May 24, 2017. Yes, It Is Still Cold Here.

May 24, 2017.  Yes, It Is Still Cold Here.  The daily high was 50 degrees.  But, that didn't keep us inside.  We tootled off to the laundromat to do three weeks worth of laundry.  The laundromat wasn't the best we've visited.  But, the washers and dryers worked.  An hour and a quarter later, we were finished, clothes cleaned and folded, ready to live another day.  BTW, I did most of the work.

Today was Sister Bay day.  We discovered another fine eatery, Grasse's Grill  It is ranked among the top three in Sister Bay.  It lived up to its billing.  The atmosphere was light and airy.  The food was delicious.

We walked around the pier for a while.  The pier is across Highway 42 from Al Johnson's.  You remember Al's, the place with a sod roof and goats grazing on top.  The goats aren't there yet.  I expect they will be there by this weekend.  The tourist season kicks off here with the Memorial Day weekend.  The goats attract the tourists.  We passed by Al's the week before last and there was a man on the roof pushing a lawn mower.  I guess they want the grass to be level before the goats arrive.  I don't know why.

We witnessed something unusual.  It appeared to be a goose preschool.  The adult geese herded the goslings in the water and on the land.  I could almost imagine one of the adults honking and yelling, "Buddy check!"

Wilson's Ice Cream Parlor is on the way back to the campground.  Since we were denied a jelly bean with our sundaes several days back, we stopped for an ice cream cone.  We weren't disappointed.  At the bottom of my cone was a jelly bean.  Ah, that's what I was after.  All who believe that, stand on your heads.

Goodnight.

May 23, 2017. A Walk After the Rain.

May 23, 2017.  A Walk After the Rain.  Annie Farkley is tired of the cold and the rain.  She is right to be tired.  We've had more rain and cold on this trip than any other spring RV trip.  And, I include the 2011 trip to Alaska.  Today has been typical of the last eighteen days.  It rained, on and off, all day. The high temperature was 51.  Admittedly, that isn't terribly cold if the sun is shining. However, it has been cloudy and damp all day.  We've had the heat pump on and the thermostat set at 72 degrees.

It finally stopped raining about 4:00 PM.  We walked for about an hour through the woods, along the biking trail.  There were puddles of water on the trail.  There were droplets of water on the leaves of plants. The lighting was perfect for photography with none of the glaring which is caused by direct sunlight. I actually began to appreciate the weather.  The last picture actually looks like a Bob Ross painting. Annie gets credit for that one.  She is more than just a proofreader.  She has a good eye.

We relocated to a different campsite in Weborg today.  We will be here three nights before moving to Jellystone RV Park outside of Sturgeon Bay, the gateway to Door County.  We have stayed there before so you may recognize some of the scenes which will  appear over the Memorial Day weekend. It is the holiday weekend which causes us to move out of Peninsula State Park.  The park was sold out when I made reservations in January.  So, we'll move south about 30 miles for the three-day weekend, then back here for four more days.  Then, we'll start for home.

Goodnight.

May 22, 2017. Day Seventeen - Pretty Much Like the Sixteen Which Preceded It.

May 22, 2017.  Day Seventeen - Pretty Much Like the Sixteen Which Preceded It.  "What do you do on your trips?"  That is a common question from friends and colleagues.  They suspect, I suspect, that we go from historic monument to museum to other interesting sights in the areas where we camp. Wrong.  We loaf, eat and relax.  We try to do each in equal parts so we stay balanced, balance being the key to a life well lived.  Oh, I throw in a little work by connecting to my desktop at the office.  I read emails and respond to them.  We both do a little pleasure reading, but not compulsively.  We try to stay up on national news by either watching one of the network offerings or viewing updates on Internet news apps.

We try to get a modest amount of exercise, usually walking, biking or both.  Today, it was a one-hour bike ride along the trails in the park.  I aired up the bike tires and cooked hash brown potatoes for dinner.  Annie made a romaine salad and we munched on some salty crispies.  I have not been nutrition-minded - Annie has - she who baked broccoli in cookies when the girls were young.  I don't think the girls have forgiven her that iron-willed force-feeding of vegetables.  I know I haven't. Betrayal and food don't mix.

We nod and howdy to other campers.  Sometimes, we engage with them and learn where they live, where they are going and other factoids soon forgotten.  Before dinner tonight, an "elderly" lady sauntered across the road to look at Harvey.  Harvey is the size of motorhome she admires.  She and her son are traveling in a Class C (bed over the cab) from Chicago to visit another son who resides in western Wisconsin.  The other son moved to Wisconsin from Florida.  His mother said, "It is so cold here and Florida is so warm.  I don't know why he did that - yes, I do.  He fell in love."  I had the impression that mom didn't necessarily approve of the son's new love interest.  Not long into the conversation, I decided she was just shopping and wasn't a potential buyer of Harvey.  Fiddle.

Most of today's pictures are self-explanatory.  You'll note that we made it back to the White Gull Inn for breakfast.  Yes, I had another massive serving of Door County Cherry Stuffed French Toast.  This time, however, I ate half there and made breakfast yesterday of the second half.  I watch Annie and try to emulate her good habits . . . up to a point.  There's no sense in going overboard.

We also made it to the Soup Bar.  The soup was good and the ambiance about what you'd hope for, a tiny place, maybe 4-500 square feet, two or three tables and big metal pots warming on a gas stove. I light-heartedly referred to the owner as the Soup Nazi, the character in the Seinfeld TV series.  He is actually Polish and very personable - nothing like the Soup Nazi.  It is the kind of place you'd hope to find in a village of 288 residents, Ephraim, WI.

The birders, the warblers and the lake flies are still here.  And, yes, the solitary goose is still here, too. I hope he leaves before we do.  I'll feel better about him if that happens.  Otherwise, I will have to leave holding to the belief that his new flight feathers will come in and he will find another mate.  I'll keep you informed.  I know you care, too.

Goodnight.  


 

May 21, 2017. Grandchildren's Quiz!!!

May 21, 2017.  Grandchildren's Quiz!!!  Aren't you excited?  I know I am.  There are ten photos above.  The contestants must identify the object from which the photo is cut and the day of the blog in which the picture appears.  Sounds easy, huh?  Well, some are easy.  But, some will be more difficult to find.

You can again expect I will grade loosely because I want everyone to win.  The deadline will be Friday, May 26 at 8:00 PM.  Of course, you don't have to wait until Friday to submit your responses. If I get them all early, I'll announce the winners early.

First place prize is $30, second gets $20 and third place gets $15. Good luck to all.

May 19, 2017. Some Nice Pictures, I Think.

May 19, 2017.  Some Nice Pictures, I Think.  We had to move Harvey today.  We are still in the same campground, just a different site.  There are only twelve sites here in Weborg.  Tomorrow, we move to Tennison Bay Campground, much larger, but still in Peninsula State Park.  There are two other large campgrounds in the park, too.

There will be no blog tomorrow because there is no Internet signal in Tennison.  So, Annie and I will work on the grandkids quiz and publish it on Sunday when we return to Weborg..  As with the last several quizzes, the pictures will be cut from pictures taken on this trip.  That means the grandchildren will have to look at all the daily blog pictures to locate the source of the cut-out.  That's a conniving grandfather's way of insuring that the grandchildren follow the blog.  Pretty clever, huh?

Wilson's Ice Cream Parlor opened today for the season.  I am proud to tell you that Annie Farkley and I were among the first guests.  Linner would not have been complete without some Wilson's hand-scooped ice cream.

Wilson's is an institution on the Peninsula.  It was established in 1906 by Oscar and Mattie Wilson.  It began as a homemade ice cream and candy shop.  Oscar and Mattie later began to serve food, too.  It has been owned by their offspring for more than a century.  The ice cream is what draws customers. A jelly bean is dropped in the bottom of each cone.  But, we discovered today that there is no jelly bean in the bottom of a three-scoop sundae.

Goodnight.