By Theresa “Resa” Leppert
Door County, WI – here we come! Laura and I headed north on Thursday morning, bright and early! I was pulling My Lil Mule and Laura was camping in her new-to-her tent for the first time since it became hers!
Thursday Arrival
We arrived at Annie’s house just before she got home from work – got all set up in her side yard. Annie lives on a small property at the end of a gravel road in the heart of upper Door County. Two other lades, Vashelle and Mary Kay, showed up shortly after. They got all set up in the field across the drive. Annie’s friend, Norma, came just before dinner, and two other local friends, Amy & Mary, joined us! We enjoyed salad and spaghetti out on the deck as the sun went down. Absolutely beautiful.
What shall we do today?
If you’ve never been to Door County, Wisconsin – you need to go check it out. There were so many things to do that we had a hard time deciding on our plan of action for the day. We started off Friday morning with leisurely coffee and treats on the deck as we talked about possibilities. Look at that sky!
Annie’s plan was to stay home to be there for the rest of the folks coming in that day. Norma, our lovely tour guide, took a few of us antiquing Friday morning – hitting two antique malls right across the street from each other. Norma was also nice enough to give us a tour of her community center and her cute little park model home. What an amazing community she lives in! I’m so jealous!
We headed back to Annie’s for lunch and to catch up with the other folks coming in – Sherry was there and all set up when we arrived. In the afternoon, we did a bit of shopping for local goodies at The Cherry Hut and Lautenbach’s!
Scouting Peninsula State Park for future trips!
After lunch, we took a quick trip through the Peninsula State Park, with a stop to collect some rocks and also to check out the campgrounds, scouting for a future trip. Holy cannoli – the park has 460 campsites! The smallest campground, Weborg, by far has the best water view from the campsites. IMHO, 103-106 were the nicest!
Tracy and Cindi arrived in the afternoon and got their tent all set up! Our little group was now complete!
After our scouting mission, we headed back to Annie’s for a quick early dinner. Mary Kay made this beautiful charcuterie board using one of her finds from our morning antiquing expedition!
Northern Sky Theater – a musical under the trees and stars!
Friday night’s entertainment was an adorable musical, Love Stings, at the Northern Sky Theater – which is a beautiful outdoor theater in the heart of Peninsula State Park. What a great show!
What an incredible outdoor theater! If you are in the area, check it out – you won’t regret it!
Most of us hit the sack pretty quickly after we got back to Annie’s after the play – as we were planning a big day the next day – Washington Island!
Washington Island did not disappoint.
Another incredible place to go off the tip of Door county is Washington Island. We caught an early 8 a.m. ferry to avoid the crowd.
Our first stop was the Stavkirke Church & meditation walk. Look at these pictures! It is an incredible piece of history and absolutely stunning inside.
Of course, we HAD to stop at Schoolhouse Beach. Did you know that there is a fine of $250 PER ROCK for taking rocks from Schoolhouse Beach? (We did NOT build that cairn, by the way – it was already there. We left it undisturbed.)
Lunch was at a the famous Albatross Drive In. Holy cow were they busy! We also stopped at The Washington Island Farm Museum, checked out Little Lake, and stopped at a local farm for some fresh garlic. We really wanted to go to the Fragrant Isle Lavender Farm – even though the bloom was over and the harvest was already done. I wanted to pick up some products at the very least. Got some good stuff!
Back to the Mainland!
This is where our two groups split off. My group headed back to catch the ferry back to the mainland as we wanted to go visit Turtle Ridge Gallery – where Annie Works. We even got to meet the artist! Check it out here: https://www.turtleridgegallery.com/
We had to stop and take a pic with this giant gnome. Photo op!
Our last stop on the mainland before heading back to Annie’s was to shop at the O’Meara’s Irish House. I could spend a LOT of money there. Oh my – the sweaters. The SWEATERS. Makes me want it to be fall already!
Our second group went off on another adventure, and checked out some campgrounds for future events that look interesting. (Thanks, Norma, for the brochures!)
What a wonderful trip! Sunday morning was just packing up and heading out. Saying goodbye to new (and old) friends is always such a bummer. I love to get home to my family and furbabies, though!
If you’re interested – check out the photo dump from this trip.
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Theresa “Resa” Leppert
Guide Manager
Guide, Iowa & Wisconsin
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Cool! Door County is so beautiful!