Egg Harbor, Fish Creek, Sister Bay, Bailey’s Harbor, Wisc. August 25 -- Wisconsin does cute quite well. I’m impressed! Charlie and I spent some time yesterday and today exploring the darling little harbor towns -- this area is known as the Cape Cod of the Midwest -- on the peninsula. Some of these places are what I imagine New England will look like: very nautical with lots of cute little shops in large old buildings or tiny little cottages. Although since I had Charlie with me, we didn’t go into any of them. All those shops and not a penny spent on stuff. I guess I learned my lesson about buying “stuff” when I had my estate sale. Lots of sailboats and power boats tied up to the docks and anchored in the bays. If you had a little time and money and liked boating, it would be fun to just harbor-hop. And I didn’t even get up to the northern tip of the peninsula and Washington Island. This area is apparently known for its cherries and I have seen a few orchards and lots of farm produce stands and markets. They also grow peaches here and the Michigan peaches have a good reputation so I’m looking forward to fresh peaches, with maybe just a little tiny bit of cream. Yum!
Lots of Catholic churches here, too. Every town has a church. I understand that because of the bad weather Wisconsin has been known to experience, when they developed the diocese here they put churches about every 7 miles. Now there are tons of little churches but not enough priests to minister to them all. It appears that many of the churches are all part of one parish -- Stella Maris (I think that’s Star of the Sea) -- sort of like the “missions” in Oregon. There are lots of other churches, too, but the Catholics seem to have a leg up on the other folks.
Another thing I’ve noticed about Wisconsin is the number of “ball rooms,” “dance barns” or similar places for dancing. Looks to me like Wisconsinites enjoy getting out and dancing a bit. I understand much of this area was originally settled by the French, but the Germans, Poles and other nationalities have since taken charge. Wonder how many polkas are danced at these dance halls?
Charlie and I dipped our toes into the Green Bay side of the peninsula and also the Lake Michigan side. The water is very clear -- frankly I expected it to be less clean -- and surprisingly warm at the beaches. Charlie was his usual “charming” self and several very small children talked to him and petted him. He really is quite the conversation-starter. Seems once people have had a golden retriever, they can’t pass by one without stopping to talk to both the dog his person.
In fact, I had a nice visit this morning with a couple from Colorado, I think, although they are “registered” in Texas. They have had goldens in the past. They’ve been full-timers for four years. We are going in the same direction and they will winter in Hilton Head. I may stop in to visit them if I get down that far. They invited me to travel with them to Maine but they are on a different schedule and will be arriving in Maine probably about the time I need to hightail it back to Oregon. It would be fun to have other people to caravan with but it would be hard to get schedules and rv-park memberships, etc. to match up. Plus I need to make sure I have plenty of quiet/prayer time and being with other people often cuts into that. Traveling with Charlie like I did today still leaves me plenty of time to think and reflect since Charlie doesn’t say too much most of the time. He keeps his thoughts to himself and doesn’t seem to mind when I share mine with him.
I drove into Green Bay this evening and had dinner with my friend Tony and his wife, Jackie. Both are from Oregon. I worked with Tony 20 years ago and we’ve kept in touch off and on. He writes outrageous Christmas letters and I finally got to meet Jasmine, their dog, who stars in many of the adventures recounted in each missive.
Today I contacted another friend, Geri, who was part of our Parish in Portland and sang with me in the choir. She moved back to New York about a year ago so I am hoping we can get together next month. I will probably spend two or three days in Michigan and then go through Ontario into Niagara Falls. People tell me it’s best to see it from the Canadian side. Then I’ll try to spend some time with Geri, who lives near Rochester on Lake Ontario. We talked about the possibility of even getting “close” to New York City and then taking a train in since I’ve never seen the city and it would be a shame to be so close and not at least say I’d been there. If I were without my buddy Charlie I could go in for a night or two but it will be hard enough leaving Charlie if I fly back to Portland in early October. I’m pretty attached to the big furball.
Although I’m reserved here through Sunday night, I am thinking I will leave tomorrow and head for Michigan. Shirley has decided she won’t join me; she has a new job to get ready for! I will spend a couple nights around St. Ignace/Mackinac City/Mackinaw Island so I have some time to explore that area. Then I have reservations for two nights at a 1000 Trails campground near Port Huron but may only stay one night. It’s really the only 1000 Trails until Maine and I stay there free so it’s tempting to stay longer. I am a little worried about not having reservations anywhere for Labor Day weekend. That might be interesting. I could be spending Labor Day at WalMart. Naaaawwww, I’d have to be pretty desperate to do that. So far everything has worked out just fine so I really need to just relax and stop worrying about the future and just focus on enjoying the beauty of each minute, each day.
TravelinLady
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