Great Lakes Grooving: Day 4 Door County, Wisconsin

CrispyA · 1 Sep 19, 11:59 AM

Wednesday 10 July

We slept really well and for the first time this trip, we actually slept for a decent amount of time and woke up feeling refreshed. Hurrah! The jetlag can be a real killer so it always feels good to get back into a "normal" sleeping pattern.

When we booked the hotel, it included a continental breakfast but they had since stopped doing that and there was only coffee. It wasn't a problem as Clive and Doreen had sent us with some huge breakfast muffins and some bananas, so we had those with the coffee for breakfast, sitting out on the balcony.

We were planning to visit one of the State parks and do some walking today, so Hannah and I walked down to the main street to get some supplies from the mini-mart. We picked up some sandwiches, crisps and fruit and noticed how the sun got much hotter as we were walking back up the hill!

Newport Resort - our balcony was just to the right of the sign.

We had picked Peninsula State Park as it wasn't a long drive up along the coast. We passed through Fish Creek on the way which looked like another cute town. There was a $13 charge for park entrance which was the charge for having out of state licence plates. Our hire car had Florida plates so definitely out of state!

We picked up a park guide and decided to the Eagle Trail walk, which was described as difficult. The parking lot was easy to find and the trail led us down to the lakeshore.

Evan is modelling his new bag!

The walk was quite good fun and only slightly challenging when you had to pick your way across some rocks. The fact that it was described as "difficult" made us wonder what the easy ones were like - did they actually move you along on conveyor belts?

We found a cave and another family took a photo for us. Although I think I look like I'm photobombing the rest of them.

There was a lovely view point back up the hill and of course, Hannah had to be that little bit extra!

After we'd finished the trail, we headed for Nicolet Beach for our picnic and a swim. It was a small sandy beach with a grassy park next to it. We did manage a very quick swim in the lake but it was really cold!

We hung out for a bit and had our lunch, doing some people-watching and playing with a football that Clive had loaned us. It was a lovely spot and we could see the attraction of Door County as a place to visit.

As we fancied another walk, we headed off for the Vita walk which was described as a keep fit walk, with exercise stations at various points on the trail. It clearly didn't appeal to many people as the trail was fairly overgrown and the exercise equipment had seen better days. But it was fun and the whole family enjoyed laughing at my general feebleness, especially where pull ups and monkey bars were concerned. I did a lot better on the balance exercises though!

We all agreed Evan was the winner and could have Vita bragging rights.

Clive had recommended a frozen custard place in Fish Creek, called Not Licked Yet and we called in on our way back. Frozen custard is more like frozen yogurt, something which had surprised us before as we had been expecting something like Birds custard! It was delicious, particularly the Butter Pecan flavour and we were glad we'd stopped to try it.

This area is famous for cherries so I wanted to stop at one of the roadside stores on the way back to get some. However, none of them seemed to sell actual cherries - there was cherry jam, cherry relish, bacon jam (?), cherry wine but not a single fresh cherry which seemed odd. We ended up having to call at the mini mart back in Egg Harbor to get some! We also picked up some local beers though, so that was good.

Back at the hotel we headed for the gym and the pool. It's a very family friendly place, especially as you can self cater if you want, and the indoor and outdoor pools were really busy when we got there. We hung out in the hot tub for a bit then had a swim once the pool was a bit quieter.

As we weren't in a rush, we hung out on our balcony for a bit before going for tea, drinking beer and playing cards.

The lovely family game of S**thead was somewhat challenging in the breeze and we all ended up quite contorted trying to play our cards and hold the rest down every time the wind blew! It didn't stop our competitive natures though and we all took it as seriously as we usually do, especially enjoying pointing at the loser and mocking them. What a lovely bunch we are!

There was a brewpub/pizza restaurant in the town so we walked down and had a couple of pizzas and some beers there. One of the pizzas was green and gold for the Green Bay Packers and featured Wisconsin cheese curds so we finally got to try these! There were some lovely local craft beers as well.

Then we walked along the harbour again as the sun was setting.

It was a very chilled evening and we were really enjoying our stay here. We could easily have spent more time in Door County as there is a lot to explore on the Peninsula and it is a lovely place to visit. However, we had more travelling to do, so it was an early night, ready for another long drive tomorrow.

**BevS97** · 1 Sep 19, 12:08 PM

Sounds like a lovely day and I love how you are all silly with each other. Really good family times.

Melbatb · 1 Sep 19, 12:25 PM

I am always amazed at Hannah�s suppleness! Even at her age, I couldn�t 🤣

It looks like a lovely day - lots of fresh air and exercise! And some glorious scenery!

DisneyDaffodil · 1 Sep 19, 05:16 PM

What a brilliant day, exactly the sort of day I enjoy. I am also in awe of Hannah�s suppleness 😂

The frozen custard sounds wonderful, I would love to try that.

I love the sense of family fun you all have on holiday. We love to play cards in the evening at a bar or on our room balcony too and it can get quite competitive (Georgia likes to win 😀 ) but we always laugh a lot 😂

katiebaz · 1 Sep 19, 06:00 PM

Sounds a great day and love the family picture - it really does look like you were photobombing the rest of the family.

**Loopylooloo** · 3 Sep 19, 08:39 AM

Your photos are fantastic! This looks like such a nice trip. Can you explain your card game please? We play one called �Bull#@it� which is fun, not heard of your game though

**smithlane** · 8 Sep 19, 08:54 AM

Door County looks beautiful!
I love a good walk with scenery, you are certainly brave going in the freezing water though!
I would be absolutely terrible on the keep fit trail. I am generally very feeble with no upper body strength so you did better than I would have done!
Butter Pecan frozen yoghurt sounds wonderful, my favourite all time ice cream flavour!
Ah S**thead! A favourite game of ours, gets a bit heated when the kids beat Jim. I just find it hilarious that he acts like a child when he loses 😂
Stunning sunset photos too

**WileyCoyote** · 14 Sep 19, 08:16 AM

Ah that�s a great day. It all sounds pretty perfect. The trails sound great fun and ideal to work up an appetite for the frozen custard and yummy pizza.

Do love family card games while chilling out. Always a source of mirth for months to come 😉

Lol your quest for cherries reminds of trying to get a Miami Starbucks mug in Miami ... and ending up with one from Fort Lauderdale as none could be found. Obvs the cherries so popular they have all gone 😂

CrispyA · 14 Sep 19, 05:14 PM

Originally Posted by BevS97

Sounds like a lovely day and I love how you are all silly with each other. Really good family times.

We do have a lot of fun together - that's the best part of a family holiday as you get to be a family with no other distractions.

Originally Posted by Melbatb

I am always amazed at Hannah�s suppleness! Even at her age, I couldn�t 🤣

It looks like a lovely day - lots of fresh air and exercise! And some glorious scenery!

She does love her splits and being a bit extra! I'm horribly creaky in comparison.

It was a really beautiful day.

Originally Posted by DisneyDaffodil

What a brilliant day, exactly the sort of day I enjoy. I am also in awe of Hannah�s suppleness 😂

The frozen custard sounds wonderful, I would love to try that.

I love the sense of family fun you all have on holiday. We love to play cards in the evening at a bar or on our room balcony too and it can get quite competitive (Georgia likes to win 😀 ) but we always laugh a lot 😂

The frozen custard was sooooo good! And Hannah's flexibility is pretty impressive - she works very hard at it.

We do have a lot of fun together and we are all pretty competitive . . . I do remember having to tell Paul off when both kids were little after he made them cry with his over the top celebration dance after beating them both at Mario Kart on the Wii .. . .

Originally Posted by katiebaz

Sounds a great day and love the family picture - it really does look like you were photobombing the rest of the family.

It was such a lovely day and I'm a pretty good photobomber!

Originally Posted by Loopylooloo

Your photos are fantastic! This looks like such a nice trip. Can you explain your card game please? We play one called �Bull#@it� which is fun, not heard of your game though

Sh*thead is very similar to UNO except you play with a pack of playing cards en.wikipedia/wiki/≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈_(card_game). We play that 2 resets the pile, Jack reverses the order and 10 causes the next person to miss a go. And we all enjoy pointing and mocking the unfortunate Sh**head!

Originally Posted by smithlane

Door County looks beautiful!
I love a good walk with scenery, you are certainly brave going in the freezing water though!
I would be absolutely terrible on the keep fit trail. I am generally very feeble with no upper body strength so you did better than I would have done!
Butter Pecan frozen yoghurt sounds wonderful, my favourite all time ice cream flavour!
Ah S**thead! A favourite game of ours, gets a bit heated when the kids beat Jim. I just find it hilarious that he acts like a child when he loses 😂
Stunning sunset photos too

We hadn't really tried Butter Pecan before this trip but it's a definite favourite now. Door County really is lovely and we could have spent longer exploring it.

Yes, our games of S**thead get quite heated at times as well!

Originally Posted by WileyCoyote

Ah that�s a great day. It all sounds pretty perfect. The trails sound great fun and ideal to work up an appetite for the frozen custard and yummy pizza.

Do love family card games while chilling out. Always a source of mirth for months to come 😉

Lol your quest for cherries reminds of trying to get a Miami Starbucks mug in Miami ... and ending up with one from Fort Lauderdale as none could be found. Obvs the cherries so popular they have all gone 😂

Every time we have a game of cards, we end up asking why we don't do it more often as it's such good fun.

LoL about the lack of Miami mugs in Miami - surely that's the place you would expect they would have one or two?

1 Sep 19, 11:59 AM	#1
	1 Sep 19, 11:59 AM CrispyA Imagineer
CrispyA Imagineer Join Date: Oct 11	Great Lakes Grooving: Day 4 Door County, Wisconsin Wednesday 10 July We slept really well and for the first time this trip, we actually slept for a decent amount of time and woke up feeling refreshed. Hurrah! The jetlag can be a real killer so it always feels good to get back into a "normal" sleeping pattern. When we booked the hotel, it included a continental breakfast but they had since stopped doing that and there was only coffee. It wasn't a problem as Clive and Doreen had sent us with some huge breakfast muffins and some bananas, so we had those with the coffee for breakfast, sitting out on the balcony. We were planning to visit one of the State parks and do some walking today, so Hannah and I walked down to the main street to get some supplies from the mini-mart. We picked up some sandwiches, crisps and fruit and noticed how the sun got much hotter as we were walking back up the hill! Newport Resort - our balcony was just to the right of the sign. We had picked Peninsula State Park as it wasn't a long drive up along the coast. We passed through Fish Creek on the way which looked like another cute town. There was a $13 charge for park entrance which was the charge for having out of state licence plates. Our hire car had Florida plates so definitely out of state! We picked up a park guide and decided to the Eagle Trail walk, which was described as difficult. The parking lot was easy to find and the trail led us down to the lakeshore. Evan is modelling his new bag! The walk was quite good fun and only slightly challenging when you had to pick your way across some rocks. The fact that it was described as "difficult" made us wonder what the easy ones were like - did they actually move you along on conveyor belts? We found a cave and another family took a photo for us. Although I think I look like I'm photobombing the rest of them. There was a lovely view point back up the hill and of course, Hannah had to be that little bit extra! After we'd finished the trail, we headed for Nicolet Beach for our picnic and a swim. It was a small sandy beach with a grassy park next to it. We did manage a very quick swim in the lake but it was really cold! We hung out for a bit and had our lunch, doing some people-watching and playing with a football that Clive had loaned us. It was a lovely spot and we could see the attraction of Door County as a place to visit. As we fancied another walk, we headed off for the Vita walk which was described as a keep fit walk, with exercise stations at various points on the trail. It clearly didn't appeal to many people as the trail was fairly overgrown and the exercise equipment had seen better days. But it was fun and the whole family enjoyed laughing at my general feebleness, especially where pull ups and monkey bars were concerned. I did a lot better on the balance exercises though! We all agreed Evan was the winner and could have Vita bragging rights. Clive had recommended a frozen custard place in Fish Creek, called Not Licked Yet and we called in on our way back. Frozen custard is more like frozen yogurt, something which had surprised us before as we had been expecting something like Birds custard! It was delicious, particularly the Butter Pecan flavour and we were glad we'd stopped to try it. This area is famous for cherries so I wanted to stop at one of the roadside stores on the way back to get some. However, none of them seemed to sell actual cherries - there was cherry jam, cherry relish, bacon jam (?), cherry wine but not a single fresh cherry which seemed odd. We ended up having to call at the mini mart back in Egg Harbor to get some! We also picked up some local beers though, so that was good. Back at the hotel we headed for the gym and the pool. It's a very family friendly place, especially as you can self cater if you want, and the indoor and outdoor pools were really busy when we got there. We hung out in the hot tub for a bit then had a swim once the pool was a bit quieter. As we weren't in a rush, we hung out on our balcony for a bit before going for tea, drinking beer and playing cards. The lovely family game of S**thead was somewhat challenging in the breeze and we all ended up quite contorted trying to play our cards and hold the rest down every time the wind blew! It didn't stop our competitive natures though and we all took it as seriously as we usually do, especially enjoying pointing at the loser and mocking them. What a lovely bunch we are! There was a brewpub/pizza restaurant in the town so we walked down and had a couple of pizzas and some beers there. One of the pizzas was green and gold for the Green Bay Packers and featured Wisconsin cheese curds so we finally got to try these! There were some lovely local craft beers as well. Then we walked along the harbour again as the sun was setting. It was a very chilled evening and we were really enjoying our stay here. We could easily have spent more time in Door County as there is a lot to explore on the Peninsula and it is a lovely place to visit. However, we had more travelling to do, so it was an early night, ready for another long drive tomorrow. __________________ West Coast July - August 2014, Howdy Texas! August 2015, Rocking in the Rockies July - August 2016, Bier, Bratwurst und Bahnsteige: Berlin 2017, Touring Tennessee 2017, Expedition East Coast 2018, Hola! Madrid 2019, Great Lakes Grooving 2019, It's Czech, Mate, Prague 2022, Veni, Vidi, Edi, Bibi Italy 2022