and at the beginning of our bike trip, i spotted this and decided it would be a nice post-bicycle treat...

and as i discovered after the first (and fortunately only) large hill of the bike ride, that my cold had traveled into my (unexercised) lungs, and as greg discovered his throat was feeling the first effects of illness, we were happy when we arrived back at the red cup for a cup of hot tea...

which is when we discovered another quirk of small towns... their coffee shops aren't necessarily open at 3 in the afternoon... so, we sat on the porch... without tea.

after washington island, we drove through ephraim and found a cafe that was open, and ate asparagus quesadillas and drank tea and lemonade...

gurg.

me.

such serious looks belie the fact that we were in fact enjoying ourselves.

the end...