We have a date: meet up at Al Johnson's at 7:55!
If you know Door County, you'll have heard of Al Johnson's. The restaurant with the (summertime) goats on the roof and the menu with lots of Swedish choices. In the morning, for example, you can have your Swedish pancakes with lingonberries or Swedish meatballs.
Al Johnson's has expanded since I've been coming to Door County. Beyond the restaurant, it now houses two large gift shops with all things Scandinavian. But the draw is still the breakfast (served until late afternoon). The place gets crowded even now, when ostensibly there are no crowds in Door County. So we strategically come five minutes before an early hour...
And a table is ours!
(Yep, Swedish pancakes and lingonberries...)
(... and Swedish meatballs!)
And yes, we detour later to the gift shop and yes, Primrose looks great in a Santa Lucia head wreath, 25% off after the season!
Here we are then, after the season, in Door County. The younger family and me.
At this point, they know Door County better than I do. Oh, I can find my way around here alright. County Q, County F, Highway 42 and Highway 57 -- all so familiar to me! But still, there's much that I haven't seen or tasted here. 2008 (my last visit here) is a long time ago. So I let them take the lead.
Our first destination is a place I actually do not remember ever visiting: Cave Point County Park, on the Lake Michigan side of the peninsula. I'm thinking -- is that coastline at all dramatic? Pausing along the way, it seems rather gentle...
But go a little further and it isn't gentle at all. Limestone cliff formations create caves and ledges and at this time of the year, icy surfaces are both dramatic to witness and dangerous to walk on.
But, we are a cautious bunch. Juniper is strapped onto my daughter and Primrose holds on to her dad's hand tightly.
As the water crashes in successive waves, I have to marvel at how the lake changes faces so quickly here. From mellow to bold and thunderous.
We follow a trail through the cedar forest, taking in the scent of the trees that are so common here.
A very special park within a park (Cave Point County Park is within the Whitefish Dunes State Park).
All that waterfront drama and the cold air make us hungry. We drive over to Waseda Farms, where Juniper is thrilled to look at the goats (as they look at her) and the rest of us pick and choose items from the store that the farmers maintain there.
One more stop! -- at Sip Coffee Shop to pick up some coffee and take-out soups for lunch.
And now we are home.
Did I say home? Well no, not really home, but a place you return to often is like a second home. This is the pleasure of repeat visits: you feel your roots boring down into the local soil, or in the case of Door County -- into the bedrock. Nearly half of the county has a soil depth of less than three feet. After that you're hitting Dolomite rock.
In any case, we return to the apartment rental, where Juniper right away sets herself the task of loading up a cookie tray and balancing it in her hand as she takes her still tentative steps.
Primrose returns to playing "coffee shop."
Hey, coffee and cakes go well together, no??
Naps, books --- all that is fitted into a brief afternoon.
(trying on Santa Lucia's crown...)
And soon it is dinnertime. Pizza, from the local place. Delicious! And no, it's not just the fresh air effect!
We still have a bit of time before the kids need to get to bed, so we take a walk -- to see the cherry, suspended until tomorrow night when rumor has it it will drop down at the stroke of midnight!
And to admire the lights in the lakeshore park.
Home again: is it time to play some more??
No, sweet Juniper. You'll have to save up all that energy for tomorrow, the last day of 2022. It's bedtime for you, for your sister, and frankly -- for the grownups too. Door County walks do that to you -- you return with heavy eyelids. Me -- also a somewhat heavy heart as I'll be leaving tomorrow morning. I want to get back for New Year's Eve to the farmhouse, to Ed, to all that I left there in order to be here.
Oh, but it's been a grand getaway with the young guys! Maybe short, but so intensely wonderful to go through the vacation routines with all of them.
But really, no more reflecting on the great luck that brought me to this point. I need to get some sleep if I am to hope for a late night at home tomorrow.
Goodnight little ones, here, and back home.
With so much love...
