Scott and I took a short weekend trip for our 7 year anniversary. We try to take some kind of trip every year for our anniversary and want to continue to keep that as a tradition. So far, there has been only one "fail" year where we went nowhere.
We originally decided to go to Chicago, although Door County, WI was also an option. I kind of wanted Chicago, Scott kind of wanted Door County. After researching things to do in Chicago, esp trying to find a really good show to go to, I got frustrated and sent an e-mail to Scott saying I'd rather go to Door County. Naturally, he agreed :)
Chicago had nothing I was really interested in seeing for Broadway shows, or even other big theatre shows. So, I thought, "Well, how about cirque du soleil?" which I've been wanting to see. Nope, not coming to Chicago in 2013. Seriously!? Also, all the things that are supposed to attract people seemed so cliche to me--art museums, dining, navy pier, sky scrapers, etc. and after researching it, I found myself really wanting to go to a quiet town and enjoy nature, so that's what we did!
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| Scott and I by Lake Michigan on a cold, windy day! |
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| This is how I looked minutes afterwards. :) |
The waves were quite impressive though and we laughed thinking that we were actually planning to go canoeing today! Every time I got inside, I wanted to go canoeing, and then we'd step outside and I'd change my mind. After getting to this beach, it was decided, no canoeing, haha.
Earlier, I had posted the many faces of Blake. Well, here's the many faces of Scott when he's being silly and not letting me get a good picture of him.
The tip of the peninsula in Door County had a little less to offer than we expected and was a little poorly marked, but we did end up finding our destination eventually and found our sought out hiking trails. Also, some of the advertised locations were pretty...how shall I say this...small? Conveniently the hiking path we did find wasn't too long or arduous since I was 35 weeks pregnant and I cramp up with too much walking. This was perfect.
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| Look out point with the sucker Scott stole from me--if you are interested in hearing that story, click on the video link below :) |
Scott stole my sucker.
After our hiking, we went mini golfing. We had bought a "Door County Package" that the hotel offered, which included some gift certificates and snacks. We had a free game at this location, so we went. At first glance, we were disappointed b/c there was a huge mini golf place a mile down that looked more appealing, but after starting here, we decided the other was too gaudy and impersonal. We actually really liked this place and some of the creative twists they put on the game.
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| Mini Golfing |
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| Chalkboard they had after one hole. I wrote "Betty hearts Scott 9/30/2006 anniversary" on this one and "Go Vikings" on the other one (here in Green Bay Packer country). I am so bad, hahaha (evil laugh). :) |
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| Our picture that the cute old man behind the counter took of us. We were both glad we came here b/c he was such a sweet old man and they had little rhymes to discuss each hole (on the red sign behind my right shoulder) which we really enjoyed as well. |
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| Oh my goodness, look who won!! The pregnant lady!! (Note the two holes-in-one) |
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| My excitement at my score! |
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| Ok, shoot, so I didn't actually win. Here is the 18 hole total--Scott beat me by 7 points. I was having a rough game the first nine holes and then beat him by one the last nine holes (the two holes-in-one helped significantly), but he still came out ahead. :) |
Earlier in the day, we saw a Swedish restaurant that Scott really wanted to try. We have never visited a specifically Swedish restaurant, so we decided to try it. Earlier, I had noticed that there was a building with grass on top, but didn't realize it was the Swedish restaurant we passed later in the day and had decided to go to. After pulling into the parking lot and getting out of the car, I yelled to Scott to get out here! There were goats on the roof!!! Our reaction is documented below, if you are interested :)
I just thought of this, but Scott originally wanted to park on the street, but there wasn't ample parking spots, so I noticed the lot and he quickly pulled in. If we had parked on the street, I don't think we would have seen the goats, so I'm glad we did!!
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| Yes, there are goats on the roof. :) |
Scott really wanted authentic Swedish food, but unfortunately, it was a fairly normal American menu. The one thing that people travel far for though, is their authentic Swedish meatballs, so that is what Scott got. He thought they were fantastic. :) Apparently, their bread/crackers/jams that they serve beforehand is very Swedish and some of the sauces and spices they use in their cooking are very Swedish, but not necessarily all the dishes.
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| Scott and his Swedish meal. |
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| Me and my very American Rib Eye steak (it was delicious!) |
Ok, so there was one more location that we decided to try near the tip of the peninsula on our second day there, even though we weren't super impressed with what we saw on Saturday. Turns out it was quite the waste of time, although Scott found a beach he fell in love with, which made it worth the trip.
There was a picture of a lighthouse on the map that we decided to check out. We looked and looked in the area where the picture was on the map, but there wasn't a lighthouse to be seen. Well, we had passed the spot which they had talked "extensively" about in the brochure for the area lighthouse, although in the write-up they used a different name for it...b/c it wasn't actually a light house! We probably passed it b/c it wasn't marked on the road, it didn't look like a lighthouse, and wasn't right on the water...:)
Anyways, here it is behind Scott in the picture below, just sitting there off a county road. This was about all it was--thought there was supposedly a nature center as well...
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| Random short fence with wooden platform--we decided its purpose was to raise you slightly in case you couldn't see the water from the ground, even though you could just walk a little further to see the water, haha. |
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| Me, right behind the "lighthouse" with the nature center down this long boardwalk. Oh wait, after walking all that way, we found it wasn't a nature center, but some offices that were closed. The nature center was down some hiking paths, which they wanted to charge $5 a piece to hike (honor system, I believe). No thanks. We were sick of wild goose chases, nature centers aren't that exciting and I wanted to get going for an orchard tour, so we just walked back. I must say, I did enjoy our walks in the crisp air though, it just made you feel good with all that fresh air. |
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| Acting excited about this place. |
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| A trail named with the same name as my Mother. Yes, this was one of the only things to take a picture of, haha |
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| Ahhh, the orchard I wanted to visit. We weren't disappointed. It was very cute, we got a tour, and bought some cherry goodies. Door County is known for their cherries and we got the desire to buy some after continuing to hear about them. Didn't get a picture of the cherry trees though...Here is the store--I love little country stores like this! |
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| Scott and I by the grape vines |
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| Me by the vines, with apple trees in the distance. They had not quite started picking many apples yet, so they were laden with fruit. |
One other noteworthy thing we did was to see a show. I still had my heart set on seeing a show, so we found a local one with a play about the area's history in the cherry orchards and having to bring German POW's to help with the harvest when the men were at war. We both loved it and thought it was very well done. Much better than spending ~$120/person on a broadway show (ok, so maybe not, but we were happy) :)
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| Since Scott points out every single Mustang he sees, I never feel the need to snap a picture, but on the way home when he pointed out the Ferrari, I decided it was picture worthy. |
And that's the "quick" summary of our trip! We had a very good time, despite the wild goose chases to find next to nothing, but hey, it makes for a good story, right?! :)
