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We had a wonderful weekend up in Door County.
The "cabin" we were at was very nice. It was more than I would call a cabin, but then it was a little less than a house too. It was all done in natural wood with a cathedral ceiling. one bedroom upstairs in the loft (with a whirlpool path), two bedrooms downstairs with a second bathroom, a nice kitchen and a large dining room/living room combination. It didn't seem build sturdy enough, though. The doors were all thin and it felt self-consciously "cabiny"; the wood floors were nice but oddly thin and cold and it didn't have a basement, of course. I'm not sure it would be comfortable in winter, especially with the large picture windows that faced the lake (beautiful view, but not my idea of "good" when you get sub-zero winds off a frozen lake). Of course, I have to keep in mind that their weather is somewhat tempered by that very lake.
Not having to live there, I can overlook those points and just say it was a wonderful place to spend the weekend. It came complete with two firepits, a grill, a canoe, two bikes and DirectTV (in case you missed "civilization").
We got there early evening on Friday. We did a minor detour though Green Bay to check out how the construction on Lambau Field was going and to buy a Father's Day Present for Wil's Dad. We also stopped at Maplewood Meats -- a wonderful place. Think of the best butcher shop you've ever been in and then make it the size of, say, a football field. We bought stakes to grill out on Sat. and brats to make for Friday supper. We also hit a regular store for sandwich and breakfast stuff.
The weather couldn't have been better. Friday was a little warm to be traveling through Green Bay, but just perfect for tooling around the Door Country countryside and looking at farms. The only drawback was that the lake was a little low, which meant that the seaweed that washed up on shore was slightly ordorific, but it was survivable. We walked the beach on Friday then built a fire in the small fireplace and sat and talked. Well, we also watched some TV because we, as a group, tend to run out of safe topics to talk about quite quickly :-).
On Saturday we dug out the canoe and took quite a nice paddle out in the Lake. The cabin is on the Lake Michigan side of the lake and Saturday the lake was as still as glass. Just unbelievably calm and beautiful. We followed the shore line because none of us are very experienced at canoeing. It was wonderful. The water was so crystal clear you could see the bottom of the lake. It was often an optical illusion. You would think that the water was only a couple of feet deep when it was really 10 or 15 feet down to the bottom. Still, we ran across several places (quite far from shore) where the canoe barely cleared the stone bottom. In fact, we stopped over one such place and both Wil and Myr got out and walked around. Must have looked real interestin' from shore.
We picked out another point on the back down the shore, past the cabin in the other direction and we decided to head for that. Only, we'd be paddling for about an hour and to get to the new spot we were heading quite far out into the lake. The water was starting to change slightly and we could see where the water was starting the kick up a little, even a few whitecaps here and there. Deciding that we didn't want to press our luck, we headed back. It took us about a half-hour to get back, so we were quite far out as it was. I'm not the greatest judge of distance as it is, and on a large body of water like Lake Michigan, I'm even worse.
Still, the water was incredibly calm. The temperature couldn't have been much over 70 and the sun was warm. It was lovely. Simply lovely.
Once we got back and after we ate lunch, we decided to see if we could find a place to swim or at least wade around. The cabin is just past the Whitefish Dunes State Park and the Cave Point County Park, so we decided to try there first. Wil had always talked about a trip he had taken up to Door County in his ancient past when he swam in this wonderful place where you could see clear to the bottom of the lake and see boulders the size of cars. When we pulled into the Cave Point Park he said, this is it. The park doesn't have a beach, rather it sits above the lake and has cliffs that overlook the water 20 feet or so below. When you first walk in, you head straight out to the overlook. It's on a little piece of land that juts out into the lake (this was the point we were heading to before we decided to stop canoeing). You have a beautiful view of the shoreline off both sides. Directly to the right there is a little cove that you can look down into and see where a the waves have made a made cave in the stone directly under the overhang you are standing on. Off to the left, there is a path the winds down and around that end up down by the lake. With the low water, we could walk down and on the bed of rocks that make up the shore.
Now Lake Michigan -- at least this part of Lake Michigan -- doesn't have a dirt/sand/loose rock bottom. Instead, its bottom is made up of sheets of rock. Not smooth sheets of rock, mind you. They jut up and down by several inches unexpectedly and you have to be careful when you walk. When you look out into the lake, you can see that this rock-bed continues out into the Lake. The only difference is that you can see places where the rock-bed suddenly drops off not only several inches, but 10 to 20 feet. My husband takes one look at this and declares that it's a perfect place to go swimming.
Now something you should know about my dear Hubby. He has a Dread Fear of swimming in dark water -- water where you can't see the bottom. But give him a place where he can see the bottom and he's ready to go. Myr is also thrilled to death about this and followed him down to the lake, bouncing and laughing. I am not so thrilled about this. Don't get me wrong, I'm as adventurous as the next person, I just tend to be, well, cautious, when first approaching things. Looking at the cold water from twenty-some feet above it I didn't think it was a good idea.
So I followed them down and swam anyhow.
The water was cold. Not as cold as Superior, mind, but cold none-the-less. The rocks at the edge of the water were very slippery so I worked my way into the water slowly. Once in it was... well, it was far from warm, but it was wonderful. We waded/swam around the point and explored the little cave that was on the other side. What looked like sand from the top turned out to be shells crushed by the water beating against the rocks. The rock wall was beautifully carved by the water, too; with small pockmarks and holes that had unbelievably smooth edges.
We spent at least an hour walking/swimming around there. We would walk out on the rock shelf and then jump into the deep holes that appeared at odd intervals. No one else swam, but we had a blast anyhow.
We left just before there were going to have a wedding in the park. It was a perfect day for a wedding.
Actually, it was a perfect day for us, too.
We were exhausted by the time we got back, because swimming in fifty degree water tires one out; played some games, put the canoe away, sat in the hammock and read, grilled out some steaks and baked potatoes. Wil's folks decided to drive to the other side of the peninsula to watch the sunset, so the three of us watched some Cirque Du Sole and took turns trying out the whirlpool bath.
Sunday we went out to Father's Day brunch. It was only an average brunch, the nice thing about it was that they gave us unlimited juice (orange or Door-Country-Cherry Apple) free with the meal. I love little touches like that.
We headed home shortly after we finished eating. Well, actually, we cleaned the cabin first -- part of the reason that the cabin was so reasonably priced. We stopped at a couple of little shops and the like and stared at all the beautiful and unbelievably huge houses build along the lake. Actually, the Green Bay shore has more mansion and hotel-like buildings on it than the Lake Michigan side. The closest thing to a problem we had all trip was that our car started acting up on the way home and, thinking it best not to push our luck, we drove straight home from Green Bay without stopping. Good thing, too, because our car died four blocks from home; if we would have stopped somewhere else we would have been stuck there.
Still, it was a perfect trip really. And totally unexpected.
The "cabin" we were at was very nice. It was more than I would call a cabin, but then it was a little less than a house too. It was all done in natural wood with a cathedral ceiling. one bedroom upstairs in the loft (with a whirlpool path), two bedrooms downstairs with a second bathroom, a nice kitchen and a large dining room/living room combination. It didn't seem build sturdy enough, though. The doors were all thin and it felt self-consciously "cabiny"; the wood floors were nice but oddly thin and cold and it didn't have a basement, of course. I'm not sure it would be comfortable in winter, especially with the large picture windows that faced the lake (beautiful view, but not my idea of "good" when you get sub-zero winds off a frozen lake). Of course, I have to keep in mind that their weather is somewhat tempered by that very lake.
Not having to live there, I can overlook those points and just say it was a wonderful place to spend the weekend. It came complete with two firepits, a grill, a canoe, two bikes and DirectTV (in case you missed "civilization").
We got there early evening on Friday. We did a minor detour though Green Bay to check out how the construction on Lambau Field was going and to buy a Father's Day Present for Wil's Dad. We also stopped at Maplewood Meats -- a wonderful place. Think of the best butcher shop you've ever been in and then make it the size of, say, a football field. We bought stakes to grill out on Sat. and brats to make for Friday supper. We also hit a regular store for sandwich and breakfast stuff.
The weather couldn't have been better. Friday was a little warm to be traveling through Green Bay, but just perfect for tooling around the Door Country countryside and looking at farms. The only drawback was that the lake was a little low, which meant that the seaweed that washed up on shore was slightly ordorific, but it was survivable. We walked the beach on Friday then built a fire in the small fireplace and sat and talked. Well, we also watched some TV because we, as a group, tend to run out of safe topics to talk about quite quickly :-).
On Saturday we dug out the canoe and took quite a nice paddle out in the Lake. The cabin is on the Lake Michigan side of the lake and Saturday the lake was as still as glass. Just unbelievably calm and beautiful. We followed the shore line because none of us are very experienced at canoeing. It was wonderful. The water was so crystal clear you could see the bottom of the lake. It was often an optical illusion. You would think that the water was only a couple of feet deep when it was really 10 or 15 feet down to the bottom. Still, we ran across several places (quite far from shore) where the canoe barely cleared the stone bottom. In fact, we stopped over one such place and both Wil and Myr got out and walked around. Must have looked real interestin' from shore.
We picked out another point on the back down the shore, past the cabin in the other direction and we decided to head for that. Only, we'd be paddling for about an hour and to get to the new spot we were heading quite far out into the lake. The water was starting to change slightly and we could see where the water was starting the kick up a little, even a few whitecaps here and there. Deciding that we didn't want to press our luck, we headed back. It took us about a half-hour to get back, so we were quite far out as it was. I'm not the greatest judge of distance as it is, and on a large body of water like Lake Michigan, I'm even worse.
Still, the water was incredibly calm. The temperature couldn't have been much over 70 and the sun was warm. It was lovely. Simply lovely.
Once we got back and after we ate lunch, we decided to see if we could find a place to swim or at least wade around. The cabin is just past the Whitefish Dunes State Park and the Cave Point County Park, so we decided to try there first. Wil had always talked about a trip he had taken up to Door County in his ancient past when he swam in this wonderful place where you could see clear to the bottom of the lake and see boulders the size of cars. When we pulled into the Cave Point Park he said, this is it. The park doesn't have a beach, rather it sits above the lake and has cliffs that overlook the water 20 feet or so below. When you first walk in, you head straight out to the overlook. It's on a little piece of land that juts out into the lake (this was the point we were heading to before we decided to stop canoeing). You have a beautiful view of the shoreline off both sides. Directly to the right there is a little cove that you can look down into and see where a the waves have made a made cave in the stone directly under the overhang you are standing on. Off to the left, there is a path the winds down and around that end up down by the lake. With the low water, we could walk down and on the bed of rocks that make up the shore.
Now Lake Michigan -- at least this part of Lake Michigan -- doesn't have a dirt/sand/loose rock bottom. Instead, its bottom is made up of sheets of rock. Not smooth sheets of rock, mind you. They jut up and down by several inches unexpectedly and you have to be careful when you walk. When you look out into the lake, you can see that this rock-bed continues out into the Lake. The only difference is that you can see places where the rock-bed suddenly drops off not only several inches, but 10 to 20 feet. My husband takes one look at this and declares that it's a perfect place to go swimming.
Now something you should know about my dear Hubby. He has a Dread Fear of swimming in dark water -- water where you can't see the bottom. But give him a place where he can see the bottom and he's ready to go. Myr is also thrilled to death about this and followed him down to the lake, bouncing and laughing. I am not so thrilled about this. Don't get me wrong, I'm as adventurous as the next person, I just tend to be, well, cautious, when first approaching things. Looking at the cold water from twenty-some feet above it I didn't think it was a good idea.
So I followed them down and swam anyhow.
The water was cold. Not as cold as Superior, mind, but cold none-the-less. The rocks at the edge of the water were very slippery so I worked my way into the water slowly. Once in it was... well, it was far from warm, but it was wonderful. We waded/swam around the point and explored the little cave that was on the other side. What looked like sand from the top turned out to be shells crushed by the water beating against the rocks. The rock wall was beautifully carved by the water, too; with small pockmarks and holes that had unbelievably smooth edges.
We spent at least an hour walking/swimming around there. We would walk out on the rock shelf and then jump into the deep holes that appeared at odd intervals. No one else swam, but we had a blast anyhow.
We left just before there were going to have a wedding in the park. It was a perfect day for a wedding.
Actually, it was a perfect day for us, too.
We were exhausted by the time we got back, because swimming in fifty degree water tires one out; played some games, put the canoe away, sat in the hammock and read, grilled out some steaks and baked potatoes. Wil's folks decided to drive to the other side of the peninsula to watch the sunset, so the three of us watched some Cirque Du Sole and took turns trying out the whirlpool bath.
Sunday we went out to Father's Day brunch. It was only an average brunch, the nice thing about it was that they gave us unlimited juice (orange or Door-Country-Cherry Apple) free with the meal. I love little touches like that.
We headed home shortly after we finished eating. Well, actually, we cleaned the cabin first -- part of the reason that the cabin was so reasonably priced. We stopped at a couple of little shops and the like and stared at all the beautiful and unbelievably huge houses build along the lake. Actually, the Green Bay shore has more mansion and hotel-like buildings on it than the Lake Michigan side. The closest thing to a problem we had all trip was that our car started acting up on the way home and, thinking it best not to push our luck, we drove straight home from Green Bay without stopping. Good thing, too, because our car died four blocks from home; if we would have stopped somewhere else we would have been stuck there.
Still, it was a perfect trip really. And totally unexpected.
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Date: 2003-06-26 09:48 am (UTC)From:Wil is not alone in his phobia, though mine has a twist. I'm fine in deep water in a smallish lake I know like the city lakes around here. But when I'm sure we're talking 100 feet or better, my heart starts a pumpin.
I once flew a small plane to Toronto and had to cross Lake Michigan. 10k feet was all the higher I could go in that direction and at that altitude, were the plane to experience a total engine outage, it would be able to glide to shore...from all but the middle few miles. Just that million to one chance of all the planets aligning against me during that 15 minute stretch made me sweat lol.