This trip was supposed to occur earlier but was postponed. While photography was not the main purpose of the trip, I did load the car with all the equipment just in case.
We took the mid-morning Lake Express from Muskegon to Milwaukee. The two hour plus trip was smooth and uneventful. Upon arriving in Wisconsin we discovered all the needed information for the trip was left home. This consisted mostly of addresses of places we wanted to visit. These addresses were to be put into the GPS (methods of navigating have sure changed from pre-Tomtom days.) We pulled over, hauled out the laptop, and soon had the missing info. Our first stop was for German food in the Old World 3rd Street area. We began at the famous sausage maker, Usingers. We were hoping to eat there but they only operate a retail shop where one can buy and have their products shipped anywhere. We walked across the street to Mader's, which was established in 1902, and is still run by the same family. Since their website boasted that they are often voted "America's finest German restaurant", they had a lot to prove. I ordered the Bavarian platter which promised three kinds of Usinger meats while Edie had the traditional weiner schnitzel. Both were excellent. As I ate, I could see Usinger trucks, with their mischevious elves painted on the side, pulling out of their complex filled with meat.
Our second stop was the small Lakeside Brewery. If you don't like the large corporate tours, this is definitely the tour for you. They let you start drinking as soon as you get there. For $6 you get a plastic cup and four beer tokens. You can exchange the plastic cup for a beer mug at the end of the tour. This seemed to be a very popular tour for the twenty somethings as we looked to be the only ones in the room over thirty. The tour leader was a former owner who had been bought out by his brother and appeared to be intoxicated. The tour was folksy, humorous, low budget, and at times somewhat cheesy but nobody seemed to mind as they swilled their beer throughtout the tour. We were told that the big breweries spill more beer in one shift then they can make in an entire year.
Our third stop was the Boerner Botanical Gardens. We had the place pretty much to ourselves. The peony show was completely finished and the rose garden seemed to be in transition but the herb garden and bibical plant area was very extensive.
We debated on visiting the Harley Davidson Museum, but since it was 7pm Michigan time and being old and feeble, decided we were tired and ready for the "Stagecoach Inn", a bed and breakfast in Cedarburg.
July 8
We slept in, went down for breakfast, and then shopped Cedarburg's stores in the morning. We made it to Cedar Creek Winery at the north end of town a little before noon and were able to sneak under the deadline for their tour. The limestone winery building originally started out as a woolen mill in the 1860's. The highlight was a demonstration on how a person could crawl thru a tiny hole to enter the 2000 gallon wooden wine barrel when it needed cleaning. A wonderful experience for claustrophobic individuals. The tour leader was especially informative on the etiquette of ordering, tasting, and evaluating wines.
We had lunch at the Anvil. The $3.50 seafood chowder was outstanding and turned out to be the best value of the day.
We traveled to Mayville and arrived at the Audubon Hotel mid afternoon. This hotel, restaurant, and bar is a must stop for anyone interested in birds. It was originally built as the Hotel Beaumont in 1896. It had its ups and downs over the years but eventually became a "flophouse with biker bar". The town merchants decided that they had to present a better image and in 1985 a Chicago businessman put three million dollars (a half million in woodwork alone) into renovation. The rooms are large with whirlpool baths and four poster beds. The dining room has John James Audubon prints and beautiful stained glass art windows with various birds featured. Listed as one of the 100 finest restaurants in Wisconsin we expected fantastic food but unfortunately were somewhat disappointed. The bar next to it has been called the most beautiful bar in Wisconsin because of all the glass etchings, stained windows, and glass ceiling.
We took a late scouting trip to Horicon Marsh, the largest freshwater cattail marsh in the United States, and got decent shots of snipe and virginia rail. There were a lot of black fuzzy rail babies, and also coot. Least bitterns, black terns, yellowlegs, and night herons were also present.
I returned to the hotel around ten. Edie had scouted out the shops and reported there wasn't much in town. We drove south to the town of Horicon but their mainstreet was all torn up so we decided to pack up and drive into Door County. We arrived at the "Landing" in Egg Harbor where we spent the next two nights.
July 10
We spend the entire day exploring. At noon we ended up in Bailey's Harbor and stumbled into a folk music concert which was part of the weekend festival that the county holds yearly. Three bands played Balkan, Scandanavian, and Irish tunes while local enthusiasts danced. Needless to say, we were not familiar with the tunes and although I encouraged Edie to dance she declined. In the evening we attended the traditional fish boil.
July 11
After breakfast we drove leisurely towards Green Bay and into the Upper Peninsula stopping along the way for Wisconsin cheese and bird feeders which Edie had to have. We ended up in Mackinaw city for fudge and then decided that we had spent very little time on the east side of the state so we headed to Roger's City for the night. That was probably a mistake since not much was happening around there.
July 12
Slept in, ate breakfast and made a executive decision to head for home.
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