Hello Wisconsin!

Okay, now I'm officially back. I think. It's not easy coming back from vacation and having a million things to do the first three days you come home. I think we still have some stuff in our suitcase. Maybe we shouldn't come home from a trip the day we have to go to school to meet the teachers and the day before football pictures. But now the kids are back to school, I'm still off from work for a little bit and things are getting back to a more manageable state of chaos.

Yes, our trip. We went up to Door County, Wisconsin for a week. We were up in the northern part in a town called Ephraim. We stayed at Eagle Harbor Inn that was recommended by Mr. Unfocused. It was a perfect place for the family. Though we visited a few other towns as well. It was a nice, relaxing time. Oh, the the weather was great. When we left home we were just finishing a warm spell of 90's with the heat index near 100 for several days. It was nice to be in temperatures that were barely in the mid-70's after that. We even wore sweatshirts and long pants sometimes! It was great.

One thing we noticed right away was the wind. The day we got up there we went to eat at a place called Fred and Fuzzy's in Sister Bay which is located right on the water. The food was good, but the wind was a little strong that day. I felt bad for the servers who were having trouble keeping the drink glasses from falling over as they walked. We asked our server if it is always so windy and she said no that it was just a crazy day. She was right because we went back there on our last night and it was very pleasant. Sitting right on the water is the way to eat, especially if you have a good view.

One of the things I wanted to do in Door County was check out some lighthouses. We got to see two of them, which was fine, since some of the others are hard to get to. The first one we saw was the Eagle Bluff Lighthouse in Peninsula State Park. We planned to rent some bikes and ride trail to the lighthouse. We changed plans a little when our daughter decided she wanted to ride in one of the carts that are pulled behind a bike rather than the tag-along style bike. This turned out to be a great decision on her part. There were a lot of hills that would have been tough for her even on the back of the bike. This way she had a nice ride and actually fell asleep on the way down. The lighthouse itself wasn't one of the designs that I have in my head when I think of lighthouses, but it was still cool that something built in the late 1800's is still hanging around.

The other lighthouse we went to was the Cana Island Lighthouse. Now this is what I think of when I hear the word lighthouse.

This one was a little more difficult to get to. We had to drive on some narrow roads and walk across a gravel path between the island and the mainland. It was a short path, but we could drive right up and park. This time my son and I went up to the top, If you can believe it. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned before how I don't like heights, that's why I say that. The climb was a little shaky at first. There are 97 steps that make up the spiral staircase. The first 25 are pretty intimidating since it seems so open, but after you reach the first landing it is hard to see the bottom so you feel a little more secure.

The view from the top is great. I don't know how far you can see since a lot id it is water, but it seems like you can see forever.

One of the things I really wanted to do was get a nice picture of the sun setting on the water. Unfortunately, this was the best I could get.

I had another chance on the last night in Door County when were were at Fred and Fuzzy's again, but some clouds right at the water line ruined that chance. It's an okay picture, but as you can see, some low clouds again prevented me from getting the sun setting on the water itself.

So, what else did we do? We ate. A lot. We went to the famous Al Johnson's where there are goats on the roof. No, really. See:

We ate at a place called The Summer Kitchen that had some great soup. We also ate there twice. We hit the famous Wilson's Ice Cream the first night we were there. Look, we ate a lot, okay?

Oh, I almost forgot. We also went to see a play at the American Folklore Theater that is inside Peninsula Stat Park. We saw, "Cheeseheads: The Musical" which I highly recommend. The theater was outside, obviously, which was kind of a neat way to see a show. I tell you, if you want to see a lot of stars in the sky, go to a state park in Wisconsin at night. Very cool. One thing, if you do go to a show at the theater on a Wednesday night, don't be like us and decide to get something to eat after the show. See, the part of Door County we were in (if not all of it) closes at about 8pm. We couldn't find a place to eat to save our lives. Luckily the kids fell asleep as we were driving around to find something, so we just put the to bed. When we got our daughter out of the cart she said she couldn't remember eating. We told her she really liked it and just go to sleep. Please come to us for all your parenting tips! Jenn and I ended up having chips and salsa along with some fudge for dinner. (Sorry we ate your fudge, mom!)

To sum it all up, we had fun, ate a lot and gained about 12 pounds. After all, isn't that what you are supposed to do on vacation? Especially if it is Wisconsin?