Winter in Door County – Day Trip to Cave Point

Winter in Wisconsin seems to never end… It’s March and it snowed yesterday and the forecast isn’t going to get above 38 for at least another 10 days… So when the boyfriend wanted to go to Door County for a day trip, I was hesitant. But after getting to Cave Point Park and getting out of the car, what I saw took my breath away. I’m learning about all of the gems of Wisconsin (making lemons out of lemonade?) and I like what I see.

Upon walking up to the water, all you see is a vast expanse of water and thousands of tiny glaciers.

I loved the colors in the spectrum here. Teal blue and evergreen, with a touch of icy blue-gray.

The view was amazing, and don’t worry, safe. I really wanted to see a penguin, but I know that’s an unrealistic thing to ask of Wisconsin.

This lonely glacier (about the size of a refrigerator) was bouncing back and forth off of the cliff. How cool would it be to explore down there in the summer?

My tour guide amongst the cliffs and the ice. I climbed down to let the wind roll around me and just soaked up the view. I didn’t even notice it was cold that day.

If it’s this gorgeous in the winter, Cave Point must be really amazing in the summer…

The fog got thicker the farther back the water line went back. It was gorgeous, and the pictures don’t do it justice.

We also visited the exterior of a little abandoned house known as “The Mushroom House.” Should I be telling you this if it’s abandoned and probably private? Well, I didn’t go inside or take or ruin anything. I was doing a “study in Architecture.” Or so I liked to think of it as. How COOL would it be to fix this place up?

I’m sure whoever designed this was, well, probably not clear of mind. But it’s a neat little hobbit hole.

What was your favorite outdoor winter adventure? This is at the top of my list, for sure. Even though the mid-west is icy cold, it helps you appreciate the difference in seasons when you get to feel the changes in temperature. Happy exploring!

Trip to Door County

Last weekend, I dove into the shark tank that is a tourist town on a holiday weekend, Door County, Wisconsin. Such towns include Egg Harbor, Sister Bay, and Bailey’s Harbor. Quiet and quaint in the spring and fall, these towns swarm with tourists and locals in the summer season. Parking spaces are hard to find, and the air smells of cookouts, sweet corn, and salt water. Here’s a little bit from my little trip.

Here’s a little map to get you acquainted:

We drove from Green Bay, only about a half hour from Sturgeon Bay.

We took a detour from Green Bay to Door County in Algoma, to peek at the pink lighthouse, and get some sand in our toes.

Welcome to the beach!

Egg Harbor has a gorgeous little harbor with those little telescopes you put a quarter in so you can see the sailboats on the horizon. I recommend stopping in the local organic grocery store, Greens and Grains, and have lunch at Shipwrecked.

I loved the look of this building in Egg Harbor.

Hello! If this doesn’t make you want to eat BBQ, I don’t know what will.

Stop in Fish Creek to visit the boutique “Brilliant Stranger” for one of a kind hand made clothes and accessories, and grab a coffee at Luna, right next door.

One of my favorite T-Shirts we saw at Brilliant Stranger.

Right across the street from Luna is the adorable Door County Confectionary.

I love this “Love” blanket I saw at Luna.  After leaving Fish Creek, we decided to drive up the coast for a bit, soaking up the sights, and driving with the windows down. We turned around to try to find some dinner on the way back.

With the night winding down, it was time to grab some dinner! Yelp is a great app to find out where to eat based on budget, reviews, and menu, depending on what you’re in the mood for. There’s a place in Sister Bay called Al Johnson’s that has goats on the roof that got rave reviews for breakfast, by the way. Oddly enough, I just wanted to go home and order a pizza, so that’s exactly what we did. Happy travels!

Daydreaming of: Rooftops

Ever since I was little I’ve loved the idea of sitting in a window late at night with a cup of tea and looking over rows of moonlit rooftops. I know you can only accomplish this from a higher level in a building, and typically in a bigger city. Maybe I should just do a painting of rooftops, and hang them all over the place, so I always have one to look at. Here’s a few of my favorites.

 I completely blame movies like 101 Dalmations, Peter Pan, and Mary Poppins for my love of rooftops.

Mary Poppins,

… and Peter Pan.

I would love to see this out of my window. Especially at night.

This is a sketch I saw on Etsy one time. I love this style of house. Chicago? London? Paris? I would go to any of those places.

This picture from one of my favorite Paris Blogs, Prêt à Voyager, has tips and tricks on relocating to and living in Paris.

Paris, again. So much to see!

This rooftop is absolutely lovely.

I found this one on Paris’s Craigslist posting about an apartment. It was advertised as “this could be the view out of your window!” Not too shabby.

Maybe someday I will find an apartment with a rooftop where I can have my tea, look out over the neighbors, and read a book.

Happy Daydreaming!

Travel: The Homy Inn in Omaha, Nebraska

Looking back today on a trip we took almost a year ago to Omaha Nebraska, one of my favorite places was the Homy Inn in Omaha Nebraska. Not an actual Inn, but a dive bar on a side street, where the champagne flowed on tap, the salty popcorn was free, and newspapers chronicling past events were plastered on the walls like newspaper. If you are in the neighborhood, I recommend it.

The Homy Inn, where champagne dreams come true.

Old beer trays were screwed to the ceiling displaying some of our favorites.

The deer head on the wall was styling with a red wig and hat.

Panorama of the bar that shows of it’s ambiance of being a fantastic little dive bar. Image Credit.

While we were there, some genius sprayed himself in the eyes with some girl’s keychain pepper spray, while sitting by the open front door and in turn, slowly pepper sprayed the rest of us in the bar. That’s one way to clear a place out. Well, at least we drank a pitcher of champagne first.

Happy travels!

Daydreaming of an Adventure

I’m sitting here in a house that i’m watching for some clients (it comes equipt with 2 teenagers!) and I’m daydreaming about selling all of my things, (minus the new car) and packing it full of just the things I love and moving to a warmer location, where life is simple, I can live in a 500 sq ft studio, loving my job, my neighbors, my local farmer’s market, with great friends and having my family visit. Is that odd? That i’m 29 and willing to scrap everything for a re-do? My mother did it every year, and I hated it. She would up and move us to a new house, new neighborhood, new friends, and new school. Making my total 13 schools by High School graduation. Granted I don’t have children, and wouldn’t do that to my kids. But while I DON’T have kids, everyone is always telling me to move somewhere warm, leave Green Bay, do what you love. Why not?

I just dream of a simple life. Somewhere warm where I can take a bike to work, help people with their organizational problems, hit the flea market and eat lunch outside more than 4 months out of the year and be… happy. You know, the point of life. Where is this place, you ask? I don’t know. But when I find it, i’ll be blogging to you in the sun, in February.

This is my new car. I love it! It belongs with a surf board. Why would I deny my car what it belongs with?

Is it the San Francisco area I belong in? Maybe. Although I would have to work my buns off just to live in a studio apartment. A closet rents for $900 there. Yikes. Although it would be gorgeous, and there would be tons to do.

Is it Portland? Who knows. They aren’t as warm as California, but they have a very laid back lifestyle that I also have. Very liberal, lots of culture (in a good way) and close to the coast.

Is it Charleston, South Carolina? Maybe. I love the historic nature of the city, and it seems like the less sweaty version of Savannah, Georgia, where I’ve always wanted to visit. It has a population of 115K, which is good, but a higher crime rate than the national average, which is bad. The humidity levels are kind of high, but the winters stay around 40 degrees, and I can handle that.

What do you think? What is your ideal city? Happy day dreaming!