Trip #4, Knocking on Heavens Door (County).
“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.”
— Michael Altshuler
It is hard to believe we celebrated our 10th Harvest Hosts/Boondockers stay on this trip. And it is remarkable to think that we haven’t traveled farther than 170 miles from home to do any of them. We haven’t scratched the surface of what is out there in Wisconsin and beyond.
July faded into August while on this trip, and we are already sensing the weight of the coming winter as one does this far north. I like living where there are distinct seasons because it is an eminently natural way to mark the passage of time. It lends a rhythm, an inescapable unconscious awareness that hangs in the air and increases daily. All the back-to-school sales, the opening of football training camps, along with the shortening days and lengthening shadows hint at what’s to come far sooner than the leaves do. Winter, if nothing else, is great at making one value a bright warm summer all the more.
Wanda’s diagnosis had the same effect- it made us realize how finite and valuable our time together is, and this is true for all of us, diagnosis or not. Whether it is the seasons passing, a health scare, or simply living in a world that is feeling increasingly tenuous and unstable all the time, the lesson is the same. Time is a gift, and life is a gift; we must aspire to live consciously aware of these things and try not to waste either. The clock is always ticking.
(For more of my thoughts on the nature of time, please click here.)
Our first stop wasn’t in Door County at all. It was just down the road from where we live, about 16 miles away. “The Local Goat Company” located in Amherst WI., is basically a bar, only with goats. We parked at the back of the parking lot alongside the Tomorrow River.
The goats are for goat yoga. It’s very Wisconsin- you can do your yoga with goats and then go inside for a nice cold beer or Old Fashioned.
As can be seen here, they are very affectionate goats.
It was a beautiful setting.
Our next stop was in Two Rivers to visit an old dairy farm turned alpaca ranch.
London Dairy Alpacas isn’t officially in Door County either. Instead, it sits at the base of the Door Peninsula, but that is close enough. We parked in a nice grassy field amongst some fine silver maples and oaks.
The late afternoon sun added a nice glow to the trees, grass, and the adjacent soybean field.
It was a bit windy that evening, can you tell?
In the morning, we were given a lengthy and detailed tour of the farm and now consider ourselves alpaca experts. It concluded with feeding some of the new moms and their babies.
This sweet little thing was about as friendly as your average Labrador Retriever. She just wanted to be scratched and loved. The staff bottle-fed her from birth after her mom abandoned her, and she’s imprinted on humans more than your average alpaca. Wanda wanted to take her home.
These are the awards from just one of their prize alpacas.
After a beautiful morning spent with the alpacas, it was time to move north about 75 miles to our next adventure. Knowing this, George assumed his usual position as navigator.
Now, on to Door County. Known as "the Cape Cod of the Midwest," Door County is a peninsula jutting about 80 miles into Lake Michigan. Consequently, it has a distinctly nautical feel. Famous for its cherries as much as anything, it is one of my top two favorite regions of the state.
Our first Door County stop was Waseda Farms in Bailey’s Harbor, a 500-acre organic and grass-fed beef farm, market, and garden.
After checking in, I was surprised (and delighted) to be directed a half mile down the highway to this dirt road. Our campsite is out there somewhere.
This was the best and most private campsite we have had. It looks like Wanda likes it.
The old homestead.
The farm market.
I loved this store. The “Home of Holy Cows” sign refers to the fact this land was worked by Jesuit priests for nearly 50 years.
We constructed several delicious meals with farm-fresh organic food bought here. When we know we are going to places like this we plan accordingly to utilize what they have to offer.
This goat got a little rowdy with Wanda as she tried to feed it.
Tranquility.
The yellow/green thing is our little generator, which in this application is used for only one thing, making Wanda her morning coffee. We run on solar powered batteries for everything else. Note our new compass rose spare tire cover.
Wanda doing exactly what I wanted. Relaxing and sending postcards to the grandkids. Oh yeah, and eating a cookie. This picture makes my heart smile.
We went back to the store in the morning to tour their wonderful garden.
It was a perfect morning, with perfect weather, and the garden was positively alive with bumblebees, butterflies, dragonflies, and birds. All was right with the world.
Wanda took George on a final walk before we reluctantly headed out. Some (most, if I’m honest) of these places make you want to linger a while; they leave a little mark on your soul.
Next, we moved to a traditional campground in Ellison Bay. We had a few days without any Harvest Hosts stays scheduled, so we set up camp here, unhitched the trailer, and went to explore the rest of the peninsula.
Walking on the main drag in Bailey’s Harbor. Flowers, flowers everywhere.
The hydrangeas in front of this house in Bailey’s Harbor completely obscured the front door.
A portrait in blue.
This is Lake Michigan, or more specifically Green Bay. Two things are quickly apparent- the bay isn’t very green at all, and in addition to sharing the name with the greatest football team in the world, it sure is pretty!
Peninsula State Park is the most popular state park in Wisconsin, for obvious reasons.
It was a perfect weather day indeed.
A beautiful hamlet called Ephraim.
Who needs the ocean?
George is such a chick-magnet.
Cherry heaven. This is one small part of Koepsel’s, a huge farmer's market in this location since 1958. Every kind of olive, pickle, jam, salsa, and anything else you can put in a jar was for sale here, much of it cherry flavored. Most of it is canned on-site.
Road art like this is everywhere in Wisconsin.
This is Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant and Butik in Sister Bay, and yes, those are live goats on the sod roof.
How cool is this?
You have to admit, that is one handsome goat.
There are few things more relaxing than sitting in the warm sun with a nice breeze coming off the water, watching the birds and sailboats pass by.
Our final stop on this trip was at About Thyme Farm, again in Bailey’s Harbor.
About Thyme Farm (great name) is a wedding and special event venue and also a small organic farm selling mostly to local farmers markets.
We parked at the edge of a large grass field next to the garden.
This is a barn quilt. A form of folk-art, they are all over farm country and some are quite elaborate and beautiful. They have varied and unique meanings.
This gives a nice perspective of where we camped. The small tracks you see are from workers moving freshly picked vegetables from the garden to the barn be trimmed, cleaned and bundled for sale.
The foundational walls of the barn demonstrate its age.
We were here on a Friday, harvest day for the coming weekend farmers market. This young couple worked picking vegetables until dark.
I couldn’t stop looking at and taking pictures of this wheat field as it moved in the wind and changed with the light. It was endlessly fascinating for some reason.
I was cooking when Wanda came rushing in and said, “give me your phone.” I gave it to her, and she took this picture while walking George. She said the light was amazing, and she was right.
This is a sign we put up just inside the door. It is very true.
And so ends trip #4. Thanks for reading.
Some days my heart is a photograph and some days a song. I want to thank all of you for sharing our journey and for simply coming along.
With so much love to all.
-Scott