Mark and I drove up to Door County with a stop to begin with to visit James and Allyssa for a little while. Traffic in Milwaukee was awful (construction & an accident) but we got through and onward to Door County. First stop: Scaturo's Bakery in Sturgeon Bay. Great food and bakery goods!
Gordon Lodge, just north of Bailey's Harbor. We were so surprised to see the lovely grounds of this lodge, all decked out for fall.
We met our sister and brother-in-law at Wickman House for dinner in Ellison Bay. Good cocktails...but not much else to say that's good about this restaurant. The quality of food was poor, service mediocre, and it had an overall "trying too hard" atmosphere. Seems that all their food had KimChee in it. What's up with that? Seriously?!
The weather was rough, rainy and cold....but we managed to enjoy a nice afternoon and evening.
Lunch in Sturgeon Bay at Scaturo's Restaurant & Bakery. Delich!
This was the view from our room.
An amazing view looking north east over North Bay in Lake Michigan.
Pimm's Cup cocktail at Wickman House in Ellison Bay.
Rainy day for the most part, but we had some fun exploring. This day was set aside to go even further north....which we did. We found a cute place for breakfast: Maxwelton Braes Golf Club in Bailey's Harbor. They had the most amazing pancakes. They were huge but thin, like a crepe. Delicious with lingonberry sauce. Complete with some scrambled eggs, tomato juice and coffee - it was a hearty breakfast which kept us happy all the way till dinner.
Gill's Rock is the farthest you can drive on the peninsula so there we went! I had remembered the winding road between Gill's Rock and the Ferry to Washington Island and was hopeful that it would be colorful with fall colors.
This week wasn't peak color season for sure....but there were some yellows and oranges that stood out. I did get a good shot of the winding road before the rest of the tourists descended!
We visited a winery, an orchard shop, a church, some beaches, and stopped for many other photo ops.
We found the absolutely BEST restaurant in Bailey's Harbor for dinner.... the Harbor Fish Market and Grille. This was the complete opposite of the dining experience from the night before. Delicious, professionally served, and beautiful views. This one we'll be back to, for sure! It's right in the center of the town of Bailey's Harbor.
Back at Gordon's I had time to take a walk along their beautiful trails on the Gordon Lodge grounds.
Today we started with breakfast at the lodge, which was a buffet and was not bad. Then we set out to explore the middle of the Door County beauty. Had lunch at the Village Cafe and I thought the stoneware was super cute!
We explored from Ellison Bay to Cave Park. Lighthouses, beaches, harbors....Peninsula Park was amazing, but Cave Point was spectacular.
Cave Point was a place I'd never heard of. Or perhaps I had read about it but because it says "Cave" I said no way! They're not really caves... well they are but you don't/can't go in them. You look down at them from the shore. They are underwater caves with high overlooking limestone outcroppings. The crashing waves were absolutely amazing.
Bailey's Harbor, Door County WI
Although the lightning bolts weren't cooperative, I caught this moody shot around midnight at the tail end of the big storms that produced tornado warnings in Door County.
Time to leave! I'd have stayed longer but unfortunately we had to get home. Plus the resort was filling up with Fall "peepers" - people on fall color excursions. Some say this is the busiest time of year in Door County. Hope they had better weather than we did! Finally had a sunrise worth photographing. I tried a cool new filter....
It was finally sunny as we left Door County. Our first stop was at this beautiful, large, old abandoned barn for some photos!
Had lunch in downtown Milwaukee at a restaurant that's over 100 years old! A famous landmark in MKE called Mader's. It's traditional German cuisine and was fun and delicious. Mark had been here in past years and recommended we try it. I'm sure glad we did! Not to mention that they had Sprecher's Pop - this diet rootbeer was my absolute favorite!
The best part: The Caves. The worst part: rain and traffic on the way up! Overall, it was a great little trip. We love Door County and will definitely be back!