A Daddy/Daughter Adventure

My wife allowed me to be a "guest blogger" to share my recent travelling experiences with my younger daughter, Luciana. It is important to note that this is a repeat of the same excursion that we enjoyed back in 2006 when Luciana was quite a bit younger. We had so much fun on this recent trip that we've decided we'll do it every four years until I get too old and decrepit or she (heaven forbid) loses interest in being a "nature girl". I'm so glad she is so in to the outdoors when so many her age have sadly, never even developed an interest. Well, back to the adventure. The shot above is one of the few shots of both of us and was taken on a ferry from the tip of Door County travelling to Washington Island (more on that later). We left home around lunch time last Sunday and drove about 5 hours up to Sister Bay, WI. Door County is a great place to visit and while "touristy" at times, it will never lose its charm. The drive went fast as we chatted the entire time. We stayed at the Open Hearth Lodge and did some serious swimming (see below) in their pool (in the evening and on the morning of our departure). We like staying in a hotel at least one night and found some local Italian food and had snacks as we watched TV in to the evening. Once we were up, had swum and packed up, we hit the road after re-icing all of our coolers. We then travelled another 45 minutes or so and just caught the ferry to Washington Island (www.washingtonisland.com/) which is six miles off the tip of Door County.
Once we got on Washington Island, we decided to drive around a portion of the coast that we missed on the previous trip. The island is very neat and everyone is quite cordial (the finger wave from the steering wheel) and in the past, we've checked out some of the museums and other attractions. There are many summer residences on the island and the winter population (the heartiest of souls) of 660 is just a fraction of the summer population. Tourism is big business on the island. We quickly stumbled upon the Sand Dunes Park on the south portion of the island and spent a good two hours there (see below). We didn't swim (waded of course) but made a neat "rock castle" and saw a huge snake (36"+) on the way out of the park. The weather was great and our snake discovery would be one of many that we made during the entire trip. We then hightailed it over the the passenger ferry to Rock Island and made the one mile passage quickly.

Another family took the ferry over to the island for camping and our collective gear was quite impressive. I was surprised at how HEAVY all our stuff was although we had a nice cart for hauling everything. The ferry employees were very helpful with loading and unloading and are no strangers to observing significant camping gear going over to the island (no vehicles). We reserved our original campsite (#28) from four years ago as we loved the view (facing due west) and the proximity to the water. Our campsite is also one of the closest to the docks which was still a good 300 yard jaunt. We had to make two trips to haul our gear and the other family made some trips too (their campsite was quite a bit further away too). As veteran campers, we set-up quickly, or I should say that I set up while Luciana was drawn immediately to the water and water snakes nearby. Rock Island is a 912 acre island that is a WI State Park. It has a long history and I recommend reading www.portalwisconsin.org/archives/rock_island.cfm for some informative tidbits. There are some neat buildings (see the water tower, boathouse and lighthouse further below), awesome trails and lots of neat plants and animals. We walked all 10 miles of their walking trails and had a total blast. See below for "burgers on the beach" which was a nightly occurance. The sunsets were spectacular (see all three below) and my favorite picture of the entire trip was the one with Luciana wading out in to the sunset as a truly free spirit. Well Rock Island.....we'll see you again in 2014.

We essentially camped three evenings and had great weather with the exception of early Wednesday morning (midnight until 3 am) that was essentially a hurricane that scared me more than I would ever admit to Luciana. It was brutal and everything was wet by morning. Anyway, we had a sunny day that dried everything up and we did some very significant hiking. We saw snakes along the beach and ran across the rarest snake on the island, a red-bellied racer. A DNR Ranger chatted with us on one of the paths and we just noticed this little 12" snake. The small staff on the island was very friendly and you could tell they all had a deep love for the island. I didn't note any invasive plants and saw some neat ferns, moss and woody plants that you find more often over in Michigan (including giant American beeches in the interior of the island). We also hiked the Fernwood Trail for the first time and enjoyed the "prehistoric" appearance of this rustic trail. We were amazed at how quite it was along this path. This sheltered location had no surf noises and was devoid of insect or bird noise. It was weird. In fact, although we saw various wildlife on the island, it was a very quiet place. While we didn't run in to many mosquitoes, the biting black flies were annoying (as they were 4 years ago). The picture directly below is a neat spot that Luciana scouted out and later returned too the following day for a picnic and swimming.