Monday 9/2/19 West Allis, WI
Had a nice visit with friends in northern Illinois; several doctor’s appointments; maintenance on the trailer at Ehrhardt's Trailer Sales; and new tires on the trailer from Suburban Tire in St Charles, where they always have treated us right..
We had fantastic weather for the Concours de Elegance and a wonderful selection of cars. Whole thing went smoothly as usual. We had a nice dinner at our friend’s RuthAnn and Ed before the show and then another get together at Patt and John’s a couple of days after.
Left Sycamore around 10 AM this morning and arrived at Wisconsin Fairgrounds early afternoon. First spot they gave us was a bit too tight, but we moved to a more accessible spot and got settled. Sites are pretty close together, but room to park the truck and car.
Tuesday 9//3/19 West Allis, WI
Raining this AM so we did not get our walk in. Yesterday when we parked we backed up against the fence on the west side of the RV park. Behind us was a very large, very empty parking lot for the state fair. This morning when I opened the curtain it was full of cars! Several hundred cars! Apparently a park & ride lot for Milwaukee.
Mid-morning we headed into Milwaukee to find the visitors center. There is one in Wisconsin Center downtown. Paid $7 to park for two hours, spend some time wandering around outside Wisconsin Center which covers four square blocks with minimal signage, nothing pointing to the visitors center, which turned out to be on the southeast corner (we parked on the northwest corner!) and was tiny. The lady there was very nice though and gave us a lot of good info. We decided to check out the Milwaukee Public Museum which was near the place where we parked. Very nice and interesting museum, might have stayed longer, but time was running out on our parking.
Drove over to the Milwaukee Public Market. A very nice indoor marketplace with a large number of vendors selling food, candy, fish, etc. along with quite a few eateries. Had sandwiches at West Allis Cheese and Sausage Shoppe, then walked around the Third Ward Historic District, which really did not have much to offer other than eateries and upscale clothing shops.
Back to the car where we turned in our parking ticket, validated for 1 hour free and the attendant said “Thank you, no charge”! We were there about an hour and a half. Made up for the rip-off on the other parking.
Took a drive north along the lakeshore and then back home early afternoon.
Wednesday 9/4 West Allis, WI
Hung around home in the AM and headed into town after lunch. Had reservations for a 4 PM tour at Sprecher's Brewery and planned on stopping to see the Pabst mansion on the way. Arrived at the mansion at 1:10 to find out that access is by guided tours only and they are on the hour! Next one at 2 PM lasts and hour and a half, too tight with the prepaid Sprecher’s tour. So we skipped the mansion. Went on up to Glendale, did a little shopping and arrived at Sprecher’s an hour early. Good news! You get your wrist band for four samples right away and you can start tasting in their lounge right away! Samples are juice glass sized and soda samples are free and unlimited. No way I could do four of those samples and still be legal to drive so I had a couple and some soda. Nancy had several samples. Nice tour and afterwards we went to Trouble and Sons in Whitefish Bay for a pretty good pizza.
Thursday 9/5 Ellison Bay, WI
Took our time getting going to allow the traffic to thin out as we had to go East toward downtown before turning north along the lake. Left a little after 10 AM, no issues with traffic getting out of Milwaukee and an uneventful trip to Hy-Land Court RV just south of Ellison Bay, northernmost town in Door County. Lots of trees here, but we had a spot reserved in the newer section where we could get satellite reception since there is an F1 race this weekend.
Arrived a little before 2 PM, got set up, unloaded the car, and went a couple of miles north to Ellison Bay for an early dinner. Things are a little more quiet here in Door County after Labor Day. Planned on trying Viking Grille, but it turns out they close early on Thursday so we went across the street to Mink River Basin. Huge selection of beer on tap and excellent happy hour specials on sandwiches and burgers.
Friday 9/6 Ellison Bay, WI
Dreary day with off and on rain, so we spent most of the day just vegging out. Drove into Sister Bay in the afternoon for dinner at Sister Bay Bowl. Being Friday night it was busy, half hour wait for a table, so we had a couple of drinks and sat in the bowling alley watching the action while we waited. Nice, typical Wisconsin supper club dinner.
Saturday 9/7 Ellison Bay, WI
First thing in the AM we went into Sister Bay to the Saturday Farmer’s Market. Turned out to be pretty small, about 6 vendors. We did however pick up several things including sweet corn for dinner tonight.
Stopped in downtown Sister Bay and took a walk around the harbor. Lots of big dollar yachts and a lot of high dollar condos in Sister Bay now. A lot different than what it was back in the late 70’s when last I was here.
Stopped at Seaquist Orchards Farm Market and Bakery. Kind of a typical touristy kind of place with a lot of of stuff - $50 a gallon for maple syrup!! Once again we picked up a couple of things, cider, doughnuts, apples.
Back home and spent a quiet afternoon.
Sunday 9/8 Ellison Bay, WI
Quiet day, no rain but, cool. Watched F1 race and after lunch we drove over to the bay west of us and along Mossy Cliff Dr. A number of big new houses, all of them look unoccupied. On the cliff above is the largest house in Wisconsin, not visible from the road. Stopped at small rocky beach, no place to walk. Then drove out to the overlook in Ellison Bluff State Natural Area, Not bad, but hardly worth the drive over a rough dirt road to get in.
Back home we took a loop around the RV park for our daily walk.
Got in touch with our neighbors from Tucson, Iris and John, who come to Door County in the summer and made arrangements to meet them for dinner on Thursday.
Monday 9/9 Ellison Bay WI
After a leisurely morning we drove south to Peninsula State Park. Quite a large park with a number of scenic overlooks of Green Bay and a very large primitive campground, with 468 sites in five campgrounds.
Stopped at a couple of overlooks, then parked at Nicolet Beach and walked along the Minihaha Trail that runs along the water through deep woods. Very pretty and peaceful this time of year.
Stopped in Fish Creek and had lunch at Bayside Tavern, then hit a couple of shops that Nancy wanted to check out, as well as a very nice book store, The Peninsula Bookman. A stop at the Piggly Wiggly for a few groceries and home late in the afternoon. Quite a pretty day with sun and a high in the 60’s.
Tuesday 9/10 Ellison Bay, WI
A few chores this AM, Nancy did laundry and I did a couple of maintenance items. We drove into Ellison Bay for lunch at The Viking Grille. Not bad, but nothing to write home about.
Took a drive up to the tip of the peninsula to check out Gil’s Rock and Northport, as well as the ferries to Washington Island. On the way out of Ellison Bay we saw a sign for a Cider Mill so we stopped to check it out on the way back south.
Island Orchard Cider turned out to be a great find and a unique place with a wide variety of hard ciders! They even had tasting flights! We selected six different ciders for tasting and sat outside for the better part of an hour enjoying the cider and pleasant weather. All of their ciders are made with apples and pears grown on Washington Island and we went away with one bottle. May stop back later this week for another that was currently out of stock.
Fortunately I only had to drive a couple of miles home after imbibing all that alcoholic cider!
Wednesday 9/11 Ellison Bay, WI
Well things turned out serendipitous this morning. It was about 62 when we took our walk, but by the time we left to go to Sturgeon Bay it was 59! The further south we drove the darker it became and by the time we reached Jacksonport it was a heavy downpour which continued all the way to Sturgeon Bay.
The trip into SB was necessitated by the need to pick up a new set of tire valve extensions for the trailer as one of them had been leaking since the new tires were put on in Geneva.
I have been searching for a barber and the only one in the upper part of Door County that I could find was booked until 10/2! So I checked in SB and found Razor’s Edge on the same side of town as the NAPA store which tuned out to be an excellent choice and only a quarter mile down the street! The lady that cut my hair (an excellent job BTW) recommended a Scaturo’s Baking Co. and Cafe for lunch, which happened to halfway between the NAPA store and her shop! Take about convenient and it was very good! Even bought some bread on buy one get one day!
Light rain on the way home, which continued all afternoon.
Thursday 9/12 Ellison Bay, WI
Rain most of the day. Lunch at home and then we drove into Fish Creek so Nancy could look at some sandals she saw the other day. Successful trip.
Back home and read until late afternoon when we drove 9 miles straight south to to where John & Iris, our neighbors from Tucson, have a place right on the water on the east side of the peninsula (we are on the west). We had a nice visit with them and then the four of us went to Chives in Bailey’s Harbor for an excellent dinner.
Friday 9/13 Ellison Bay, WI
Pretty steady rain most of the night. Temps around 60, but it was damp so it felt colder. Had a guy scheduled to come this morning to pull one tire on the trailer so I could replace the valve extension that is leaking. After I pulled the wheel cover I realized that I could get my hand in through the outer rim to tighten the extension on the inner tire. A half hour after the scheduled appointment I called and cancelled it. (10/2 Turned out that was all that was needed. Tire has been fine ever since, so I have a new set of extensions when needed.)
We drove into Sister Bay for lunch at Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant, a popular place that is always crowded. Arrived at 11:25, told a half hour wait. After 40 minutes I went up and asked and was told we had already been seated! Right! They took us right in, of course the crowd had thinned, the people just coming in were being told 5 minutes! Then we sat at our table for five to six minutes with no one even acknowledging our presence. I flagged down a hostess and she got a waiter who said our server “must be in the kitchen,” He did take our order after we told him about the 40 minute wait and, since we ordered the very popular Swedish pancakes, our order arrived in a matter of minutes. To their credit, the food was good and they gave us a 50% discount on our bill.
Stopped to check out the Sister Bay library that Iris had said was very nice. It is. Stopped at the hardware store and then drove over to Rowley’s, which is due east of us on the Lake Michigan side to visit Grandma’s Swedish Bakery. They have a reputation for good cinnamon rolls, which they were! Picked up a couple of sweets, then back to Sister Bay to the grocery store and back home.
It warmed up early this morning and the sun started to burn through the overcast
mid-morning and by noon we had blue sky and sunshine. Temps in the high 70’s with a pretty stiff breeze. Turned into a beautiful day.
Weekend traffic through Sister Bay starting to build as we were coming home. John had said last evening that the summer crowds disappeared right after Labor Day and for the next month or so it would only be crowded on weekends.
Saturday 9/14 Ellison Bay, WI
Another lovely day. Nice walk in the AM around the campground and after lunch we drove up to Ellison Bay. An amazing amount of traffic on the road compared to during the last week. John and Iris had said the weekends get really busy this time of year and they were right.
We stopped at Kick Ashe Products just to see what they had to offer. Nice shop specializing in coffee’s and sweets, with a small offering of other items. We picked up several really nice greeting cards, a pound of coffee and a “Corkcicle Decapitator” which is a pretty cool bottle opener, but hard to describe. Check it out.
Stopped back at Island Orchard Cider to pick up a few more bottles for us and for gifts.
Sunday 9/15 Ellison Bay, WI
Heavy rain during the night, but cleared off by morning. At lunchtime we drove into Sister Bay to check out shops and have lunch. Stopped at Yacht Works to browse. In the past we’ve found some neat things for the trailer in ship chandlers shops. Didn’t find much here, but they had a really nice 1929 Chris Craft double cockpit that is entirely original, delivered to a customer in Sister Bay in 1929, and never left!
After browsing the shops we stopped at Grasse’s Grille for an excellent lunch, followed by a walk around the harbor, then back home mid-afternoon.
Monday 9/16 Ellison Bay, WI
Quite foggy this morning, we could feel the moisture in the air while we were on our walk.
Drove up to Northport at the tip of the peninsula and took the 10 AM ferry to Washington Island. Looking at the fares we determined that it is cheaper to take the car on the fairy than it is to ride as passengers and rent bikes on the island, so we took the car over. Still foggy so not much to see on the crossing, but the Straight des Morts was as still as a mill pond.
On arrival we drove across to the NE side of the island and visited the Jackson Harbor Marine Museum in Port Jackson. Very old museum with a hodgepodge of interesting marine stuff with a very garrulous and informative docent. Unfortunately due to high water we could only visit one if the buildings, having to walk across a wood plank to get to that one!
We drove back west to Schoolhouse Beach, an interesting place where the beach is entirely covered with smooth, round stones. The bay there is very deep and was the original anchorage of schooners and large ships visiting the island. The bluff at the head of the bay is part of the Niagara Escarpment, and the rocks breaking off the bluffs are tumbled against each other as the wash through the bay, creating the distinctive round rocks.
Stopped at Fragrant Isle Lavender and Island Lavender (which was closed). Then we stopped at the Stavkirke, built by volunteer labor in the 1990’s as a replica of the 1150 AD church in Borgund, Norway.
Then we had lunch at Nelsen’s Hall Bitters Pub, which sells more Angostura Bitters than any other location in the world! The pub is also the oldest licensed bar in the state of Wisconsin.
So that requires an explanation. Tom Nelsen opened the hall in 1899 drank a pint of Angostura Bitters every day (and lived to 90!) When prohibition arrived he obtained a pharmacist’s license to dispense bitters as a “Stomach tonic for medicinal purposes.” There is a good history of the pub here.
After lunch we caught the ferry back to the mainland. The thing we were most struck by during out visit was how quiet the island is. Almost everywhere we stopped we were almost wrapped in silence.
On the way home we stopped at Uncle Tom’s Candies just to look - of course we bought some!
Tuesday 9/17 Ellison Bay, WI
Foggy again this morning, but not as dense as yesterday. At lunchtime we drove into Sister’s Bay and had an excellent lunch at Wild Tomato. Stopped at the grocery and then back home and relaxed.
Wednesday 9/18 Ellison Bay, WI
A bit damp this morning, but turned into a lovely day in the mid-70’s. Mid-morning we drove over to the Cana Island Lighthouse just north of Bailey’s Harbor. The brochure said the footing on the causeway to the island might be unstable and could have water on it. When we arrived there we were presented with an unbroken stretch of water where the causeway should be.
The sign said the lighthouse was open and transportation was open. While we were standing there a group of workers came by with a truck full of building roof frames and they drove onto the causeway through the water which appeared to be about a foot deep.
After a while a tractor came across towing a hay wagon with longitudinal seats! We opted not to go out to the island. Stopped at a little beach where three guys were assembling what appeared to be a very elaborate wind surfing set-up, but we got tired of waiting.
Went into Bailey’s Harbor and had an excellent lunch at Heirloom Cafe. Nancy had a nice beer form Hacienda Beer Co. right there in Bailey’s Harbor, so after lunch we stopped at Door County Brewing Co./Hacienda Brewing Co. and picked up a four pack.
Drove across into Sister Bay to check out Bargains Unlimited Thrift Shop where we bought a couple of books (naturally!).
On the way home we detoured across to Rowley's Bay and picked up a couple of cinnamon rolls at Grandmas’s Swedish Bakery. Back home to load the car (on the road again tomorrow) and relax.
Drove into Sister Bay with the truck and picked up a pizza from Wild Tomato. Pretty good pizza.
Thursday 9/19 Oshkosh, WI
Heavy rain and thunderstorms most of the night and into morning. Watching radar we decided to wait until the storm passed before we headed south. Left about 11:15, off and on rain most of the way, and arrived at Sleepy Hollow Farm about 2 PM.
More than our share of complete a**holes on the road today. Before we were even out off Sister Bay some idiot in a pick-up turned left right in front off us. A bt farther down the road another fool in a pick-up had to get out in front of us and almost spun out trying to accelerate ahead of us. I followed this idiot all the way through Green Bay! Once we got onto I-41 south in Appleton another clown came off an entrance ramp, I slowed since the left lane was full, and he tried to come over not quite in front of me without accelerating! Thank God my horns are working again!
Sleepy Hollow Campground turned out to be a bit tight with soft ground. The owner helped me get backed in and I did a less than stellar job, but got it parked. Even though is is adjacent to the EAA airfield and a lot of open ground it is in the woods, no satellite tonight and a fair number of bugs sneaking in - our screens do not fit real tight.
After we got parked we went over to the EAA Aviation Museum. Quite a nice museum with interesting exhibits, although most of the WWII warbirds were out on tours. Afterwards we stopped at Culver’s for an early dinner.
Friday 9/20 Fontana, WI
Very foggy this morning so we hung around and listened to the weekly news round-up on NPR 1A and left around 11:30.
Unfortunately the dump station was not working when we left, and we had just filled our fresh tank, so we drove down to Lake Geneva with partial full tanks, a fair amount of extra weight.
Stopped along the was for lunch at a truck stop in Waupun, Wild Goose Cafe. With the stop for lunch and a 15 mile detour through Delavan, we did not get to our friend John’s hanger until 3:30. Then we had to turn the rig around to get lined up with the dump station, then turn it around again to get parked, so it took us a while to get settled in.
Saturday 9/21 Fontana, WI
Walked a couple of loops around the hanger first thing, unloaded the car before the rain started, watched F1 qualifying from Singapore, and used the shower in another friend’s hanger to conserve gray tank space. Another rainy day! Headed into Lake Geneva and went to the movies to see Downton Abby, which was excellent, especially if you were a Downton Abby fan!
Lunch at Harbourside Pub and then a stop for groceries and back home.
Sunday 9/22 Fontana, WI
Rain all day today. Stayed home and watched the F1 race. Managed to get a short walk in during a lull in the rain.
Monday 9/23 Fontana, WI
No rain this morning! We took a nice walk up and down on the sunny side of the hangers. Late morning we drove over to Brightenwoods Orchard in Burlington, via a rather convoluted route since we turned too soon following the instructions from Google maps.
Nice orchard with a very wide selection of apple varieties. Picked up a medium bag each of eating and baking apples. A stop at the store and home for a late lunch.
Tuesday 9/24 Fontana, WI
Patt came up from Geneva to drop off some material for the weekend and we went over to their lake house to help her. She suggested that Nancy do her laundry there and then we went over to Gordie’s for lunch, but it was closed, so we ate at Chucks.
Finished the laundry and back home where I did a couple of minor repairs. Beautiful afternoon, blue sky and a nice breeze.
Wednesday 9/25 Fontana, WI
Clouded over again this morning, we took a nice walk, several loops around the hanger. The weather cleared off later and we drove over to Barrett’s house and parked then walked down the lakeside path for 20 minutes and then back again. The Geneva Lake Shore Path is a 26 mile loop around the lake. All of the property owners are required to keep the path open along their lakefront and, although there are still a few places where it is actually a “path”, the majority of the owners have now improved the portion on their property, so now it is walking on a paved path with stairs in many places replacing hill climbs. Just a lovely afternoon.
Thursday 9/24 Fontana, WI
Thursday morning after our walk I went to the Abby to help with setting up the headquarters/sale tent for the boat show. On the way over I dropped Nancy off at Patt and John’s. We had a pretty good sized group, all the old regulars, and the set-up went pretty smooth this year so we were done by lunch time. I picked up Nancy and we had lunch at Chuck’swith John and his brother Bill, who is also a former neighbor from Geneva, IL.
In the late afternoon and evening we joined the group, most of whom are old friends, at Barrett’s for a light dinner and conversation.
Friday 9/27 Fontana, WI
Off early to the Lake Geneva Country Club to join the house tour group. Every year the Geneva Lakes Classic Boat Show features a tour of three house along the lake, with the tour groups moving by lake steamer type boats between the sites, followed by lunch at the country clubs.
This years tour included three lovely homes in three distinct styles: one built in 1898 and tastefully restored to it’s original elegance by a descendant of an original Lake Geneva home owner, Joy Morton, who made a very gracious and knowledgeable guide to the house; one recently built on the site of their family home by members of the club; and one very modern house a little over 10,000 square feet. All three owners and their families were particularly gracious hosts.
Magnificent lakefront summer homes are now the norm around Geneva Lake. Here is an example of a couple houses I found on Zillow today:
3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2,740 sq. ft,. one-quarter acre on the lake, built 1946 - wait for it … $1,250,000!
A few miles away: 5 bedrooms, 10 baths, 10,800 sq. ft., 5 acres, 464 ft. of lake frontage, built 2002 … $8,495,000!
One house I looked at on Zillow was described as “Luxurious lakefront living at an affordable price.” That one was also $1,250,000!
It had started to rain by the time we finished our tour, so we were glad to have been in the first group in the morning! After lunch Nancy and I went home for a couple of hours and then joined the rest of the group at Barrett’s. Later we all went to a lovely dinner a the Lake Geneva Yacht Club generously hosted by the Barrett’s. We determined that there were enough of us lefties to fill the entire side of one of the two tables! So we all enjoyed dinner with our banging elbows.
Saturday 9/28 Fontana, WI
Up early as Nancy, Patt, RuthAnn, and Mary started setting up the registration area at 6:45! I dropped Nancy off and returned home since my shift at the boat launch area is 10 AM to 1 PM.
Cool and overcast, but no rain. Action at the registration was apparently hot and furious, at the boat ramp not so much as most of the boats came in Thursday and yesterday in anticipation of bad weather.
After we finished Nancy and I drove around the north side of the lake to an auto parts store in Lake Geneva to pick up a light bulb that had burned out in the trailer. Back home and relaxed for awhile.
A large group of friends at the lake house for an excellent dinner.
Sunday 9/29 Fontana, WI
Our shifts did not start until 9 AM, Nancy in the sales tent and me on the boat ramp/parking lot. Although it was supposed to clear off it rained pretty much all day, sometimes drizzle, sometimes heavy, sometime wind driven. The last half hour of my first shift we took refuge in the clubhouse.
Crowd, which was pretty good on Saturday was very thin today, with a lot of the boats leaving around mid-day. After packing up the sales tent the group had a beer in the Abby bar and then back to Barretts and a very nice dinner of leftovers with the smaller group who remained to the end of the weekend.
Monday 9/30 Waukee, IA
Loaded the car first thing before the rain started again. After we hooked up we pulled around and did a partial tank dump, enough to get us through tonight as we do not have a full hook-up at Timberline.
Left the hanger about 10:30 and had an uneventful drive with on and off rain. six hours to Waukee, IA. Stopped east of Des Moines for fuel, cheapest we’ll see the rest of the trip.
Timberline Campground is expanding! They have graded a large piece of ground at the front of their property and installed utilities for 64 full hook-up sites suitable for “big rigs like yours.” It was a bee hive of activity, so I imagine we will be able to the advantage of it our next time through.
Tuesday 9/30 Elm Creek, NE
Got in a walk around the campground before the rain started, on the road about 9:30. Pretty much steady rain all day and raining when we arrived at Sunny Meadows in Elm Creek.
Wednesday 10/1 Denver, CO
Rain and mud while we were hooking up this morning, so no walk. We went South from Elm Creek to US 34 and part way across Nebraska to Benkleman where we dropped south into Kansas (the 15th state we've traveled through this summer and the 14th we stayed in.) and picked up US 36 west to I-70 and on into Denver. Arrived at Cherry Creek Sate Park around 2 PM Mountain time.
After setting up and unloading the car we drove over to Connie and Laurie’s house for a nice dinner.
