The Mescher Family

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Vacation Aug 24-30, 2005 to Door County Wisconsin

Welcome to our Vacation 2005 page! Below, you will find lots and lots of pictures of our trip. The story of our trip began before we even left. We had planned on borrowing my sister's motor home for the trip and they were on vacation with it for a week and a half before we left. On their way home from Michigan, they got stuck on 294 when the bridge collapsed, delaying traffic for almost 3 hours. Unfortunately, when they were only 20 minutes from home, the motor home started smoking... to make a long story shorter, the transmission was burnt out, so it was out of comission and we had to make last minute alternate plans. Yuck!

The hard part was finding a place that took dogs and didn't cost our life savings. Fortunately, we found a campground that allowed dogs in their cabins and had openings 4 of the 6 nights we needed (they were booked Fri and Sat night). So for the weekend, I found a Bed and Breakfast that took dogs (one of only a few in all of Door County) and they actually had availability on Fri and Sat night! So after almost cancelling the trip, we were set and on our way.

Aug 24 - Mainly a driving day. It takes between 4-5 hours to get from our place to Door County. The campground we stayed at was called Door County Camping Retreat and is between Sturgeon Bay and Egg Harbor. Below are pictures of the cabin we stayed in as well as the camp playground which the kids greatly enjoyed. The cabin was really nice and had bunk beds for the kids and a queen sized bed for mommy and daddy. It also had a nice front sitting area with a small fridge. There was also a picnic table and a fire pit out back. It sort of had running water (a spicket in front) but no bathroom... that was only a 2 minute walk away but made Melissa's poddy trips a real adventure. In any case, it was a great campground and we greatly enjoyed our stay there.

Outside of the cabin

Inside of the cabin

The kids' favorite place... the playground

Aug 25 - Melissa had been begging to go to a beach so we decided to go to Whitefish Dunes State Park today. This is a large natural sand dune beach on the Lack Michigan side of Door County. The park was nice because it allowed dogs on the beach... the downside was that the dog area was 3/4 of a mile down and we had to walk it... so we lugged all our beach stuff, two kids and the dog all the way down. We had a good time once we got there... although the kids were scared of the water because of all the waves. We mainly just played in the sand and had a good time.

After Whitefish Dunes, we went to Cave Point County Park which is right next to the Dunes. Not much for the kids to do there so daddy just took pictures and moved on.

For dinner, we went to a kewl place called PC Junction. They have a central bar area with Lionel trains that bring food and drink on flat cars around to everyone sitting at the bar. Needless to say, the kids loved it. On top of that, they had a huge playground in the back so we stayed there well past dinner. That night we made a campfire and roasted mashmellows... a good day.

Scenic shots of Whitefish Dunes State Park

The kids playing with the sand castle

Melissa liked to bury herself in the sand... daddy helped out.

Murray being a good dog, the kids' footprints and more shots of the beach.

Cave Point County Park - very pretty especially with big waves crashing into the rocks.

The inside of the PC Junction restaurant. You can see the train in some of the shots.
On the right is Melissa waving bye-bye to the train.

The playground outside of PC Junction. The kids liked the large wooden train and we are actually working on building a similar wooden train for our background (although not quite as long).

One of our many campfires...

Melissa and Jacob right before bedtime. Melissa really liked her bed and was very cute up there.

Aug 26 - Today we decided to go all the way to the end of Door County to Gills Rock and then take a ferry ride out to Washington Island, which is the largest island of the many near the tip of Door County. The kids had a lot of fun on the boat ride. When we got to the island, we took a hour a half tour on a tram to some of the points of interest on the island. The most interesting stop was the Ostrich farm where the guy was a *huge* Packers fan (like that's a surprise) and had a lot of unique animals including a bear. We also stopped by a beach that is not sand but all very polished round rocks. The kids loved throwing the rocks into the water.

After the ferry ride back to the main peninsula, we stopped quickly at Ellision Bluff County Park for pictures, then went to Sister Bay where they had a big playground (playgrounds were everywhere... Door County seems very kid friendly) and we got some food. Then it was on to the Bed and Breakfast where we spent Fri and Sat nights. More on the B&B in a minute...

These three are from the restaurant where we ate before going on the ferry... had a nice view so daddy couldn't resist

Pics from the ferry

The kids enjoying the ride

More pics from the ferry ride.

Yet more... these are on the approach to Washington Island and you can see the Washington Island Harbor. The 4th and 5th are of some car ferries that use a different port in Door County. Those are used to get all the supplies onto the island as the only air travel to the island is for emergencies... everything else comes over on one of these ferries. The final pic is of the ferry that we rode on to get over to the island.

Here's the ostrich farm. The bear was the most interesting animal... they have hand-fed the bear since birth so that's all the bear knows. Kinda kewl that they were hand feeding a pretty big bear, albeit through a fence.

Scenic shots of the rock beach we stopped at on Washington Island.

Melissa throwing rocks in the water... you can see the rock in mid-air on a few shots.

We also stopped at a convenience store on the tour and Melissa got a candy necklace. On the boat ride home, she attached every candy piece to the necklace and was quite proud of her creation.

These are all shots from Ellison Bluff County Park. The sun was just starting to go down and it made for some pretty nice shots.

Here's Sister Bay. Not a lot to say as we just played on the playground here but it sure was pretty.

Aug 27 - Today was a Saturday so we decided to spend the day antique shopping since there's lots of good places. Of course, we didn't take pictures of that cause why would you? The pics we do have are from a few places daddy saw something pretty and stopped to take a picture or two.

After antique shopping, we did stop off at a Dairy farm that had cow milking demonstrations, great ice cream and a GPS generated corn maze which you can see pictures of below. The maze was quite large and really intricate. It took a good amount of concentration to not get lost but we did quite well, never getting lost and finding 12 of the 18 markers they had in the maze. It was divided into 3 sections with 6 markers each and we completed 2 sections before the kids got really tired of walking through corn.

The last pics are of the Bed and Breakfast we stayed at called the "Feathered Star". They were really nice and Melissa and Jacob got along quite well with the 5 year old who lived there, named Eli. They had a great and very loud time together. Neither Amy nor I had ever stayed in a B&B so it was a new experience for us and it was really nice. This particular one had 6 rooms laid out in two wings. The building looked like and older building with additions added, but after talking with the owner, we discovered the house was new construction but built to look older. It had a whirlpool everyone could use and of course, a playset in back. Of course, the really nice part for us was that they accepted pets which Murray appreciated. On Sat night, I think there were 9 dogs in the house though... the owner has 3, one other guest had 3, we had Murray and there were 2 other dogs as well. It was doggie heaven! In any case, we really enjoyed the stay there.

The kids were so bored with antique shopping that they just fell asleep... ok... just kidding, they got tired after awhile and napped in the car. There's nothing cuter than a sleeping kid, but Jacob's even cute when awake as evidenced by the right two pics.

I'm pretty sure all of these were from around Bailey's Harbor on the Lake Michigan side. There's a smaller peninsula that sticks out and gives good views looking back towards Bailey's Harbor.

The corn maze! They had a couple bridges in the maze so you could get a bit of a bird's eye view. On one of the bridge pics, you can see an image of what the maze looked like from above. Of course, the place had a huge cow and a playground with an ice cream cone slide. I can barely remember a place we went that didn't have a playground...

Ok... I did take one pic of an antique shop but only because it was within walking distance of the B&B... I'm standing in the driveway of the B&B taking this pic.

The Feathered Star Bed and Breakfast... inside and out. The one pic is of Jacob in the morning about 10 seconds after he woke up still all groggy. They start on the air matresses but always manage to fall off during the night... makes for a cute pic though.

Aug 28 - We went up to Peninsula State Park today and spent a lot of time on the beach. This beach is in an inlet so there were no waves and it's a very long, shallow beach. You can see in the second pic, I'm way out in the water but still only up to my knees. The kids liked this beach a lot and spent a lot of time in the water here.

When we finished at the beach, we rented a canoe for an hour so the kids could get a little time in the boat. Well, with mommy and daddy paddling, Jacob and Melissa didn't want to get left in the middle so they actually sat on our laps for awhile. It made paddling somewhat difficult, but it was more fun for them that way. Melissa had a rubber ducky she liked to hang over the side of the boat and float it in the water... after she lost it the second time and we had to paddle back to get it, that was the end of playing with ducky in the water and it was the end of Melissa being happy in the boat. Oh well...

After the boat ride, we had dinner in the nearby town of Fish Creek and then went to the nice lighthouse they have preserved in the Park. It wasn't open by the time we got there but it was still pretty. After the lighthouse, we went to a scenic tower they have which offers great views of the water and the nearby cities. After that, we finished the day with ice cream at a neat place in Fish Creek that of course, had a playground.

Everyone enjoying the beach at Peninsula State Park.

The lighthouse in the park.

Views from the front of the lighthouse looking out at Green Bay.

Random roadside picture stop looking out at horseshoe island, a small island nearby the Park.

Views from the top of the tower. Daddy was proud of Melissa for making it all the way up!

Another random picture stop looking back towards the town of Fish Creek.

The ice cream shop and playground we visited at the end of the day.

Aug 29 - Another day of shopping... this time mostly in Sturgeon Bay. We didn't spend all day though which gave us time to go to a place called "The Farm" which has a lot of animals to see and pet as well as many farm buildings to check out. The kids had a good time and it was pretty relaxing. Didn't do much today which made it a good last day of vacation.

Various animals at The Farm. The car is a 1923 Model T Ford which they claimed still worked!

We threw the kids down the wishing well to see how they liked it... ok... just kidding... although it kind of reminds me of the scenes in Silence of the Lambs. In any case, it was a kiln of sorts that had a very small opening at the bottom. Melissa didn't seem to mind it but Jacob was only happy when he wasn't inside it anymore.

More random shots... the thing on the right is a stump puller from back in the day that looked interesting.

Among the many animals running free were a few very small kittens and both kids really liked them. On the right, the kids are checking out some eggs hatching and two small chicks that had already hatched.

Final night sleeping in the cabin. The last day was just travelling home so this is it. Hope you enjoyed the vacation photos!