No Coat November

We thought the camping season was over with our late season trip up to the Porkies, but Mother Nature gave us a treat in early November that could not be missed.  Record breaking warmth- multiple days with highs in the 60s (and lows in the mid-40s!!) arrived during the first week of November.  That week would have been one of my busiest field work weeks of the year with our annual wild rice seeding, but we moved it up this year for, get this...better weather.  Very funny to miss it by a week.  Yes, it was colder the week before when we seeded, but at least there was no ice!

The first weekend in November presented an opportunity for some recreation and excellent camping weather with temperatures more like September than November.  We decided to head up the road to Door County with bikes and camping gear for a last hurrah.  The first stop was a 12 mile bike ride on the Ahnapee State Trail, a rail to trail which we haven't visited in quite awhile.  It was odd to be riding in a thin long sleeved t-shirt with all the leaves down, but it was great- not too many people on the trail and great views throughout.  After biking, we visited Bridge Up Brewing and Sonny's Pizza in Sturgeon Bay for a beverage on the patio and take out Greek deep dish pizza, which was excellent.  Also caught the draw bridge going up for a boat to pass through!  We arrived at the Peninsula State Park Tennison Bay campground next, and there was no problem getting a walk up campsite for 2 nights- and in fact, we pretty much had the immediate area to ourselves.  A camping dream come true!  That was also a little weird given that Peninsula is the most visited state park in Wisconsin and the hundreds of campsites are usually completely full throughout the summer.  Navigating the "winter camping" procedures was a little more challenging (self-registering, which restrooms are open, where to get the heated "winter water"), but it got sorted out eventually.  Of course the sun sets at about 4:15 PM, so we got things set up and took a quick ride down to the bay to watch the sunset, then it was dinner and campfire in the dark before early bedtime.  It was very comfortable sleeping with such nice temperatures, but we did have some raccoon visitors to the campsite who tried to open the truck cap to no avail!

Pizza and brews in Sturgeon Bay

Tennison Bay campground and sunset over Green Bay, Peninsula State Park

The next day we hit the bike trail along the Sunset Bike Route in the morning to get ahead of any crowds.  It was fantastic- nearly no one else encountered on the trails, gorgeous views, and a little bit of challenging hilly terrain (yes, flatlanders say things like that!).  We stopped in at the Eagle Bluff lighthouse on the route, which was boarded up for the season.  After biking we stopped at the newly constructed accessible observation tower (which Scott had a hand in acquiring the wood to build through his work) and took a ride further north on "the Island" (we previously learned this is local vernacular for the Door Peninsula north of Sturgeon Bay, which is technically an island because you have to cross a bridge over the shipping channel).  We stopped at Island Orchard Cider's takeout window to buy a few bottles of very delicious hard cider made from apples from Washington Island.  So good!  Next was a walk at The Nature Conservancy's Mink River Estuary Preserve, which we passed haphazardly but had never been to before.  We weren't really prepared and didn't know where exactly to go, but it was a nice hike anyway and we saw a few people out on the trails.  Next was a beer break at Door County Brewing Company over on the lake side (Lake Michigan proper) in Bailey's Harbor.  Interestingly, the weather was much cooler and cloudy over there (lake effect clouds), which really dropped the temperature for sitting comfortably outside.  They did have a nice fire going so that helped a little.  One group of bikers were in shorts and were absolutely freezing so they didn't stay long.  After a bit, we picked up takeout dinner from our favorite restaurant Coyote Roadhouse and took sandwiches back to the campsite for early dinner.  Another sunset, and another long dark night (with less raccoon activity).

Eagle Bluff Lighthouse, Peninsula State Park

Nicolet Bay, Peninsula State Park

Sunset at Tennison Bay, Green Bay, Lake Michigan

One of the interesting experiences camping at Peninsula was the habituated wildlife.  These are packed campgrounds and the wildlife seems to know that people are suckers for feeding them or they can easily steal food and trash.  Before we left, one of the resident turkeys literally walked right up to us, and got really excited when I moved a grocery bag around thinking I was feeding him.  I had to chase him off to get him away from the truck.  A red breasted nuthatch also flew up to me and landed right on my finger the day before (Snow White moment!), and several chickadees hung around regularly.  While it's cool to see wildlife up close, this is a bad sign for the animals.  They become so dependent on people that they don't learn to take care of themselves.  Plus it's dangerous such that they could unintentionally hurt someone or be hurt themselves.  I hope they make it through the tough winter.

Tennison Bay campground's way too friendly turkey.

The next morning, it was up early to pack up and head home.  What a nice reprieve and a more positive camping trip for the end of the season!

On the tribal lands of the Pottawatomi, Menominee, and Odawa peoples. https://native-land.ca/ 

Whitefish Point

Our unintentional tradition has been to visit Lake Superior every fall for a weekend getaway.  Partially, fall is a favorite time of year to travel in the late season after the whirlwind summer crowds have been through and the weather is still reasonable.  I also think sometimes it takes that long to make summer plans these days!  Summers are busy times for me at work, and we had some travel arrangements this year in addition to lots of house projects and yard landscaping work.  Nonetheless, fall showed up and Lake Superior was calling...

We took a Friday off of work and headed north along the west shore of Green Bay.  Aside from getting stuck behind trucks and campers (it's a one lane road each way), I love riding the backroad highway with all the bay views.  Makes one realize how huge the bay really is (1,600 square miles, if you were wondering).

We were in the UP in no time and headed for Tahquamenon Falls State Park to view the Upper and Lower Falls and take in some early fall foliage.  Upon arrival and payment for our day pass, we parked and walked the short distance to the Upper Falls views.  It was running quite high due to lots of recent rain, and the leaves were just starting to turn near the river.  It was a pretty cold day with temperatures in the 40s, moderate winds, and sprinkling rain, so the park was not very busy at all.  After viewing the falls, we headed to Tahquamenon Brewing Company right at the end of the trail for some delicious early dinner and beers.

Then it was off to Whitefish Point, another 35 minutes down the road.  We had reservations to stay at the Point at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum's Crews Quarters B&B for the weekend right on site.  A unique opportunity to sleep right next to Superior and a lighthouse?  I'm in!

We arrived at the museum just in time to check in to the B&B and took a cold, windy evening walk on the beach.  Because of the location of the Point, many large freighters and superlakers pass by very closely as they enter or exit Lake Superior via the Soo Locks.  We had fun using binoculars to read the names of the ships as they went by, and later discovered an app that shows all of the shipping traffic (including the Great Lakes, check out marinetracker.com).  It was a cold blustery night, but waves from Superior all night long.

The next day we had continental breakfast at the Crews Quarters and went for a walk again around the grounds.  The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum includes exhibits in several buildings plus the Whitefish Point Light Station, and the US Fish & Wildlife Service Seney National Wildlife Refuge- Whitefish Point Unit is adjacent, along with the Whitefish Point Bird Observatory.  It was really nice to have so many different things to check out all in one place, and be able to stay right there too.

Next we checked out the museum buildings and watched a film about the Edmund Fitzgerald, which sunk just 15 miles northwest of Whitefish Point in Canadian waters the 1970s.  Hard to imagine the force the Lake has to take down a loaded down ore freighter.  The wreck was found in the 1990s and left undisturbed, aside from the bell that was brought to the museum.  It was replaced with a memorial bell with the names of the crew.

The birdwatching at Whitefish Point was phenomenal even though it was late season for migration.  Many warblers, woodpeckers, a couple of peregrine falcons, loons, and others were using the shoreline and the sand dunes, and even walking around in the grass right outside the buildings.  I was scrambling at times to identify many of them, all in winter plumage and some that were entirely new to me.  It was a lot of fun, and despite the cold and got in several rounds of birding throughout the day.  I also joined the waterbird counters from the Observatory for a little bit on the shoreline.

We took at ride to Brown's Fish House in the nearby small town of Paradise for whitefish fish fry dinner- so delicious!  I got a kick out of our server telling everyone after they paid their bill to "have a nice day in Paradise!"  We did.  After dark, we went back to the bird observatory for an owl banding program about their long-term banding and monitoring work.  They even captured a saw-whet owl in the nets while we were there and we had the chance to watch the banding operation.  It was really cool to talk with the researchers and share some of the bird-related things going on in Green Bay.  It's a small world in wildlife, so usually people have heard of other projects or know people working in those areas.  There was a huge difference in wind that night- no waves whatsoever all night long.

The next day was incredibly calm on the lake- almost no waves at all.  We ate breakfast, said goodbye to Superior and headed southwest.  We stopped at Seney National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center & gift shop, voted in their annual photography contest, and took a nice ride around the Wildlife Drive throughout many of the impoundments looking for waterfowl.  Still some tundra swans and ducks (ring-necked ducks, wood ducks, mallards) hanging out for some good views while auto touring.

Next stop on the return trip was Manistique to grab some beers at Mackinaw Trail Winery and Brewery and check out the Manistique lighthouse.  Manistique is located at the north end of the bay of Green Bay, about 120 miles from the City of Green Bay.  Another short ride to Escanaba, and a stop for lunch (mmm..pasties!) and beers at Upper Hand Brewery before the drive down the west shore of Green Bay back home.  Always fun up der in da UP!

Jersey does Titletown

Mom and Dad came out to visit us for a long weekend at the end of September.  We had a busy and fun weekend that included a Packers tailgate, antiquing and cheese shopping, day trip to Door County parks and shops including brunch at Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant, a tour of the UW-Green Bay campus, a visit to the Green Bay Botanical Garden, and a trip to Shawano County (pronounced SHAWN oh), the barn quilt capital of Wisconsin, for sightseeing and the Sunday flea market and car show.  And no visit is complete without a trip to Culver's for lunch and ice cream.  We also had to work in a traditional Wisconsin Friday night fish fry dinner, and none other than Jordy Nelson walks in with his family and is seated right behind us.  Awesome!  The dinner got even more fun when a lady at a table across from us bet me $5 that I couldn't finish the meatloaf dinner I ordered, so I looked up and told her, "you're on!"  I did finish my dinner and she insisted on giving me the $5 to make good on the deal.  I paid it forward and bought a tin of boy scout popcorn at our next shopping stop.  Always a lot of fun to show Mom and Dad a good time in Titletown!

Go Pack Go!  High rollers tailgating at Lambeau- we left just before the game started and made it back home in time to watch on TV as everyone got evacuated out of the bowl for a thunderstorm.

Late season at the Green Bay Botanical Garden 

Views of Lake Michigan from Cave Point County Park, Door County 

Onward Phoenix!

I have neglected the blog again.  It's been a very busy spring this year, including some travel (2x) back to the east coast for the first time since the holidays for a family visit at the Jersey shore and a trip to Maryland for Scott's friend's wedding. And probably the biggest piece of news is that I have a new job!  I started in mid-June as a research specialist at University of Wisconsin-Green Bay (Go Phoenix!).  I am coordinating several fish and wildlife habitat restoration projects in the Bay of Green Bay, which I will share more about when I have more details and cool photos.  These projects will get me back out into "the field" (i.e., what we conservation people call outside) more often, but it will be more like knee (or waist) deep in the bay and also driving a boat.  Awesome!  I also get to work with many of the same people from my previous jobs and I had a short stint at the university about a year ago as an instructor, so at least everything isn't completely new.  Very excited to have work in my area of expertise and to be back in the university setting, but needless to say it has been an adjustment back into the full time work force and trying to keep up with summer activities, classes at the gym, gardening, and keeping Teddy busy!

In May, I had the change to welcome my first visitor to WI besides my parents!  My college friend Rosie flew out to visit for Memorial Day weekend.  We had a great time touring Lambeau Field, visiting one of the largest dairy farms in WI (thanks to Rosie's dairy connections!), and auto touring/lighthouse touring/wine tasting the Lake Michigan shoreline.  We even stopped at a winery we had not been to yet called Cold Country Vines & Wines in Kewaunee- it was great and we will definitely be back!  It was wonderful to catch up with Rosie, and to "share" Wisconsin with her.  We pretty much covered it: dairy farming, cheese and wine tasting, microbreweries, lakeshore, lighthouses, and even lunch at Culver's (can't miss that!).  Whew!  Now that we have been here for just shy of 3 years, we know enough to be half decent tour guides.  Book your trip today, great rates (i.e., free) and we have lots of openings in the schedule (....as in no bookings until Mom and Dad come back out in late summer).  Thanks for visiting, Rosie!

 Nice off-season afternoon at Lambeau

Nittany Lions experience the Lambeau Leap!

Point Beach was early season chilly, but beautiful! 

Wine tasting at von Stiehl Winery in Algoma

This spring has been very rainy and, early on, it was pretty cool. We planted the garden during the last few days of May once the frost danger ended, and have only had to water a couple of times since due to all the storms and rain over the last month.  Nearly all of the plants seem to be doing great, and we really have a handle this year on the weed management and garden plot set up (thanks to my UW-Extension gardening courses!).  This year we have: onions, lettuce, kale, redskin potatoes, bell peppers, hot peppers, winter and summer squash, tomatoes, and peas.  So far, so good!  It should be about another month before we have veggies.  So hard to be patient!

Early stages of the garden- mid-June

Also looking forward to getting to some Bullfrogs baseball games soon- we haven't made it out yet, but hopefully schedules will settle in here and the excessive rain will stop...and we can get in some nice evenings at the ballpark.