Giant Walleye!

Jim finally caught a giant walleye out of the waters of Green Bay. The walleye-- not the greatest picture-- was 29 inches long making it around 9 pounds. We were trolling around a reef outside the mouth of Sturgeon Bay. Jim was using a large purple lure that I had just purchased. The fishing report had said that purple and green were the colors that were catching walleye. I went and bought another purple one so I can try it too. Jim was so excited -- it's his first walleye in two years -- since we fished up in Rainy Lake before we left Minnesota. I was the one that caught walleye down in New Mexico our first winter south. We didn't catch any walleye last summer here in Door County. It took us all summer to learn how to fish here. Hopefully we will have more luck and we will both catch some really nice walleye.

I had to take a picture of the giant orange fungus I spied in the campground. It was so pretty it looked like a giant flower. We don't know what kind it is and now its faded to a normal mushroom beige color.

Even though we live in our "camper" year round sometimes we forget to just enjoy "camping". The other night we had a nice campfire and we roasted some weiners and I even made smores. Life just doesn't get any better!

Sightseeing around the "Door"

We launch our boat out of two different launches. One is up in Fish Creek at Peninsula State Park. As you drive into the park at the north entrance the first thing you see is the state park golf course. It is a very beautiful golf course -- many of the holes overlook the waters of Green Bay. We've heard it is a little on the spendy side to play the course but you get quite a view while you golf. Jim also noted that they have every piece of golf course equipment ParAide sells. Having worked at ParAide he wants to try and get a picture of a ball washer with a beautiful scene behind it and send it to the owner of the company.

The other launch we use is the Stone Quarry launch down by Sturgeon Bay. I took a picture of one of the mansions along the water. This place had its own marina, boathouse, greenhouse, etc. We fished a lot by this place because the bass liked all of the boulders around it. Bass fishing is still good. We also are hearing that the salmon fishing on Lake Michigan is doing very well. We don't really like salmon and don't really want to fish on the big lake.

Lady Slippers

We went to Ellison Bay Bluffs County Park and along the road at the entrance to the park was a mass of blooming yellow lady slippers. They were so huge they looked like I could slip one on my feet. If you haven't ever seen them they really do have a hollowed out center just like a real slipper.

I have only seen pink lady slippers twice in the wild and that was up along the Canadian border.

We had more great fishing although this fish was smaller than the last. I caught two this size -- about 3lb fish but Jim caught the most fish. We actually lost count and I almost ran out of bait. The bass are still in spawning mode and they were biting like mad. It's strange because back in March we were fishing during the bass spawn and now we are at it again. It's great to enjoy the spring season twice without having to go through a winter!

Raising the Flagpole

Getting the campground ready for Memorial Day weekend is a big deal. It's the first busy weekend of the summer and all the campsites have to be mowed, firepits cleaned out, gravel added to the roads, etc. Everyone is very busy and then at the last minute the owner decides the new flagpole has to be put up so the flag can be flown. Jim and I stained and varnished the pole last fall. It took five guys and the tractor with some engineering to get it raised up but they did it. All of us ladies stood by and took photos -- thought we should have some pictures for the insurance if something bad happened.

We've been fishing all the bays for smallmouth bass. The bass are getting ready to spawn so they are in shallow water. I caught a very nice fish and had many fish chase after my bait. We had a great time fishing during the week right before the busy weekend, the weather was perfect and we had most of the fishing spots to ourselves. We got hungry while fishing and decided to pull into a marina in Ephraim. I walked to Wilson's restaurant -- its close to the water and has good burgers and ice cream. Wilson's is a landmark in the area and you can eat in their covered patio and see the water. When I walked in there I was surprised to see how well staffed it was. They have four people just working the ice cream counter and then each section of the restaurant had an army of servers waiting for customers. Since it was the middle of the week and before the big weekend there was almost no one there. I had food in no time flat. I know the next time we try to get food there it won't be so easy.

Bass Fishing in the waters of Green Bay

Yeah! my first bass of the season in Door County. We fished in Sturgeon Bay so I took a picture of the big cargo ships being worked on at Bay Shore shipyards. We also fished way up in Sister Bay -- the town with the restaurant that has goats on the roof and thats where I caught my fish.

We beached the boat on Horseshoe Island --its part of Peninsula State Park. Its crazy busy during the tourist season but right now we had it to ourselves.

We've been hitting the restaurants before there are long lines to get in to them. Greenwood Supper Club was our latest adventure-- very good food and great artwork on the walls of lighthouses and seascapes.

I'm late with the blog because our computer got hit with a nasty computer virus. I suggest everyone download Windows Defender -- its a free program that can eliminate nasty spyware that gets past even Norton.

Door County Blossom Time

We arrived back in door County and saw the cherry trees already blooming. They were blooming about 3 weeks earlier than normal because of the early warm spring. We also are enjoying the continued bloom of the Trillium's.

We are in a different camp site this year. It's much nicer with grass, more privacy, much quieter and no dust. We finally got Direct Tv satellite service. We knew we couldn't spend another whole summer just watching the few local channels that come out of Green Bay. We had had a satellite dish installed on the roof when we had the rig built but we hadn't signed up for service until now. It was nice to find out the dish actually worked.

We've been busy eating at our favorite restaurants -- mostly enjoying fish frys before the tourist come and they get too crowded. Wisconsin has the best perch fish frys. Our only disappointment was to find out that the Applebees in Sturgeon Bay closed. It was a nice place to go -- water view and inexpensive food.

Traveling through Arkansas

After terrible roads through Oklahoma City on 1-40 we got into Arkansas and found out what a beautiful state it is. Our first stop in Alma, Arkansas just across the border from Oklahoma was very nice. We ate at a local restaurant called the Catfish Hole. They immediately serve you plates of coleslaw and hushpuppies. The hushpuppies were the best we've ever had. They were perfectly crispy on the outside and tender cornbread on the inside. They just keep bringing more out as many as you can eat. The catfish was excellent as well. The place had antique cane poles as decorations and many beautiful handmade quilts hanging from the ceiling

We went on to Hot Springs and stayed at the Cloud Nine Rv Park. I took a picture from the rv park clubhouse porch (with the rocking chairs) to show the beautiful view from the ridge top where this park is located. We took a drive on one of the scenic byways and saw lots of small streams, rivers and beautiful tree covered hills. We also found a huge lake, Lake Ouachita, which has bass, crappie, stripers and even walleye. If we would have known about the walleye we would have planned to stay and fish there.

Memphis was our next stop and of course we had to hit Beale Street for some Memphis BBQ. We ate at the Pig (thats the name of the restaurant) again and it was fabulous as always. We sat out some bad weather in Memphis and watched the tornados go around us -- they hit in Mississippi just to the east of us.

We made a beeline for Wisconsin through Illinois and weather chased us all the way. We are happy to be back in Door County and hopefully out of the really bad weather.