Back to the Island

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Added: Sat Jul 26th 12:23pm
Posted in: Living

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With just a week to go before my new-college-graduate daughter moves a few states away, we jumped on the idea of taking a quick trip back to Washington Island.  We had vacationed for years there when all four kids were small, renting a vacation cottage on the island which is located in Lake Michigan off the tip of the Door County peninsula in Wisconsin.  Our last trip back as a family had been a long eight years ago. 

Long range organizational skills are not my long suit...but I take to spur-of-the-moment stuff like a duck to water.  So only four or five days after we'd booked a room for a night at the Sunset Resort, we were on a familiar ferry boat crossing the six mile wide channel known as "Death's Door," and heading back to the land of wonderful memories.  The island is a beautiful place, quiet, serene, far removed from both the mainland and all sense of routine.  Driving around we found that some things, like the Art and Nature Center hadn't changed at all.  Others had.  The sandy beach where we'd spent so many lazy days eating picnic sandwiches and Doritos under the shade of a birch tree and looking for shells and rocks had been crowded at the shoreline by vegetation.  And some of our favorite shops had changed hands or locations. 

But other surprises were delightful.  While the Vagabond gift shop had relocated and downsized to the other side of the island, in its place we found a marvelous Irish pub/restaurant/art gallery called the "Fiddler's Green."  And the Sunset Resort  was a priceless find.  After a day of sightseeing and wading and shopping and skipping stones, we closed out the evening watching the setting sun fall from our seats on a wooden swing on a beautifully manicured lawn looking out over Lake Michigan.  The Icelandic pancakes for breakfast the next morning were delicious.

Time passed too quickly, and we were headed home the next day, the ferry ride a little rougher, and wind a little more bracing, the skies just as blue.  I'm sure this won't be the last trip back.

To read more about Washingon Island, turn to...The Island.  And here's a few photos for an introduction...