Knights, and Gnomes and Elephants, Oh, My!

A while back Stachelbeere posted an article about scenic drives in the Great State of Wisconsin.  When Brombeere saw it she commented that it sounded like a fun thing to do so I went back to the article and picked one that looked like something we could do.  Brombeere teaches school and the end of the school year gets quite intense for her with all the activities the classes do to finish the as they close out the school year, get report cards ready for release and then "graduate" another batch of kids. I figured we might do this trip just after the year was over because there's no way she could do something like this anytime during the last month to six weeks of school.  And Brombeere always needs a little time to "decompress" about then anyway.  So we made a date and yesterday that date arrived.

Maybe I'm a little OCD about it but I like to plan out these kinds of things in advance, at least to some extent.  We have a friend who would sometimes grab his kids, hop in the car and drive in whatever direction they felt like going until they were half way through the money he had available for the outing, stopping along the way to see whatever caught their attention.  Then, when they reached the half-way point with the money they'd turn around and come home, everyone having enjoyed a nice little vacation.  Well, I'm not quite that open to spontaneity, I like to have a little bit better idea of what we might do and what we might run into along the way.  So I like to plan ahead for this kind of stuff.  Anyway, maybe its not so much planning as just researching what options there are along the way.  And the Internet makes that real easy.  I like having the Internet, especially now that it has been around several years and has "matured" somewhat, shall we say.  So I picked the scenic drive up to Door County and began looking at things that might be fun to do on such a drive.  I like driving and seeing pretty country, but I also like to get out of the car now and then to see stuff, too.  And Brombeere is good about letting me do this and going along with the plans pretty good.

What I had settled on was to drive up to the end of the peninsula and take the ferry out to Washington Island and ride our bikes around on the island for a while. The island is not real big and there are a surprising number of things on the island to do and see.  Every little tourist trap has their "hook", right?  I like to stay away from cheap and kitschy but there were still more than enough things on the island that looked interesting that we decided to do that. And that kind of trip didn't look like it would be too expensive, either.  So we threw the bikes on the bike rack and decided to head out at what we thought would be early enough to do all that.  Oh, and we also decided to stop at the Cana Island Lighthouse on the way.

As the appointed day got close enough to start watching the long-range weather forecast I did.  First time I checked it looked great; a nice sunny day for the day of the trip. I checked every day for the ten days ahead of the trip and each time the weather was looking real good - no rain, not too hot, not to windy, all that jazz.  But then on Thursday evening when I checked the forecast called for rain on Saturday.  Bummer.  But you know how the weather can change.  I would check and as the day got closer the forecast got bad but then started looking like a little better, like the rain was going to hold off until after we expected to be back from the island.  I was okay with that.

Draw bridge over the Sturgeon Bay

As we were leaving home it started to rain and I was thinking this could still work because Washington Island is far enough away from home that the weather isn't always the same.  But as we drove and drove the rain would come and go.  And I'm still thinking this could still work out okay.  Along the way we saw some pretty interesting things.  An elephant, among other things.  Not a real elephant, but a sculpture out front of a shop.  We saw a gnome, not a real one but a giant statue, out front of another shop.  Remember all the Bob's Big Boy restaurants with the Big Boy statues out front?  This was better than those, and more unique. As we got a ways up the peninsula we passed a sign that said there was a "geological feature" up ahead so we decided to stop.  Turned out to be a marker that marked the halfway point to the North Pole.  Who would have thought?
















Back on the road again the next stop was the Cana Island Lighthouse.  That was interesting.  I'm glad we stopped there.  The lighthouse is actually out on a small island a ways out from the mainland.  Normally there is a causeway you can walk out to get to the island, although when the water level gets high on Lake Michigan the causeway floods and you'd get wet walking out.  On our visit it was plenty dry and easy to walk.  The walk from the parking lot out to the island and to the lighthouse looked to me to be about 100 yards or more so after we parked we unloaded the bikes planning to ride all the way to the lighthouse.  But they don't do that.  As soon as you get off the causeway there is a little admissions office where you stop and pay admission.  We were expecting that.  But what I wasn't expecting was that they don't let you ride bikes beyond that point.  We weren't the only ones surprised by that.  There were already some bikes parked in the rack.  So we parked and locked the bikes and walked the rest of the way which, fortunately was not a real long way.  Spring is in full swing and there were lots of flowers out and in bloom on the island.  Both lilacs and wild flowers. Real pretty.  On the island there are also several out-buildings in addition to the lighthouse.  And a low, rock wall around much of the compound. Made the whole place quite scenic and nice.  The island is about 8.7 acres and very low to the water.




















The lighthouse was built in 1869. It was first fueled by lard, then by kerosene, then by acetylene and now by electricity. It was manually operated until finally automated in 1944.  Now the Coastguard operates it and comes out only periodically to service it as needed.  It even has a system that automatically rotates the bulbs when they burn out.  The working bulb and three back-ups. It has run pretty much continuously (during the dark hours) since it was first built until now.  The Fresnel lens, built in France, working in it today is the original lens installed 79 feet above the ground back in 1869, making it one of the longest continuously operating lighthouses in the country.  Amazing.  The last live-in lighthouse keepers left in 1995 when the Coast Guard took over. The grounds today are maintained by Door County Maritime Museum.  I thought it was cool.

We ended up staying at the lighthouse longer than originally anticipated but that was quite alright - it was worth it.  As we left the only "glitch" of the whole trip occurred - our antique GPS devise let us down.  I'm not sure if it was an operator error, which is always possible, or a failing of the devise.  Anyway, as we left it lead us astray, in a circle actually.  Away from the lighthouse and then back to it.  And the site was remote enough that neither of our cellphones were getting enough signal to use the GPS app on them.  We actually had to pull out the old fashion map we keep in the car and use that to find our way back to the main road where we were able to pick up enough signal to get us back on our way to the ferry.

While we were at the lighthouse and then getting ourselves back on track to get to the ferry the rain storm we had left behind caught up with us so that as we were getting to the ferry at Northport it began raining off and on.  As we pulled into the parking lot of the ferry we were looking at the time and remembering that since the last ferry back from Washington Island left the island at 5:00 we really didn't have enough time to go out to the island and do much of anything before it would be time to come back.  That was a little disappointing but it also meant there would be something left to do on a return trip sometime in the future.  So we took a few pictures and toured the visitors' center.  That was fun.  I had seen on the map that there was a small lighthouse on Plum Island, an island the ferry had to swing wide of to get around on the way out to Washington Island.  We didn't have any binoculars but my camera has a pretty good zoom so we were able to get a pretty good view of that lighthouse.  It wasn't as nice as the Cana Island Lighthouse.  Actually, the two such lights on Plum Island aren't lighthouses at all, they what's called "Range Lights", installed to guide boats into the passage between the islands.  There's no visiting Plum Island, its now a wildlife bird refuge closed to the public to protect the bird nesting habitats.









We hung around the visitors' center a little while, long enough to see the ferry off, and then made our way back down the peninsula toward Ephraim where we were planning on playing a little mini-golf and eating lunch.

Unfortunately, by the time we got to Ephraim so had the rain and we decided we didn't want to golf in the rain.  Yet something else to save for our next visit to the peninsula. We stopped for lunch at Wilson's Restaurant and Ice Cream Parlor, an establishment that first opened in 1906 and has been in operation ever since, passing hands through several owners and operators but surviving all the economic ups and downs of almost 110 years.  Their main stay is the ice cream although they do have a respectable menu as well.  So we both had a ruben sandwich, some of the soup of the day and some ice cream.  Very yummy.  I departed from my normal ice cream flavor of chocolate and had some real good black cherry ice cream.  After all, this was Door County we were in.  We had posted on Facebook about eating there and one of the guys at church today mentioned to me that he and his wife had eaten there a few years ago when they had been up that way.  They liked it, too.

We also stopped at a general store called the Silly Goose General Store.  A nice little gift shop that has been operating there in Ellison Bay for quite a while.  If fact, the lady behind the counter, who looked to be in her sixties or seventies, told us her mother had named the store when she first opened it. We looked around a while, bought a few things and then left.  Got some nice things and didn't spend any more than we would have spent on the ferry out to the island.

This far up the peninsula there is apparently a lot of Scandinavian heritage, unlike the strong Polish heritage farther down in the state.  Saw lots of Scandinavian names of places, even saw a restaurant with a grass roof with miniature goats up on it, keeping the grass in check. We also drove passed the Door County Maritime Museum and talked about stopping but ended up not.  That would be fun to go back to another time.  Saw some kitsch as well.

Then, alas, it was time go head for home. It was a good trip - interesting things to see and do, and a good way to spend some time with my favorite person. We decided we'll have to make the trek again, not only to get out to Washington Island, but we saw plenty of other stuff that looked interesting to us as well.  Time to start doing some more research. . . . . . .

A Nature Trek

Blaubeere and her kids came over today.  That's always a happy thing.  A friend of Brombeere's had told her recently where an eagle's nest was so we decided to take a drive out and see if we could find it. So we all piled into Blaubeere's car and took off.  We'd been told the spot where the nest was had been marked with a tent peg, hanging from a tree.  A green tent peg. Not really helpful considering all the trees that were around.  But it turned out it was not a tent peg - it was a tent pole bag and it was blue.  But it was hanging from a tree.  One out of three?  Good enough.  We managed to find it, though we did drive by it the first time.  We'd seen the bag but were looking for a peg.  Anyway, we found it.  The nest is huge, way up in a big old pine tree several yards off the road.  So we stood in the road and looked off through the trees and there it was.  Unfortunately, none of the eagles were there at the time.  In fact, after Brombeere posted that we'd found it and were looking at it, one of her friends responded that the mother eagle was sitting in a tree near her house at that moment.  But the nest was still cool.  It was massive. I would guess that it had been there for a number of years, getting added to a bit each year.

On the way to where the nest was we passed a buffalo farm.  That was fun.  There were several buffalo out in a pasture, including a couple of calves.  They were fun to watch.  One was in a playful mood and kept trying to engage the other.  But the other wasn't too interested at the moment.  And hanging around the buffalo were a bunch of cow birds.  It was a fun excursion.  In fact, it was really good.  The only distraction was the ticks.  They apparently are really bad this year. After we got back in the car to head home we found three of them.  So we stopped to do a thorough tick check.  But it still left everyone feeling a little creepy-crawly. But that wasn't enough to ruin the trip - it was a fun time.

Some Thoughts Today

Nearly forty years ago, as I walked home from our date, I asked the Lord if this girl I'd spent the evening with was the girl my patriarch spoke of as he talked of the girl, who would be a sweet daughter of Mother Eve, that the Lord had in store for me to marry. Imagine my surprise when He said yes. Of course, I must confess, I was hoping that would happen.

The first time I saw her was at a dance just a few weeks after I'd returned from my mission. I saw her with one of her friends and I thought that there, of all the girls I'd seen that evening, was a girl I could dance with. But I was slow working up the courage to ask her to dance and by the time I'd determined to ask her she'd left the dance. I was both disappointed and relieved. The next day was the first day of classes and I was delighted to walk into one of my classes and see her there, and with an empty seat beside her no less. You can guess where I choose to sit. I spent the next three months slowly getting to know her, a little each class. We ended up with another class together the next quarter and spring quarter I was finally able to ask her out on a date. And so the adventure began.

Life moves at its own pace whether we're ready or not. All we can do is hold on for the ride, trying to anticipate and prepare for what's coming. If we're smart we find the wise, inspired voices who work so diligently to warn and prepare us for what's coming. But whether we're ready or not, life comes charging at us at full speed. The adventure unfolds, kids come into the home, they grow, they learn, they do and sometimes they don't, but life keeps coming, always at the same speed, always without pause or break. There are happy times, there are sad times, there are successes, there are disappointments, there are things that are unexpectedly easy, there are trials, there are joys indescribable, there are hurts deep and so painful you wonder how you can keep going. It is at those time we learn to heed the inspired counsel to "... let the afflictions of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever." And sometimes, with no warning, effort or compulsion, happy things happen. Little things that make you smile, bigger things that make you wonder how you can contain the joy. Unexpected mercy from the Source of all Good and you are reminded yet again that He is and ever has been watching over you.

Our adventure is so uniquely ours that it sometimes feels like we're making it up as we go along. We have learned to live without always knowing all the answers in advance, to trust those wise, inspired voices and live in hope. We have learned to trust our own judgment, as our own judgment has improved as we've moved ever onward. Occasionally we are able to recognize what's happening as we move from one act into the next in this play that is our life. More often, though, we come to gradually realize, as when the light gradually increases as the day dawns, that a change has come to our life and things are different now. The adventure continues, a little different now than in the past, but always moving forward. 

I do not have the words to express how grateful I am that I have been able to live this adventure with that dear, sweet, pure daughter of Mother Eve of whom my patriarch foretold. I know for certain that except for perhaps the Gospel itself, she is the greatest blessing I've ever received from my Lord and if I do somehow manage to accomplish what I came to this earth to do, it will be because of her presence in my life as we've lived out this adventure together. I am grateful for each moment I have by her side and the promise we have from the Lord that there need be no end.

A Very Fun Time!

Erdbeere likes to be in plays now and then so every so often she will hook up with a local players theater and get herself in a play.  And, of course, when she does we like to go see the play.  So she did that recently and this weekend we went to attend the opening night of their play, Singing in the Rain. I've long been a fan of the old Gene Kelly / Debbie Reynolds movie so I was particularly interested to see how they would adapt it to the stage.  I'm sure that's been done before but I've never seen it so I was curious.  Particularly the title number where the star dances on the street while its raining.  This was going to be good.  But more about that in a minute.

Schwarzbeere and his wife went with us. That was a happy thing.  Because Erdbeere was going to be way busy with the play and all we decided to stay in a motel this time.  And we also decided to take the day off work and go down early to see if we could do something else while we were there.  And that worked out to be fun, too.  Erdbeere did have a little time so we all went to the zoo for a short visit.  That was fun.  Her little boy, Townsend, likes the zoo, they take him pretty often.  So we did see a few animals, even though his favorite thing to do at the zoo is to play at the playground there.  Funny boy.  There wasn't time to see a lot of the exhibits but what we saw was good, it was a fun trip.

After the zoo Erdbeere had to take off to start getting ready for the play so headed over to a nearby mall for some lunch and then decided to go check into our motel, grab some dinner and get some flowers to give to Erdbeere at the play.  Unfortunately, the afternoon didn't play out like we had planned. I had got reservations at a motel that was only about 10 miles or so from the theater but Friday traffic turned those few miles into a very long car trip.  Then, when we got to the motel it turned out to be less than advertised and was unacceptable. We won't get into the details of that.  Suffice it to say that we opted to find some place else.  And because the afternoon was wearing away we decided to be safe and find one closer to the theater.  Well, the drive back was even worse than the drive out, including sitting for fifteen or twenty minutes at a train crossing.  There was a train sitting at it, thoroughly blocking the crossing and during the whole time we were there it never moved an inch.  Having had the GPS let us down once already on this trip we were a little reluctant to trust it to lead us on a good route out of there but we took the chance and this time it came through.  So we beat it back through heavy traffic, back to the new motel and got checked in. But by now there was no time for the short nap we had hoped for, or for the stop at the store for flowers we had wanted - there wasn't even time to go get something to eat for dinner.  So we headed straight to the theater.

The GPS came through again for us and took us straight to the theater and we got there just a few minutes after when we had originally planned on arriving anyway.  That was good.  Plus, they had a snack bar so we held off starvation with some junk food to carry us over until after the play, when we hoped to be able to get something better.  We'll come back to that in a few minutes.  Erdbeere was able to come out and say "hi" before the play started.  That was fun, she was all in costume and looked so good.  For a small donation we could have gotten into the play for a small, simple appearance if we'd wanted but nobody in our group wanted to so we skipped that opportunity.  And then it was time for the play to start.

Erdbeere's role in the play was versatile, she actually played several roles during the play - an opportunity afforded by it being a small, local theater group.  They were all fun.  The costume we saw her in before the play started was just for her first appearance. She had a few others and had some quick changing to do behind the scenes as the play went on.  Most of the actors did.  That's part of the fun of local theater.

The play turned out to be real good, everyone did a good job, the pace was steady, the talent was good, singing and dancing and acting all around, everyone knew their lines, or if there were any flubs they covered them so well it wasn't noticeable at all. We had good seats (actually, when I bought them I was the first so I had my choice of anywhere in the whole theater).  We were close enough to be able to see and hear very well but, as it turned out, not so close that we got wet at all when the title number came and the rain was falling as the lead splashed and played around in it.  The had rigged some plumbing above the front of the stage so that when they needed the rain they had rain, real water, and true to the warning they gave before the play began, the people on the front couple of rows did get splashed on a little.  But we were far enough back that we didn't get in on any of that.  I was impressed with the actor that played the role of Cosmo.  That's a high energy part that takes a lot of talent and he pulled it off very well.  His bio said he was grateful to the other actors for giving him room to play with his role and he certainly did.  He did a good job. The whole show moved at a good pace so that you didn't notice the time at all.  It was a two hour play with one fifteen minute intermission.  It was a good play, done well, and a good time.  Worth all the hassle we'd had to wade through during the afternoon.

When the play ended we got to talk to Erdbeere again for a few minutes before she took off to the cast party and we took off to see if we could find a place still open so we could get some dinner.  It was almost 10:30 by the time we left the theater. And what was even very appropriate, it was raining outside as we left.  Erdbeere had mentioned a place that was near by that might still be open so we headed back there.  Unfortunately, we ended up stuck at another train crossing, waiting on another train.  But this one didn't sit there longer than just a few minutes before it began moving and it was a short train so that delayed us only five or 10 minutes.  But then, a little farther down the road we came upon an accident that had just happened.  The whole road was blocked, no traffic moving in our direction at all.  We sat there a few minutes, the police arrived and we decided to go around the block.  But when we got to the restaurant a few minutes later they said their kitchen had already closed.  Fortunately, we had passed another place, a fast-food place on the way that was still open so we went back there and got some dinner and took it back to the motel to eat.  By the time we finished and were all ready for bed it was a little after midnight. It had been a long day.


The plan for Saturday was to meet Erdbeere and her family and all go for a late lunch and then head for home, and check out was pretty late as most motels go so we were not in a hurry at all to get up the next morning.  So that's what we did.  We checked out and left the motel around 10:30 and went over to Erdbeere's place and hung out for a few minutes.  Then we drove a few miles to a place to get some good deep dish pizza.  I'd never had it before and it turned out really good.  But what I thought was the best was the salad we got to go with it.  That was really yummy!

All too soon the pizza and salad were gone and Erdbeere needed to take off to get ready for the evenings performance.  So we said our good-byes and we took off for home.  It had been a real good visit - good company, good entertainment, good food, just an all around good time.  Erdbeere was saying that her plan was do see about getting into a play each spring. I like that idea.  These trips to her plays have always been a lot of fun.  I'm looking forward to the next one already.