July 6, 2024 to July 7, 2024
Door County Delight: Cider, Coffee and Cycling
The drive to Gills Rock took a bit over three hours, half of which was through a hellacious rain and wind storm that dumped 4-7" of rain around Green Bay - but as soon as we passed the Welcome to Door County sign, the clouds parted. We did the self check-in to to the Shoreline Resort. The name overstates it a bit - it is a pleasant motel with an awesome view.
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After a fine dinner of cereal, cherries, granola, and yogurt we sat on our balcony and watched our first sunset over Lake Michigan.
The plan for the next morning was I would cycle Washington Island while Carole would take care of some of her gift shopping needs - to me, I had the much less exhausting plan... I drove a few miles up to Ellison Bay's Brew Coffee and brought back Carole a latte and a Nutella knot along with my coffee and strawberry/peach muffin.
My 2 mile bike ride to the Washington Island Ferry at 9 am was over Gills Rock's famous "Curvy Road" which is supposedly so curvy because telephone poles ran down the middle of the original dirt road and paving just zig-zagged between them (the poles were removed in the 1980s.) I can't see it - I think the steam roller driver was drunk.
I cycled past a line of cars waiting for the next ferry but was able to buy a ticket and get my bike on the already loaded ferry at the pier - $21 round trip.
It was a very pleasant 25 minute ferry ride on a beautiful morning past Plum Island and into Washington Island's Detroit Harbor. I did a recommended 25 mile loop around the island on paved (some crumbly paved) and very low traffic roads.
The maritime approach to the Gills Rock/Northport docks is apparently very treacherous, earning the nickname "Death's Door." I saw a fisherman brave enough to rent a boat from Death's Door Charters...
The route has only occasional glimpses of the shore, but did have stops at Jackson Harbor which has a passenger ferry to Rock Island (or at low tide or frozen water you can walk across), and Schoolhouse Beach Park on Washington Harbor, site of an 1887 shipwreck.
After a few hours of pleasant cycling, I once again had a no-waiting experience for the return ferry trip. On the bike ride back to the motel, the road in the opposite direction was full of cars, some of whom likely had 2 hour waits even though 3 ferries were running - Door County is busy on summer holiday weekends.
I quickly showered and we set out to explore Door County. First stop was Island Orchard Cider in Ellison Bay where we each had flights of pear and apple cider and lunched on Wisconsin cheese and crackers. From there we headed over to Ellison Bay Bluff and then Newport State Park for some views and short walks.
That night we had an excellent dinner at the Shoreline Restaurant, including a piece of Tart Cherry Pie using local cherries. There are acres of cherry trees in Door County and most of them are the tart cooking type. Spring cherry blossom time would be a fun time to ride that area. We then walked (waddled) 100 yards to our room and settled in on our balcony for one more Lake Michigan sunset.
Early the next morning we packed up early, stopped in Sister's Bay to gas up and coffee up (at Skip Stones Coffee Roasters) and started the long but uneventful two day drive back to Maryland with an intermediary night in Youngstown OH.
When we came back into Maryland at Hancock, we decided to end the eating portion of our cycling vacation with a sticky bun (Carole) and a piece of apple-cranberry pie (John) from the Blue Goose Market. Now it is back to healthy, non-bike tour quantity eating - at least after Carole's fudge supply runs out...
Another 80 miles or so of driving and we were back in steamy, drought-inflicted Upper Ashton Heights Mews.
Today's ride: 25 miles (40 km)
Total: 232 miles (373 km)
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