up north

If you lay down your right hand flat on a table and then you move your pinky finger away from the rest, you will have an almost perfect rendition of Wisconsin. So what's with the pinky? That's Door County -- a strip of land that juts out into Lake Michigan. For Wisconsinites, "up north" means the richly forested land in the northern half of the state. The term also embraces Door County, though the Door peninsula has its own identity and vegetation and, well, its own singular beauty.

I first discovered Door County when I was a graduate student at U of Chicago (so, back in the 1970s). I had a part time job (actually I had many of those) and eventually I earned enough to buy myself a used car. [I remember it well: an ancient red Volvo that cost me $600. Adam who sold it to me was a poli sci prof and he'd gotten a newer, bigger Volvo for his family. He complained to me that the newer one was far worse than his ancient machine. I would have to agree, in that this old model served me well: for the two years that I owned it, I never had to put in a single penny into its repair. It taught me a very unfortunate and incorrect lesson: that cars do not require a heck of a lot of money.] 

Those days, I couldn't wait to get out of the city. In Poland, even if you lived in the biggest urban area, you could easily hop out into the countryside for a rejuvenating forest walk. When I moved to New York I was horrified how long it took to leave the urban landscape. And as a student in Chicago, I was hoping that I could find some lovely countryside where I could drive to for some respite from the enormously loud and cranky city (this is how south Chicago felt to me back in the 70's).

How did I hit upon Door County? I have to think that my friend, the local travel agent pointed me to it. [I spent a lot of time hanging out in the Hyde Park travel agency, mostly to study and survey the airfares to Poland. I went back to visit my friends there as often as I could, but it was hard to find cheap airfares and I needed the help of an agent. So I made friends with one in Chicago and then later -- with one in Madison. Both men were really really patient with me and superbly knowledgable. For a while I thought that perhaps I should ditch grad school and work in the travel industry, but the Chicago agent quickly dissuaded me from that idea. It's boring -- he told me. All you do is look up airfares for people. All day long. Okay, fine. Possibly not a good match. And by the way, he said one day -- you should go up to Wisconsin's Door County for a real European vibe. It requires no airfare expenditure. Sold!

Not sure that I found a whole lot of European vibe-ness to it, but I loved all that I saw nonetheless.

Since that first trip, I've come here a lot: as a student, many times. With my friends. With my ex and our kids, in all those years when we could not afford more distant vacations. With Ed, during a snowstorm. So, many times. But not lately.

The trouble with Door County always was that it was a bit too wild and natural for my ex and a bit too tame and civilized for Ed.

But of course, this is what makes it so wonderful! You have the shoreline, the state parks (cedars and birches and pines), the little villages that dot the two narrow roads that meander up and down the peninsula. You have the natural world, but, too, you can count on a good cup of coffee and terrific food at the end of the day when you're done trudging up and down the rugged coastline, or playing miniature golf with your kids in the summer, or picking cherries in June. Door County cherries are like no other: mostly sour and fabulous for baking or air drying for your winter granola.

My younger girl, living as she does in Chicago, very quickly came to love Door County now even more than when she was my little kid with braided hair and a shy smile. She and her husband and now also their two girls come to Door County quite frequently for that getaway that you need after full weeks in the city. After their Christmas visit with us in Madison, they planned a few overnights in Door County and they asked me if I wanted to tag along. Yes I would! 

But first, this morning, I am still at the farmette, tending to animals, watching the skies cloud over again...

And eating breakfast with Ed. He'll be staying home, tending to the animals, but of course, mostly it's because he just likes to stay home.

Then I have one more distraction and it's too good to pass up! Primrose is to try out skating for the first time! The rink by the Vilas Zoo is all prepped and ready for the skaters and so we meet up there just after breakfast.

I am amazed at how empty the skating rink is. I mean, it's school break. The weather for once is just at, or above freezing. It's fabulous to be outside!  Where is everyone?! I think to myself that this surely is an ominous sign of us locking up our kids too much. They should be skating, no??

Well, at least Primrose is skating!

Her dad is a superb skater and hockey player so I am not there to help anyone accomplish anything. He can teach his girl to skate better than anyone can.

I am here merely for the fun of it. 

And to see the verdict. The first time out on ice pretty much sets your skating future for you: if you dont like it, you wont be back. So I search that Primrose face: 

Yes, she likes it!

For now, Juniper gets to just watch.

And by noon, they are done and I am off to Door County. (They'll catch up with me there tomorrow.)

Unless you are unfortunate enough to do the drive in some rush hour conditions, it's actually not too bad of a trip: about 3.5 hours to the town on the peninsula that will be my home for the next three nights: Sister Bay.

I make the drive in good time, stopping only once to pick up a drive-through Starbucks. My lunch consists of a latte and a couple of those mini Kind nut bars that I picked up for free at the Subaru dealer last week.

By four, I am at Whitefish Bay State Park. It is windy! It is cloudy! It is pretty darn cool! And it is beautiful!

I drive up to one of my many favorites here -- Bailey's Harbour. To the north of it, you can pick up any number of fabulous views...

But it's the walks and perhaps ski runs that I am most happy to do tomorrow. Such a different landscape! I am thrilled to take in a few deep breaths of Door County forest scented air!

And now the sun is setting and I am a mere ten minutes from my hotel. 

I drive with a pretty sky to help me along!

I'm staying at the Dorr Hotel in Sister Bay -- a gem of a village on the northern shore. The hotel is a new place. Nothing grand -- just three stories. But so fresh and spacious inside that it makes your heart leap as you enter it. My room is all about white and light and feels very spacious for just a bed and a chair...

The view is toward the main drag outside and of course, the Bay.

It's time for dinner. But where?

In the end I end up going to the Harbor Fish Market in Bailey's Harbor. It's open, which is a huge plus! And it's a short twelve minute drive. And it has a lobster boil on the menu today! Fish boils here are totally awesome. Obviously, any lobster meat is brought over from the northeast, but it hardly matters. A bisque, a platter of sea food meats, a cherry bread pudding -- those are my foods for the day.

I'm in a perfect spot for reflection, for maybe a long hike or that short ski run if the snow holds. Tomorrow. And the young family will be here and we will take in this beautiful pinky-jutting-into-the-water world together.  For now, good night!

with love....