Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Washington Island

Our plan for day two in Door County was to take the ferry over to Washington Island.  We started our day with breakfast at Al Johnson's, one of our favorite places.



It's famous for having a grass roof and goats grazing on it.


There are usually three or four goats up there but this day I only saw one.

My favorite there is the Swedish pancakes with lingonberries.


They are super thin pancakes, more like crepes.  They taste a lot better than they look...trust me!


Doug had a pretty traditional breakfast, of course, but it looked delicious too.


After breakfast we drove over to catch the ferry.


Doug drove the truck right in there and we went up top.  It was a bit cool and windy up there but it was worth it to see this lighthouse.  Not one of the more beautiful ones but it still counts!  This was on another little island that we passed on our way to Washington Island.


It was about a 20-minute ferry ride and we arrived on the island.



We got in the truck and headed out.  You really can't get lost on the island.

Our first stop was the Island Dairy which is a lavender farm.

 


It used to be a dairy back in the '50s.  The lavender is not in bloom right now but I can imagine how beautiful it is when it's in bloom and how fragrant.  There's a replica of a Scandinavian church.



Lavender is drying inside the church.


There was a lot of history inside the Island Dairy building and these cute cut outs.



There was also a very nice gift shop with all things lavender including lavender popcorn!
We didn't care for it!


Our next stop was another lavender farm.  Evidently lavender grows well up there!


Fields of lavender will be in bloom soon.


There was a very nice gift shop inside this building.


We even passed a barn quilt!  It was on a motel which seemed strange but still counts!


We found this old church after a few twists and turns.  The entrance was rather hard to spot.  It's called Stavkirke Trinity Luthern Church.


It was built to honor the Scandinavian heritage.




It's very pretty and quite unusual.







All wood inside and not very big.  I'm not sure if they still use it for services.

The lilacs around the church were beautiful and so fragrant.


Wish we could grow them in Mississippi.



Our next stop was the little museum on the island.  It may be small but it is chocked full of memorabilia.



This is an old switchboard.



This wonderful lady was very knowledgeable about the island, having grown up there.  In fact, she used to operate this switchboard when she was 18.  She showed us how it worked.  She was delightful to talk to and at 83 was very sharp.


Right by the museum was the entrance to Little Lake.


Very rocky beach but beautiful water.


We had a late lunch at Karly's Bar,


We did a little more exploring of the island.  It's not a very populated island in the winter but summer residents return once the weather gets warm.  Many homes are summer places.

We caught the 3:00 ferry back and stopped at Bea's for all things cherry!






I bought some jams and jellies and cherries to make a pie.  Doug loves cherry pie.  Door County is well known for cherry orchards.

We stopped for a photo op at this old gas station.  It looked like something Doug would love but I didn't see a "for sale" sign!




Last time I was there the back of this old truck was full of fall pumpkins, mums and hay.  It was beautiful then.  Not so much now.


Another stop at a farm market.



 Lot of samples out to try and we tried them all!

There was a cherry orchard right next to this market.  You can see the cherries weren't ripe then but they usually are ready about this time of year.  There are cherry trees and apple trees everywhere in Door County.



We went back to the hotel, freshened up, and met our friends Jan and Bill Suttie for dinner at Shoreline Restaurant which as you can imagine is right on the water in Ellison Bay.


I had the pecan encrusted walleye.  Wonderful!


Pat and Dave split this piece of cherry pie.  There was only one piece left and I graciously let them have it.


We had a nice visit, then back to the hotel to get ready for another day..

1 comment:

  1. I miss lilacs as well. Remember the ones we had in our yard? I always burn a lilac candle in the spring and I have a friend who sends me pics of her lilacs in bloom.

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