A Handle on Door County

One last day on the island before heading back to the peninsula. We decided to take the ferry to Rock Island. This is a completely uninhabited island just north of Washington Island that is now a state park. It has the oldest federal lighthouse on Lake Michigan, and the majority of the island was once owned by wealthy inventor, Chester Thordason. The island was so beautiful with lots of wildflowers, thick woods, and great views of the lake. We hiked to the lightouse and did the tour. For such a remote place, the lighthouse was amazingly nice. The tour guide told us that although the pay for a lighthouse keeper was low, they got to live in a beautiful house for free.

Back to Washington Island and a ~10 mile bike ride to the ferry back to the peninsula. We got there just in time to board. As we were pulling out, a fella near us shouted goodbye to his grandparents on shore. It was cute at first, but he took it a bit too far. 5 minutes later, The Goodbye Boy was still shouting.

This ride took a slightly different path than the one out to the island. We we closer to Detroit and Plum Islands and could really see how beautiful they were. Suddenly another fella from the same group noticed the lady behind us who he knew. He stood right next to us for about half of the journey bellowing at airplane decibels to her about everything going on in his life. We nicknamed him “ Bullhorn Boy”.

Off the ferry we prepared for our journey to Sister Bay. We had to traverse in reverse the course we rode on the way to the ferry. That means the unbelievably monster hills we climbed we had to go down, and then climb other ones. Extremely steep downhills are scary with a bike loaded with 60 pounds of gear. You can gain speed quickly, and you aren’t able to stop easily. We rode our brakes most of the way down the hill.

The ride to Sister Bay was a series of up and downhills. Bruce’s knee swelled up and the uphills were almost unbearable. We stopped and added air to his tires, which helped a bit. When we passed the cider shop, we decided to take a break and get some ice for his knee (and a glass of the delicious cider!).

When we got to Sister Bay we decided to eat dinner before heading to our lodging as it was on the far side of the town. The restaurant we chose was in the middle of a short, steep hill. We were there in time for happy hour, and enjoyed a variety of small plates.

We decided to walk our bikes up the rest of the hill because there was no way we could start pedaling with all that gear in the middle of a steep hill. Up we climbed. When we made the turn, we saw that the hill continued, even steeper. We had to walk the rest of the way up the hill. Let me tell you, pushing a nearly100 pound vehicle up a steep hill is no easy task! We were thrilled to see that our hotel was at the crest of the hill. Whew! However our room was on the second floor with no elevator, so off came the bags which we lugged up the stairs.

The next day was another “off” day. After a delicious breakfast we headed back into town with unladen bikes. We took a back road which cut off some of the distance of the hill. The main road is right along the bay. We watched a couple of sailboats set out and raise their sails. We then rode out to Three Springs Nature Preserve to do a hike. Big mistake. We left the bug spray at the hotel, and as soon as we stepped off the bikes we were swarmed. We left quickly, not without welts.

One thing that the Door Peninsula is known for besides it’s stunning beauty, is it’s fudge and ice cream. Bob Robinson, who wrote the guidebook we are using talked about it a lot! We decided to try one of his recommended spots, Door County Ice Cream Factory. It was indeed delicious, with a unique flavor called “Death’s Door Chocolate”!

We headed back to town and walked around a bit. There is a Nordic restaurant and Biergarten in town with a grass roof. We were wondering how they maintained the roof. Turns out they actually have goats that graze up there. Unfortunately for us, they weren’t up there today, but a man was actually mowing the roof!

We went to the harbor to watch the boats a bit more and had a nice conversation with a woman from Chicago. A group of friends and their kids come to Sister Bay every year. The kids are all teens to early 20’s now, with two sets of triplets, but they still all enjoy the Bay. Understandably so as it’s so beautiful.

Back up the hill, which was doable without panniers. We showered and got ready for dinner. This was going to be a real treat! In Ephriam, about 4.5 miles down the road, they have a nightly fish boil. We had reservations, so once again we got on our bikes and pedaled to the restaurant. It was an easy ride except at the very end, where we had some really steep downhills to get to the bay.

The fish boil was so fun! It is a Door County tradition. It was like dinner and a show, except the show was first. There’s a roaring fire under a cast iron pot of boiling water. First came the potatoes, then the onions. When it was time to put the fish in, the boil master showed us the fish and then dropped it in the kettle. They cook for 7 minutes and he told us the history for the fish boil while they cooked. At the end of the cooking, he does the “boil over”, where he throws a can of kerosene on the fire to cause everything to boil over, getting rid of any ash that had settled in the pot. Scary!!! The fire raged up so high and wide it almost engulfed him.

We then headed to our seat where we were served this amazing dinner. The whitefish was delicious! It is plentiful in Lake Michigan, and so mild and tasty. We had the best seat in the house, on the front porch overlooking the bay. We were just a bit late for the sunset, but it was still beautiful.

After dinner was the 5 mile ride back to our hotel. We took an alternate route to hopefully mitigate the steep uphill. We still had to climb, but it wasn’t quite as steep. once again, an exhilarating ride in the dark back to our hotel.

Monday cycling: 30 miles

Hiking: 6 miles

Tuesday cycling: 20 miles

Hiking: 3 miles