ArtPrize Eight

This year was ArtPrize Eight, and it's hard for me to believe that the event has been going on for that long. The first year of ArtPrize, I was in grad school. One of my classmates had heard about this art competition with pieces scattered throughout downtown and wanted me to check it out with her during a break between classes. I readily agreed; some fresh air and a break from classwork was welcome. We ended up thoroughly enjoying ourselves and went back a few more times together. It helped that we could easily walk from the Center for Health Sciences to most of the venues. So that was the start of ArtPrize for me. I continued to attend every year after (except last year when we were in Australia). And, ArtPrize has continued to grow in size, scope, and reputation over the past years. 

Since we had missed last year, Brandon and I were especially devoted to attending ArtPrize this year. We weren't working yet at the time, so we managed to go on some afternoons when attendance was lighter. Our favorite pieces were in the basement of the Women's City Club, but there were definitely a few other exhibits we enjoyed as well scattered throughout the city. 

One of the first pieces we saw. We liked that it was interactive; you could balance the lever. 

This was probably our favorite. The description beside it explained that the piece represents a memory that is partially lost or obscured and becomes fragmented or blurred in the process of trying to remember.  

How can you not like all these cute cats? 

The colors and vibrancy of this just drew us in

This portrait was constructed from all different shades of faded sheet music

"Father Time" a working clock statue with the hands of the clock looking like the man's mustache

A working fish bicycle! 

A home the artist constructed and was living in during ArtPrize. It was made out of the remains of condemned, demolished homes in Detroit and other cities. 

Rube Goldberg type pieces always capture our attention 

This huge piece with it's transition of the seasons was spectacular 

A huge window mural installation at the Devos Place

We liked that all these paintings told a collective story

1,234 handmade bronze butterflies

This is made out of different shades of screws screwed in different depths

This tribute to wounded war dogs, beautifully crafted out of wood, ended up winning the people's choice grand prize

The colors of these piece with the blue bridge in the background was lively

Brandon's favorite medium: duct tape

A permanent suspended glass installation for Mary Free Bed 

An impressive photograph that made you feel like you were at the beach

Interesting chair and thread exhibit with a felted piece in the background 

This installation made us think of packing up and moving forward on our sabbatical 

Those are just a sample of all the artwork we were able to see. We'll be looking forward to the return of ArtPrize next year. 

Sabbatical Overview

So...what all did you guys do? 

This has been the number one question we've been getting as of late. Or if not exactly that question, some variation like... Where all did you guys go? Tell me everything about your sabbatical... etc. Well now that our sabbatical is officially done, now seems like as good as time as any to make an overview post about all that we did these past 15 months. Plus hopefully this will serve as a good starting point for people who haven't been following along with us this whole year. 

If you'd like to visualize our travels you can also check out the map section of our blog where we've put pins in all the places we went to. 

Our favorite picture together from our entire sabbatical

A Summer in Holland

Katie finished her job at end of May 2015, and my last day was June 19th. But our first big trip wasn't until the Fall, and we planned it that way on purpose. We knew there was a good chance we wouldn't be moving back to Holland when everything was all done, so we wanted some more time to enjoy the beautiful place we had been living for several years as well as invest time in the community we had in that area. We also used this time to just prepare for the rest of the year by taking care of things like upcoming travel logistics, selling/donating stuff we didn't need or want, and then eventually moving the rest of our stuff at the end of the summer. Looking back this was one of my favorite times of the whole sabbatical because of how truly relaxing it was. Other than the small trips we did, we mostly just got to live our lives with a bit more free time. A stay-cation if you will. It was lovely.

Highlights:
- Rock climbing trip to the Red River Gorge in Kentucky
- Going to the beach as often as we could
- Family vacation in the UP 
- Blind Dates (1 & 2)

Fall Trip to the Asia-Pacific Region

Fall of 2015 was our big solo international adventure. We explored Hawaii, Australia, and Thailand across the span of 2 ½ months! We went to Hawaii first to spend some time with some friends. We then spent a month in Melbourne, Australia, just living life there. After that we spent a month Thailand where we split our time with a week in Southern Thailand rock climbing in Ton Sai and then 2 ½ weeks in Northern Thailand living in Chaing Mai. We then slowly made our way back by retracing our steps. We returned to Australia for a week, spending a few days in Melbourne again and then a couple days in Sydney. We then went back to Hawaii for about 10 days to spend more time with our friends there. And then finally we returned back to Michigan at the beginning of December.

There is basically too much to cover about this trip. We did a lot of cool stuff. But by far Melbourne was our favorite place that we went, not just of this trip, but of our entire sabbatical. It just felt like a very livable city with a lot going on. It felt like a blend of the pace of life and comfort of a city like Lansing or Grand Rapids but the size and amenities of a larger city like Chicago.

Hawaii Highlights:
- Watching and practicing surfing
- Hiking around the island (1 & 2)

Melbourne Highlights:
- Road trip along the Great Ocean Road (1 & 2)
- Watching and learning about Australian football 
- Faux-surfing on a blind date

Ton Sai, Thailand Highlights:
- Lots and lots of rock climbing
- Especially deep water solo climbing!

Chaing Mai, Thailand Highlights:
- Driving around on a moped to explore the city and go climbing (1 & 2)
- Eating all the amazing food and taking a Thai cooking class

Sydney, Australia Highlights:
- Postcard perfect sightseeing 

Holidays Back Home

After being away for almost three months, we definitely started to feel the effects of being away our community. We missed everyone more than we thought. So it was especially nice that for December and the beginning of January we got to spend a lot of time with friends a family over the holiday season. Because we were officially homeless, we were kindly taken in by Katie's sister and used her place as our new home base. 

Winter Road Trip out West

Starting at the end of January we set out in our car and spent just under two months spending time with friends and family in Colorado, California, and Utah. We first drove to Colorado and spent a week with our friend Nate and his family who lives in the Denver area. We got in a few days of snowboarding with him. Next we drove out to Santa Cruz, California, and spent three weeks hanging out and climbing with our friend Becky. After that we spent two weeks with our friend Jill in Park City, Utah. And finally we returned to Colorado again where we got in some more snowboarding with my some of my family on their Spring break and then spent the rest of the week with Katie's good friend Heather in Fort Collins.  

Colorado Highlights:
- Snowboarding with Nate at Copper Mountain
- Snowboarding with my family at Granby Ranch (1 & 2) 

California Highlights:
- We went rock climbing a lot with Becky! (climbing gym, Pinnacles National Park, & Castle Rock State Park)

Utah Highlights:
- Lots of outdoor adventuring with Jill. ( hiking, snowboarding, and snowshoeing)

Europe with Family and Friends

We came up with this kind of crazy idea to tell our friends and family that we would go anywhere that they wanted to go. The idea being that some people just like to travel with others or don't have the incentive to do a trip just by themselves. This eventually led to discovering a handful of people that wanted to do some travels in Europe. So we spent the month of April doing said travels.

We first went to Madrid, Spain, with our friend Pauley for about 10 days. Next Katie and I went to Vienna, Austria, as kind of a 4 day stop-over between meeting up with others. We then continued on to Germany where we did travels with some of Katie's family. We spent a week exploring the cities of Munich, Hamburg, and Berlin. And finally we spent a week in Belgium exploring the cities of Ghent, Bruges, and Brussels with our friend Nate. Our route back to Michigan from Europe also included a quick stop in Washington DC to visit some friends. See this post for a more detailed itinerary.

Spain Highlights:
- Toledo, Spain is wonderful! 
- Katie and Pauley running a 5k in Madrid

Vienna Highlights:
- It is a very beautiful place to see and explore! 

Germany Highlights:
- Visiting the Munich Residenz
- Checking out the Miniatur Wunderland Hamburg
- Visiting Anton in Berlin!
- Attending a Bayern Munich football match in Berlin

Belgium Highlights:
- Eating, drinking, and exploring the beautiful city of Bruges as well as Brussels
- Brewery tour of Cantillon which still brews their beer the old fashioned way

Michigan in May

After our whirlwind European travels we were happy to return to Michigan for the month of May to relax. Though we did fit in a Spring rock climbing trip to Red River Gorge, Kentucky. May/June also marked being a full year into our sabbatical! 

Highlights: 
- A Michigan weekend of ska shows 
- Rock climbing trip to Red River Gorge, KY
- One full year into our sabbatical 

Family Time in Nebraska

We spent the month of June living life with my brother and his family in Lincoln, Nebraska. We really wanted to spend some time with them because we don't get to see them that often, and it had been a very long time since we got to hang out for more than a week. So while we were there we made ourselves useful and filled in a bit of childcare when needed. Most days were low key. We got to eat dinner as a family, watch ninja warrior, attend little league games/practice... you know, just live life with them. But we squeezed in some fun/adventurous stuff too.

Highlights:
- Taking our nephews rock climbing 
- Making my brother watch through all of Firefly 
- Watching my nephews play little league baseball and teaching them how to skateboard (1 & 2)

Michigan Summer

We love a Michigan summer, so it was great to be "home" for the better part of it. Our friends graciously hosted us in their guest rooms, which had the added bonus of allowing us to spend time with them each day. We visited Katie's brother in the UP, met up with friends from Honduras, did a Meijer Gardens concert, visited family in Hillsdale, celebrated our birthdays, climbed at Inside Moves, practiced the ukulele, went to the beach, and hung out with friends at cottages. We also spent time at Founders to make some life decisions about what city to live in and where to work when our sabbatical ended. 

Highlights: 
- A visit to the UP
- Birthday blind dates (1, 2, & 3)
- Taking our niece and nephew climbing in Kalamazoo 

Florida Visit

The last big trip of our sabbatical was at the end of August. We flew down to Florida and spent two weeks with Kirk who is our really good friend and an old mentor of mine. Kirk lives with his dog Basic in a nice three bedroom house in Palmetto. So again the focus was just getting a chance to live the Florida life with him since we don't get to see him very often. 

Highlights:
- Trying out TopGolf which is basically a driving range on steroids
- Helping Kirk achieve his goal of trying out stand up paddle boarding 
- Attempting to make Quad Cities style pizza

Other Summer/End of Summer Trips

We also wanted to include my mom in some of our travels, so we went with her to the Iowa State Fair and Door County, Wisconsin. And, we squeezed in yet another rock climbing trip to Red River Gorge, Kentucky, before returning to work. 

Highlights: 
- The Iowa State Fair 
- Door County, Wisconsin weekend
- Red River Gorge, KY September trip 

Tacos

And, this post would not be complete without mentioning that we ate tons of tacos throughout the entire sabbatical...a highly recommended activity regardless of place or time. Need proof? Check out all the posts with a taco-corner label. 

The Missing Parts

Assuming you made it this far in this long post, the last thing I'll mention is that I'm obviously talking about a lot of great/fun highlights of the year. But it is a bit of an unrealistic picture of the sabbatical as a whole. Not every moment, or every day, or even every week was a fun-filled, time-of-our-lives event. Some times were indeed still boring. Some were stressful. We still had moments of struggle, questions, tears, and regrets. But we learned, grew, and were able to move on. Overall we're happy with and even proud of what we chose to do. Our main goal was to be intentional about how we used our time, and we achieved that. 

When asked "Would you do a sabbatical again?" or "Would you recommend others try one?", our answer is still a resounding yes! It would probably take a different form next time. And we'd recommend to others to make a sabbatical-like-thing their own as well. But with the right expectations, planning, and effort we've found that a sabbatical can be a very beneficial and positive experience that will lead to great memories.    

Red River Gorge Rock Climbing Trip September 2016

We try to do a climbing trip at Red River Gorge, KY at least once a year. We made it in May of this year, and we just got back from another trip that spanned September 24th-27th. I believe this is the first time we've actually made it to the gorge twice in the same calendar year. 

Red River Gorgeousness! 

We never know what kind of weather we're going to get, and we lucked out this trip. Despite some fears of rain, none actually arrived. And, the weather was quite cool for Kentucky at this time of year, which was much better for climbing than the more common heat and humidity. 

We had a large group this year with me, Brandon, Matt, and Brian driving down from Michigan and Carolyn and John flying into the Cincinnati airport and then driving from there. Carolyn and John had to leave on Monday rather than Tuesday when the rest of us left. But, as they left, Steve joined us. Steve used to be a member at Inside Moves (our rock climbing gym) before moving down to Louisville, Kentucky for a firefighting job. Since moving to Kentucky he's spent much more time at the gorge and knows it well. He also climbs at much higher level than us, and it was helpful to have someone able to lead some tougher routes. 

Per tradition we did half days of climbing on Saturday and Tuesday and full days of climbing on Sunday and Monday. Our lunches consisted of the usual tortillas with peanut butter and nutella. We also ate at both Rock House and Miguel's for dinner, both of which tasted spectacular as always after a full-energy, hunger-producing day of climbing. Rather than staying at Lago Linda's, we camped at Land of the Arches as they had bunks available for Carolyn and John. That way we didn't have to squeeze more camping gear into the car or into airline baggage for them. Sleep, as usual with achy bodies and surrounding noises, was elusive. 

On Saturday afternoon, we had Carolyn and John meet us at the Lady Slipper climbing area on the Global Village wall. We waited for them to arrive and stood in line for our turn on the popular 5.6 route called Eureka. It was John's first time climbing outside, and we figured it would be a good, easy place to start. The climbing area also has a fun approach through two deep ravines and up some rock slabs. 

Brandon and I were antsy, so while we waited we checked out a 5.10a called Kentucky Pinstripe. Typically we like to warm up with an easier route than a 5.10a, but we broke our rule as Brandon led and I topped the route. We had no regrets. It turned out to be quite fun and not too tough with several places to take breaks along the way. 

Eventually we all made it up Eureka following Matt's lead. John did well for his first outdoor climb and continued that pattern throughout the trip. We were all rewarded with dinner at Rock House and setting up camp in the dark as usual. 

John climbing outside for the first time

On Sunday we did a full day of climbing in Muir Valley followed by pizza at Miguel's: 

Johnny's Wall: 

• Thanks Holly, 5.8 --led by Carolyn
• Two Chicken Butts, 5.9 --led by Brian

Tectonic Wall:

• Plate Tectonics, 5.9+/5.10a --led by Katie
• Tall Cool One, 5.9 --tag team led by Carolyn and Katie
• Fifth Bolt Faith, 5.10c --led by Brandon

Inner Sanctum Wall: 

• Neitzen Hacktivist, 5.9+ --led by Brandon
• Karmic Retribution, 5.10d --led by Katie 

I think the highlight of the day was Brandon leading the 5.10c for the first time, and doing it cleanly. His form was excellent and it paid off. 

Carolyn leading Thanks Holly, 5.8

Brandon leading Neitzen Hacktivist, 5.9+

On Monday we decided to check out the elusive Chocolate Factory Wall near the famous Motherlode. I say elusive, because we've heard many people say they've had a tough time finding the area. Unfortunately, our experience turned out to be the same. The instructions in our guidebook proved to be useless. By time we found the Chocolate Factory and narrowed in on the routes we were looking for, at least an hour had been spent wandering. We were all feeling like giving the author a piece of our minds. Steve showed up only about 5-10 minutes later and, knowing the area well, gave us cheery instructions about how he had found the place in just 5 minutes. Grrrr. Alas. Here's what we climbed: 

Chocolate Factory: 

• Augustus Gloop, 5.9 --led by Katie
• Sugar Rush, 5.10a --led by Steve
• Chocolate River, 5.9 --led by Brandon

Carolyn and John climbing slab routes right next to each other

Carolyn and John were able to climb two of these three slab routes before leaving for the Cincinnati airport. The rest of us then moved to another area of Chocolate Factory to try these routes: 

• Oompa, 5.10a --led by Brandon
• Loopma, 5.10c --led by Steve

• New route not found in the guidebook. Steve showed us the route and classified as a 5.10a --led by Steve

The day was a good mix of slab, pinchy, pumpy, overhang, and juggy climbing with both positive and negative angled walls. During a dinner at Rock House we thoroughly edited the approach instructions for the Chocolate Factory in our guidebook. Thanks for nothing, Ray Ellington. 

For our half day on Tuesday we returned to Muir Valley taking advantaged of our valley floor parking pass. We climbed the following: 

The Great Arch: 

• Dyn-o-mite, 5.9 --led by Katie
• Black Powder, 5.10a --led by Brandon
• Lip Service, 5.11c --led by Steve 

We had done the 5.9 and 5.10a before, but the exciting part was that this time both Brandon and I led them cleanly and with ease. This was especially impressive as it was the last day, and we're usually quite tired by then. It felt good to realize that our climbing skills had improved over the past years. 

I tried the 5.11c, but the beginning of the route required moves over three pumpy roofs that my body was no longer capable of on the last day. Brandon proudly was able to complete the route with some problem solving. It was the first 5.11c he had ever topped outside. 

And that was the end of our September climbing trip. We broke camp and said farewell to Steve. We then made the trip home listening to Ready Player One to make the long drive more bearable. Despite the distance and the fatigue, we're already looking toward another trip next Spring. 

Merriment and Eisley

In September, we had a chance to see Merriment and Eisley play at Pyramid Scheme in Grand Rapids. Eisley was the headliner, and a third band we had never heard of and Merriment opened. I was super excited, because I'd never seen either Merriment or Eisley live before, though Brandon had. It was also an affordable show put on by Fusion Shows which doesn't charge the exorbitant fees that Ticketmaster does. 

The bands Merriment and Eisley have an interesting connection. They both consist of various members from the same family. Eisley was started by the three eldest sisters and a brother, and Merriment began later featuring the youngest sister and brother. Brandon and I really like sibling bands as their voices tend to meld together beautifully, likely due to their genetic connection. For example, as a side note, we also love Lily & Madeleine, a sister duo from Indiana.   

Merriment was an absolutely lovely opener. It was more of an acoustic set featuring the youngest sister, Christie. The songs were a mix of new and old and she had a sweet, unassuming stage presence. I loved it. 

Merriment on the stage

When Eisley took the stage next, we discovered the cast of the band had changed quite a bit. Two of the three usual sisters were not present. Instead it was just Sherri and then Christie (whom we had just seen as Merriment). A Wikipedia search after the show indicated that the other two sisters are now more involved in their husband's bands. 

Eisley's music is of a harder style than Merriment's, so it took some time to adjust to seeing Christie play first in sweet-sounding Merriment and then do an about face to sing in harder-sounding Eisley. Eisley wasn't the same without the normal cast of sisters and the band also seemed to have some trouble remembering all the lyrics to the songs. We were willing to cut them some slack and just enjoy being there. But, in the end, we were much more impressed by Merriment's show. 

Eisley in its new form

I should also mention that we found Pyramid Scheme to be a great venue for the show. It wasn't too big or too small and they had a lot of great craft beer on tap. The crowd was respectful of the show and supportive of the bands. And, the show was done by 11:15pm, which I think is great timing. As I age, any show that lasts to or past midnight feels exhausting. So, overall, it was a great night to get out, have some fun together, appreciate music, and check out a great Grand Rapids venue. 

A Thank You Blind Date

As a thank you to Adam and Rachel for hosting us in our homelessness once again, we took them out to dinner. Adam and Rachel are aware of our tradition of blind dates, and Rachel took us up on our offer to make our evening out similar to a blind date. It was a lot of fun. And, I think Rachel had enough fun that Adam is going to have to plan a blind date for her in the future. 

Rachel in the car waiting for the blind date to commence

We started out by driving to one of our favorite dinner spots in Holland, the Itty Bitty Bar. They call themselves a "five star dive bar", which we feel is pretty accurate. It's a bar setting, but the food is nothing like what you would expect from a bar. 

Adam giving Rachel instruction and leading her into the restaurant

Brandon secretively ordered our favorite appetizer for all of us, so that, despite not being blindfolded, Adam would have a surprise too. Rachel kept the blindfold on as Adam ordered a surprise entree for her. She continued to be a great sport and tried the appetizer and a cider without having her sense of sight either. After she guessed the appetizer and drink correctly, we let her take the blindfold off for the rest of our time at the restaurant. It was a tough guessing game as well as the appetizer was a rather complicated and unexpected combination: Garlic mashed potato, pulled pork, and goat cheese quesadilla topped with an apple, jalapeno chutney. Delicious. 

Trying the surprise appetizer

We all enjoyed our entrees and had a great time conversing throughout dinner. It was so fun to share one of our favorite Holland spots with friends. After dinner wrapped up, we had one more place to go in Holland. Rachel put her blindfold back on, and after a short drive we led her out of the car and onto the beach. We let her take her blindfold off pretty quickly to let her see the sunset. 

Adam and Rachel at the beach at sunset

We then all took a little beach walk to the end of the pier and enjoyed being at the lake. Lake Michigan and Holland were definitely putting on a beautiful show that evening. 

Picturesque sunset complete with seagulls and sailboats 

And that was our thank you blind date. Thanks again Adam and Rachel. We hope you had as lovely of an evening as we did. 

My First Bouldering Competition

Brandon and I recently did a bouldering competition at CrossFit Soaring Ledge in Holland. Brandon has done several comps, but this was my first. We had climbed once before at Soaring Ledge when it first opened in Holland, but we weren't impressed with the power-heavy setting style. So, we approached this comp with some hesitancy. As a physical therapist, I am also, for the most part, not a fan of CrossFit. So, entering a CrossFit gym and immediately seeing a banner advertising a chiropractic office was also a bit of a turn off. 

However, we ended up enjoying the boulder comp quite a bit. The setting style was impressively varied and skillful, and our fellow competitors were friendly. The comp started out with 18 boulder problems with difficult level increasing from problem 1 to problem 18. As difficulty increased, the points available increased. If the boulder problem was completed on the first try, the climber could take the max amount of points for the problem. A second try resulted in a point deduction. Three tries resulted in a further deduction, but once you reached three tries or more the point level remained the same. This was nice as it encouraged climbers to keep trying difficult problems without severe penalties. We all had 1.5 hours to work on the 18 problems. It was a free-for-all, and the climbs could be completed in any order desired. There were only about 20 competitors, so there wasn't much wait to work on the boulder routes. 

I performed very well in this portion of the competition, and I paced myself well. I even managed to complete problem 14, though 15-18 were near impossible for me. Many of the problems I got on the first time, which secured me more points. When the 1.5 hour were up and the scores were tallied, I was third place for the women (and not far behind 1st and 2nd place) and eighth overall. Exciting! Brandon had a rougher go of it due to a finger injury earlier in the week, but he persevered. 

Me pulling a pretty impressive, balance move on boulder problem #14 

After a break and a hot dog lunch, the second portion of the competition began. Three new boulder problems of increasing difficulty were set up. Each competitor had each boulder problem to themselves for 4 minutes to try to solve it while everyone else looked on. Competitors were given 4 minute rests between each of the three problems as well. If you couldn't make it to the top of the problem for the full point value, you could still collect points by touching a "bonus hold" about halfway up. 

The three new boulder problems were tough, especially after being worn from 1.5 hours of boulder in the first portion of the comp. The best that Brandon and I did was make it to the bonus hold on the first of the three problems. It was rather discouraging, but we consoled ourselves with knowing that we had done better in the first round. Many other climbers also had a difficult time with the new problems, but it was fun to watch some really impressive climbers complete or get close to completing each of the problems. 

Brandon moving past the bonus hold on the first of the three new problems

With a poorer performance in the second round, our rankings didn't change much. I stayed at third place for the women, which was still an accomplishment. Overall we did quite well for Soaring Ledge not being our home gym and for this being my first comp ever. I think we would do another comp at some point, though probably only once or twice a year. It was definitely fun to have 18+ new problems to work through at once. I like challenging myself, but I don't love feeling like I have to compete against other climbers. 

Door County Wisconsin

During the second weekend of September we met up again with my mom to fit in one more adventure with her before our sabbatical ended. We again let her choose somewhere she had been wanting to go, and she picked Door County Wisconsin. Katie and I too had heard great things from friends and family alike about that area, so it was an easy sell to us. We were not disappointed!

Door County Explorers

Day 1

Our first day was pretty low key because a good chunk of it was spent in a car. Katie and I drove in from Michigan. My mom drove in from the Quad Cities. Katie and I arrived first so we made a run to the grocery store in Sturgeon Bay before heading to our place for the weekend. 

We again found a place through Airbnb, and we once again lucked out with a great place. It was a nice little cabin on the Idlewild Peninsula which dipped into the Sturgeon Bay. I think most people that visit Door County stay further north or at least in Sturgeon Bay the city, but this place worked out perfect for us. It had two bedrooms, a nice living room where we sat and played games/listened to old records, and cute kitchen where we were able to make dinner our first night. 

We could see the Sherwood Point Lighthouse from our place

Our cute abode for the long weekend

The nicely decorated kitchen

Our bedroom was very patriotically decorated 

It was tempting to just call it an early night given the long drives we all had, but we decided to at least explore a little bit. So we drove over to Sturgeon Bay and checked out their downtown shops. The highlight of the area for me was the artistic benches placed along the streets.

Mom sampling a very wide selection of olive oils and balsamic vinegars 

All the dressings looked so tasty

These made me think of Katie for some reason

A bench made out of sewing machine parts 

Katie and mom by another colorful artistic bench

Exploring the tip of the Idlewild peninsula where we were staying 

Ending the night with dinner paired with our favorite Wisconsin beer

Day 2

After an extensive guide and map studying session the night before, we decided that for our first full day out we would drive up the west side of the Door County peninsula. We drove along Bay Shore Drive up to Egg Harbor and then made our way to Fish Creek, Sister Bay, Elison Bay, and even all the way to end of the line at Northport. It started out as a pretty stormy day, but there were a lot of shops along this route that we wanted to check out that would also double as cover from the rain. 

One of the main things we wanted to check out was a pottery place where a friend of the family had some of his work on display. My mom had hoped there was a chance we could run into him as well, but that didn't work out. But we did get to see his pottery as well as several other artists' work as well. It really put to shame the pottery Katie and I created with some friends earlier this year.

Off the Wheel Pottery

The gallery was just as lovely as the art it was displaying

Our family friend's work

More of his work

The outside of one of the galleries

We then moved onto more shops. There were lots of clothes, toys, and other touristy things. But about half or more of the places were selling at least some form of canned or jarred food like jams and salsa. So we were pretty much able to sample our way up the coast. It was like heaven for me.

Wood Orchard Market, a pretty popular place to stop

So many samples!

The outside of Orchard Country Winery

Katie and I enjoying our free wine samples

Another must stop for my mom was finding another friend of the family's shop here at the Top of the Hill shops

We found their shop which was called What Next?

Katie and I goofed around outside while my mom explored the other shops in the area

We grabbed a late lunch/early dinner in Sister Bay at the famous Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant. We picked eating there because we had heard that they keep goats on their grass roof, but it was too stormy that day for them to be up and out. But the food was still good and fun to try.

Our Swedish cuisine

Katie braving the storm to explore

Choppy waters

The windy road leading to Northport.
We did not take this photo, but you can see how much the road purposefully winds for either fun driving, pretty photos, or both

Island Orchard Cider, where we stopped for free hard cider samples

Their cider brewing equipment

Katie exploring the cider selection

The scenic Ellison Bluff

Me and mom trying out the highly recommended Wilsons ice cream in Ephraim

Catching the sunset back near our place after a very full day

Day 3

For our second full day, we drove up the east side of Door County. The weather started out perfect. We saw lots of bikers out for the Door County Century Ride event going on that weekend. I think they were all extremely pleased with the weather as well. Luckily we were almost always going the opposite direction of their route so we never had to deal with passing long lines of bicyclists. 

We started out at Cave Point County Park. I had heard rumors there was a place there we could cliff jump into water, so it was a must stop for us. It was a super lovely park. The cliffs weren't too high but still really pretty to look at. 

The Cave Point County Park cliffs

Looking contemplative

Katie doing some easy bouldering

We're pretty sure this is where we could jump in or at least play/swim around

The day was so perfect weather wise that we thought for sure that if we went and got in some of the other things we wanted to do for the day that we could return and spend more significant chunk of time playing the waters. So after climbing on the rocks for bit we headed onto Baileys Harbor to check out their farmers market.

Some cool driftwood ships for sale

Llama promoting llama products

I got some Wisconsin cheese curds

Katie of course found a park with swings

The park also had thee coolest drinking fountain ever!

After the farmers market we checked out the beer scene at Door County Brewing Company. We then drove back up to Sister Bay to check out the shops in more sunny conditions with the hopes the goats would be on the roof. They were! 

Flight at Door County Brewing Company

#GoatsOnARoof 

We then drove down to Egg Harbor again to grab lunch and stop at just a couple of the shops we really liked. We grabbed lunch at a Natural Food store that looked like it had good smoothies and sandwiches. After Egg Harbor we headed back to Cave Point to spend the rest of the afternoon playing in the water. Sadly our plans did not work out. By that time the wind had picked up, making the waters too choppy to swim in. I was extremely extremely bummed. But we made the most of it, and Katie and I hiked along the cliffs enjoying the mist spray from the waves crashing against the cliffs.

The choppy waters that prevented our plans to swim

Moonrise Kingdom pose

Senior photo pose

After our hike we made our way back to Sturgeon Bay for dinner at Sonny's Pizzeria. Luckily we beat the rush. We got seated right away but by the time we left it was over an hour wait. We then explored the pier a bit and took some photos of the bay. Afterward I took everyone to a skatepark we drove by and I attempted to be cool and skate. But sadly there were lots of young hooligans there being rowdy and skating better than me, so we didn't stay very long due to my embarrassing performance.  

Our shadows back in Sturgeon Bay

Day 4

Our last day was also low key. We had long drives ahead of us. So we took our time getting up in the morning, had a nice breakfast, cleaned up the place, and then headed out. We did make one stop before parting ways with my mom. We had to stop at one of the touristy Wisconsin cheese shops. It is a must do for any Wisconsin trip, especially one to Door County. So we stopped at Renard's Cheese. The samples were quite frankly amazing. Good enough that we had to pick up our favorite: the Farmers With Pesto cheese.

Me and mom with a mouse whose name must be Renard

One last group selfie before parting ways

The last thing Katie and I had to do on our trip home was pick up New Glarus beer. You can't buy it outside of Wisconsin. So stopped at a grocery store (which didn't have everything we needed) and eventually a liquor store to track down a twelve pack of canned Spotted Cow and some more of that cherry Wisconsin Belgium Red for us and a friend. 

And that was our time in Door County!