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Midwest Visit Part 2 - Door County

After a few days in Illinois playing with Grandbaby Brooklyn, we moved on to part two of our trip. We picked up a car from the rental office in Yorkville and headed north into Wisconsin. Since it was Sunday there wasn't much traffic, so we had a pleasant drive through Lake Geneva and Milwaukee and then up into Northern Wisconsin. Instead of going through Green Bay we decided to cut the corner to save a few miles. We ended up getting lost and it took a lot longer, but eventually we got back on track and made it to Sturgeon Bay. From there it was a straight shot into Fish Harbor, where we would be staying for four nights.

Door County is a narrow peninsula bounded on the west by Green Bay and on the east by Lake Michigan. With miles of beautiful lakeshore and several bucolic small towns, it's a popular tourist destination. I had been there once before in 2018 when Sandy and I met up with my siblings for a few days. After growing up in Wisconsin I'm not a big fan of the geography of the state - no big mountains and too many bugs. But I did like Door County. Unfortunately that trip was marred when I caught some flu bug in the middle of our visit. It wasn't anything serious but it hit me hard. I ended up spending a day and a half in bed while everyone else was sightseeing, shopping and eating out. I was hoping for better luck on this trip.

We had done some "studying" to prepare for our visit. Sandy had a series of novels about a lady who moved to Door County and joined a quilting group there. I read the first two books before our trip. To be honest, the stories weren't just bad - they were terrible. But the author knew the area well so many of the events in the story occurred at real places. The books provided a sort of virtual tour of towns in the area and we were able to get an idea of some of the restaurants and shops that we could visit.

Our first stop in real life was Julie's Park Cafe and Motel in Fish Creek. We had eaten lunch at the cafe on our last trip. This time we were staying at the motel for four nights. But our unit wasn't a typical motel room. It was a two bedroom, three storey condo. From the parking lot you entered the middle floor which had the kitchen and living room. We had a bedroom downstairs while Lynn and Dan had a bedroom upstairs. It was built on a steep hillside so that in back all three floors opened onto nice patios.

Lynn and Dan arrived shortly after we did. After everyone was settled in we went out for dinner. We walked across the street to Wild Tomato, a local pizza place with several restaurants in Door County. It's always crowded but we were there very early so we were able to get a table. This location didn't even have inside seating. Still, it was jammed. By the time we left there was a long line of people waiting to be seated. The pizza was good and I certainly love pizza, but I wouldn't go there other than at an off time. To quote Yogi Berra, "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."

Next day we started with a short drive south to Lautenbach Orchard Country. They have a nice gift shop that Sandy wanted to check out. I even found some things to buy for people that I could put in my stash for future Christmas and birthday gifts. Their orchard produces the best cherries too. About once a year I order a case of a dozen jars of their cherries. It's pricey to ship them out to Idaho but it is well worth it.

Next we headed north. Our plan was to check out the towns along the west side of the peninsula and then circle around to the very tip in the northeast. Our first stop was at Ellison Bluff County Park. The limestone bluff rises 250 above the shoreline, a lot of vertical relief for Wisconsin. The viewpoint at the top provided a spectacular view out over the water. After taking pictures it was a short drive into the town of Ellison Bay. There was a visitor center with a nice gift shop. I found a Newport State Park cap (also in Door County) and Sandy found quite a few things. Before leaving Ellison Bay, we stopped at Island Orchard Cider. We got a sampler of their ciders and a snack tray that we shared for lunch.

As we drove around to the north side of the peninsula the sun came out and it was a beautiful day. We made one stop at the wreck of the nineteenth century schooner Fleetwing. It's only a hundred yards offshore and is a popular dive site. I love to dive but I wasn't tempted too much. The water in Lake Michigan is just too cold for me. I doubt that the visibility is very good either. I think I will stick to dive trips in the tropics.

We made another stop at Gills Rock. It's a small town but it did have a few tourist shops. I found a cool Death's Door tshirt at one. (I have to get a tshirt on every trip.) Death's Door is the 12 mile wide passage between the peninsula and Washington Island. The currents and rocks are treacherous and there have been many shipwrecks there. We went as far as Northport. It's not really a town, just a parking lot and dock for the ferry to Washington Island. That was as far as we could drive so we turned around and headed back.

It was Sandy's birthday so we wanted to celebrate. We had a nice dinner at Chop in Sister Bay. Although it was a little cool we ate out on the second floor patio with a nice view of the town and the water beyond. Since we were there early it was still nice out. The food was excellent and it was a great evening.

Although it had been a good day, I had to admit that I had caught something. I'm pretty sure it came from the guy who drove us from O'Hare to Yorkville. He was coughing and hacking the entire way and I spent over an hour in a closed car with him. On the drive up to Door County I had felt a little scratchiness in my throat. As soon as I felt it I thought "oh, oh!". While touring around today I felt a little touch of something but it wasn't too bad. I do have to admit that by the end of the day I was pretty worn out and didn't feel great. But if that was as bad as it got, I would be ok.

Well, that's not as bad as it got. I usually stay up way later than Sandy. After she went to bed I started to cough. As time went on, my throat got really irritated. Eventually it got so bad that my throat felt like it was constricting and I had to work hard to breath. It was the same sensation that you get when you swallow something very irritating "down the wrong pipe". It would settle down after a minute or two but it happened several times. I have to admit that it felt kind of scary. I was afraid that it might get worse. About 4 am I woke Sandy up and said I thought I needed to go to the Emergency Room to be checked out. Sandy got dressed quickly and we drove to the nearest hospital, which was in Sturgeon Bay.

The ER was empty so they took me right it. They usually take any problem with breathing pretty seriously anyway. They hooked me up to a bunch of monitors. They said my blood oxygen level was good. But I did have one or two more episodes so they were pretty convinced I wasn't making it up. They gave me an inhaler with something to soothe my throat and said that should take care of it. They wanted me to stay for a while to make sure. They were wrong. After a while I had another episode. Finally the doctor gave me an inhaler with epinephrine in it. THAT did the trick, and did it right away. They kept me for a while longer but everything seemed to be ok again. By now it was mid morning and they discharged me and sent me to Walgreens to get a prescription with an inhaler. Then we were able to go home.

Although I felt a lot better now, Sandy ordered me to stay in bed for the next two days. Meanwhile her, Lynn and Dan did some sightseeing on the east side of the peninsula. They saw some pretty stretches of lakeshore and stopped at the Cana Island lighthouse. All I saw was the pictures afterwards. I was finally allowed to go out again on our last night there when we went to dinner at the Bayside Tavern.

And that was the end of the Door County part of our trip. We left the next morning for Stoughton to visit Sandy's mom. Once again I had gotten sick on a trip to Door County. This time was worse than the first. I'm not superstitious but I don't know if I want to go back there again. I don't want to find out if I will get even sicker. I don't know why, but it's clear that place is trying to kill me.