Washington Island

I had family come to visit so we took our truck over to Washington Island. We were shocked when they motioned for us to come on board. We got the last space on the ferry and we swore we wouldn't fit. They know how to pack them in and wedged us on board. You can see in the picture that the back ramp/gate isn't closed all the way up to 90 degrees. They couldn't close it all the way because the back end of the truck hung over.

There are a few things to see on the island. One of them is this church built as a replica of an old Norwegian church. It is made out of timbers -- no nails were used on the outside or the inside which is all tongue and groove wood. The only place they cheated and used nails is for the shingles on the roof.

We once again were the last one's on the ferry for the return trip. They squeezed the truck on again and this time they had to close the back all the way because the wind had kicked up and the waves were higher. As it was the truck got a little bit of a wash from the waves splashing.

The fishing has been slow unless you count huge catfish and sheepshead if so then we are doing great.

Sturgeon Bay Channel

We tried going fishing but the waves were 3 and 4 feet high so we took a little cruise through the channel. The Sturgeon Bay channel links the waters of Green Bay with Lake Michigan. It actually makes northern Door County an island. We cruised by all the marinas with the yachts and sailboats. We went under several bridges that have to open to let sailboats go through such as the Tall Ships. We ended up at the lighthouse and coast guard station where the channel dumps into Lake Michigan. We couldn't really go out into Lake Michigan because the waves were too much for our boat. We saw a lot of boats in the channel fishing around the sailboats trying to catch perch. The perch run kind of small -- 7 to 10 inches --but there are lots of fishermen that just love to try to catch them here.

We went out to eat on Friday night with some people we made friends with last year that come to the campground and stay for about a month. Of course we went to a Friday night fish fry - just about every restaurant in the area has to offer a fish fry -- its just expected.

Our fellow workampers as well as ourselves are starting to get the itch to move on -- it's been a busy summer. We are getting jealous of all the folks out there traveling. We wouldn't really want to travel until after Labor Day but its nice to start planning our next adventure. Arizona is our winter destination -- not sure where yet but we'll know when we get there!

The Tall Ships

The tall ships came to Sturgeon Bay. They came down the Lake Michigan shore and then came into the Sturgeon Bay channel on their way to Green Bay for the weekend. A huge crowd of people came out to see them sail through Sturgeon Bay. The ships were beautiful and even fired off some cannon. There were all kinds of boats in the water trying to get close up looks at the ships. The number of people lined up along the miles of shoreline just to see them as they sailed by was amazing.

The heat is finally breaking and it has made us realize how sweaty it could be to work farther south in the summer. We have been helping lots of campers enjoy their vacations. Most of the time it doesn't take much to enhance their stay. We never ask for anything in return but have gotten many small tokens of appreciation. Jim has received expensive cigars and I have gotten locally made candies such as cherry caramels (only in Door County can you find cherry). Jim also was given a small polished piece of jasper in the shape of a heart for helping a man who ended up in the hospital for a couple of days while he was here with his family. We helped the family while Dad was in the hospital. Jim also got their trailer hooked up for them so they could get home without Dad having to exert himself after being treated for a heart ailment.

It is so nice to work somewhere where everyone is just trying to have a good time and relax.

It's Hot in Door County

I can't seem to download more than one picture on the blog anymore. So, I can only show one picture from the airshow. This picture is one of the planes used in the Berlin Airlift.

I'm sure its hot everywhere but its not supposed to be hot in Door County because its surrounded by water. The water is supposed to keep the temps more moderate -- thats why cherries like to grow here. The cherries are pretty much done -- they were ripe really early this year.

There are miles of mowed trails in the campground and there are ripe raspberries and blackberries everywhere. Yum -- I've been so busy just eating them off the bush that I haven't made any desserts out of them yet. Another nice thing about the campground is the pool. We've been using it this year with it being so hot. It's nice to take a dip -especially after a few hours sweating while cleaning bathhouses.

The Score is Tied

I finally caught a big walleye! Mine was also 29 inches and about 9 pounds. I caught mine up by Chambers Island where I caught the salmon.

so now we are tied -- both of us having caught 9 pound walleyes. We have also caught some very large small mouth bass. We hope to continue this run of good fishing.

We spent a day at the EEA. The big airshow in Oshkosh. It was really something to see. You can't see it all in one day. We got to tour inside an old B-17 bomber. The spaces inside were so small its hard to believe a whole crew was inside for hours flying missions. It was only $1500 to take a half hour ride in a P-51 Mustang -- the fighter jet of WWII in the Pacific.

There are planes landing and taking off constantly. They even have planes landing two at a time on the same runway. One plane would have to land on the front half of the runway and another would be landing on the back half. There is so much acreage to the show that they have free buses to take you from the parking to the show. Once at the show there were trams you could ride around to try and see everything. One thing that struck me -- they didn't allow alcohol to be sold until after 5PM. This is quite something for Wisconsin -- the land of taverns on every corner of every town or crossroads out in the woods. It makes sense though because the value of all the aircraft sitting on the ground there is astronomical.