Lake Michigan Leg

I caught the Rona in Wisconsin, cutting this part of my trip short. However I got a couple of days of sightseeing in Door County before I had to end it.

Gladstone Michigan is often referred to as “The Year Round Playground” because of its myriad parks and activities. Gladstone’s main park is Van Cleve, which hosts a playground (Kid’s Kingdom), a skateboarding park, baseball field, basketball court, fitness trail, a white sand beach with water slide, boardwalk, as well as a harbor with boat ramps and fish cleaning station.Gladstone also hosts the Days River Trails, which are hiked and biked in the spring, summer, and fall. In the winter, these trails are used primarily for cross-country skiing. The white sand beaches, clear warm water and walleyes are still there and the many crafty tourists return every year and are not letting on. The rest of the Upper Penninsula and Wisconsin shorelines are exposed with cold lake water. Only in Gladstone’s Little Bay de Noc do these conditions hold true.

Trenary MI

Door County Wisconsin has 10 historically significant lighthouse structures and sets of lights still serving as navigational lights. Most of them were built during the 19th century and are listed in the National Register of Historic Places: Baileys Harbor Range Lights, Cana Island Lighthouse,^[274] Chambers Island Lighthouse, Eagle Bluff Lighthouse, Pilot Island Lighthouse, Plum Island Range Lights,^[275] Pottawatomie Lighthouse, and Sturgeon Bay Canal Lighthouse. Other functioning historic lighthouses in the county include the Sherwood Point Lighthouse and the Sturgeon Bay Canal North Pierhead Light.^[276] The Boyer Bluff Light is mounted on an 80-foot skeletal tower.^[277] In addition, the Baileys Harbor Light is a non-functioning 19th century lighthouse.^[276] Thirteen historical sites are marked in the state maritime trail for the area^[278] in addition to nine roadside historical markers.^[279] In Sturgeon Bay, the tugboat John Purves is operated as a museum ship. Including lighthouses, the county has 72 properties and districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places. There are 214 known confirmed and unconfirmed shipwrecks listed for the county. Buildings made from cordwood construction survive in the county, especially in the Bailey’s Harbor area. Some, such as the Blacksmith Inn, are covered with clapboards on the outside.^[283][284] It has been speculated that the use of stovewood in the county was associated with German immigrants and was also due to the lack of manpower needed to haul heavy logs.^[285]

The Cana Island lighthouse is a lighthouse located just north of Baileys Harbor in Door County, Wisconsin, United States. Along with the Baileys Harbor Range Lights, the lighthouse was built to replace the Baileys Harbor Lighthouse (locally, the Birdcage Light, the last one pictured in the set of images below) in 1869 and was first lit in 1870. It is still used as an active navigational aid under the jurisdiction of the United States Coast Guard, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. Since the 1970s, both the lighthouse and its keeper’s quarters are open for visitors to tour by means of the Door County Maritime Museum.

The Appleport School outside Sister Bay is now an artist’s studio. I can’t resist an old schoolhouse. Read more here.

Ellison Buff Natural Area

The Hardy Gallery, Ephraim WI

Peninsula State Park is a 3,776-acre (1,528 ha) Wisconsin state park with eight miles (13 km) of Green Bay shoreline in Door County. Peninsula is the third largest state park in Wisconsin and is visited by an estimated one million visitors annually.

Located in what is modern-day Peninsula State Park. Situated on a 76-foot bluff that overlooks the Strawberry Channel, Eagle Bluff Lighthouse’s mission is to illuminate the islands located in the middle of the strawberry channel. This mission is what gives Eagle Bluff its nickname “The Guardian of the Strawberry Channel”.^[4]

Much of Door County is located on the Niagara Escarpment, the escarpment makes it very hard to dig into the soil of Door County, for this reason it is very usual to have a basement in Door County. Eagle Bluff has two basements. One under the tower and one under the keeper’s residence.

Egg Harbor is a town in Door County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,194 at the 2000 census. The Village of Egg Harbor and the unincorporated community of Carlsville are located within the town. The Town of Egg Harbor was hit by an F3 tornado in 1998. Limestone outcroppings of the Niagara Escarpment are visible at several locations with the town and can be seen in the Bayshore Blufflands State Natural Area. The entrance to Horseshoe Bay Cave is in Frank E. Murphy County Park on the western side of the town.^[3] Horseshoe Bay Cave is the second-longest cave in the state and the longest one currently undeveloped.^[4] At night, bats in the cave engage in fall swarms from about August 15 through October 1, and hibernation is from about October 1 through May 15.

Some Food: I am attracted to diners and foods that are local specialties or unique to the region. Here are a few examples from this trip.

Odds N Ends from My Phone

Bird Species Identified in Michigan and Wisconsin