Last Day of Winter and a Lakeshore Tour

Mom and Dad came to visit to celebrate my birthday last week, and Scott was able to take a day and a half off during the week (since he worked the previous weekend) to visit with us too.  My parents had visited in the Green Bay area last September "on their way" out to the Grand Canyon, and we did a trip up to Door County for their first visit.  This time, we introduced Mom and Dad to Culver's for lunch (Wisconsin fast food including fried cheese curds, by request, and homemade custard!) and showed them around town a little bit- a walk on the Mountain-Bay State Trail, the Fox River in downtown Green Bay, Grassy Island Lights at the Green Bay Yacht Club, Cabela's, and the wolves at Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary.

  Enjoying the Mountain-Bay State Trail

The main attraction was a Lakeshore Tour along Rt. 42 northward from Manitowoc to Algoma, to check out some towns Scott and I had visited previously during separate trips out to the lakeshore.  We started at the USS Cobia (a WWII submarine) outside of the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowoc.  The day was actually pretty chilly and quite windy on the water- so the one real walking excursion we took out to the Kewaunee Light (about a 15 min walk each way) was a little too frigid.  It was definitely a lighthouse-themed day since we saw 4 lighthouses: Manitowoc, Rawley Point (in Point Beach State Forest), Kewaunee, and Algoma, and stopped for lunch in between at the Water's Edge Restaurant inside the Lighthouse Inn in Two Rivers, right on Lake Michigan.  Scott and I had eaten at the Gull's Nest Lounge there following a camping trip out that way last fall, and it was just as delicious this time.  Our last stop of the day was the von Stiehl Winery and Ahnapee Brewery (next door to each other) in Algoma for some wine and beer tasting, and a few bottles to go, of course.  Oh, no wait...our last stop of the day was Culver's for an ice cream!

Manitowoc Light

 Rawley's Point Lighthouse, Point Beach State Forest

 Kewaunee Light

 Algoma Light (looking nice and bright following the paint job last summer)

Teddy had a coupon for a free first day of daycare at The Animal House (the pet center where he is taking his training class), so he had a great behavior assessment report and a fun day playing with the other dogs at daycare while we were gone.  Aside from needing a bath when he got home, he looked (and slept) like he had a great time!

We had a great visit (and I had a great birthday lighthouse tour, on a Thursday!) even though the temperatures were closer to seasonal rather than the gorgeous weather the week before in the 50s and near 60s.  Here's hoping spring is on its way!