We had wanted to head to Washington Island at the end of Door county peninsula with our bikes while we were up here. The island is roughly 5 miles wide and 6 miles tall, so we figured bikes made more sense than the Jeep. With a careful eye on the weather forecast, we picked our last full day in Door County. It turned out to be a correct call - mid seventies, low humidity and hardly a cloud in the sky.
The ferry ride takes about 30 minutes to do the 7 miles. It runs every 30 to 45 minutes but was over an hours drive to get to the ferry terminal. We made good time on the drive and just got on board the 8:15 ferry before they departed. There were only about 8 or so cars, a few people on foot and us with bikes.
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| View from Ferry Approaching Dock |
Chris had mapped out a route that included both geocaching and sightseeing stops on just about all areas of the island. Our first stop was was the Washington Island Stavkirke. It is a beautiful small Stave Church modeled after ones found in the Middle Ages in Norway. It is built on property adjacent to the Lutheran church.
Having built a timber frame home ourselves, we could really appreciate the woodworking skill that went into making this. The exterior has weathered to look a little older than it is, but the inside is brand new looking. It is open for the general public to come and enjoy. As geocachers, we got the added bonus of finding a nearby cache after counting things like windows, doors, crosses and benches to determine the cache location. The lighting was not great at the time we happened to be there, so the pictures don't do it justice.
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| Inside View |
Next was a ride to a nearby beach at a small harbor. The area was very beautiful. Next was the ride to the observation tower kind of near the center of the island, but on the way, we went by a pioneer farm that is setup for the public to tour, with signs describing buildings, old implements and tools. We stopped and spent a half hour wandering around. We saw some things that even I had owned and only recently sold as part of our downsizing.
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| Pretty View at Beach |
We eventually made it to the tower. There are a lot of steps from the parking area just to get to the base of the tower and then all the steps to climb to the top. Amazingly, Chris seemed to have only slight hesitation climbing this one and possibly even enjoyed the view.
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| View from Tower |
On the northeast corner of the island, we needed to stop for lunch. At first all we saw was more like a little trailer serving burgers and hotdogs. Not exactly what we were hoping for. But after a little more investigation, we spotted what turned out to be quite a nice lunch spot, and it was crowded. We ended up sitting with a mother and daughter that were just touring around themselves. They mentioned a couple other things we might want to check out while here.
By mid-afternoon, the roads were just a bit more busy with vehicles and the riding was taking its toll on us. As we headed back towards the ferry terminal, we stopped at the lavender farm. Chris did a little more sightseeing than I did since the smell of the flowers was not doing my allergies any favors. There were some interesting outbuildings and row upon row of lavender plants. Apparently they wanted way more money for a sprig of flowers than Chris was willing to spend, which I was glad about.
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| An Elaborate Drying Building |
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| One Lavender Farm |
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| And the Competition Just Down the Road |
After stopping for a well deserved ice cream cone, we went to check out one last beach. Apparently there was some sort of triathlon in progress. There were guys in full body suits doing laps in the water around some buoys, and every now and then we would see a cyclist come in.
The coming weekend was to be some sort of big running event so I'm glad we didn't have to contend with the crowds for that. The ferry ride back was much more crowded. In fact they shoe horned the last car into a spot I was positive was not big enough. We ended up doing just over 33 miles biking around the island.
After loading the bikes on the rack, we started our drive back south to our campground. In the cute little town of Sister Bay, we noticed a building that had grass for the roof cover. Now we had stopped in this town a few days earlier and had noticed it as well but this time was different because now there were goats up there! As quick stop in the parking lot to get out and take a few pictures. You don't see that everyday, but I suppose it makes sense to use goats rather than a mower or weed whacker.
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| A Restaurant with Goats on Roof |
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| Doing the Job |
Way too funny Jack. Who would have thought of that LOL
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