Door County, WI 2011

So, here it is, as promised!  Nate and I got back from Ellison Bay in Door County, WI yesterday.  It was such a great relaxing vacation neither of us wanted it to end! We stayed with Nate's parents, Nancy and Steve, in their cabin on the Green Bay side of the Door County penninsula.  Orginally we went up because it is the annual salmon fishing tournament....but it turned out that fishing was pretty terrible this year.  We went out almost every day (days that weren't too windy we went out twice!) and only caught 3 fish.  Apparently they usually get 3 or so every time they go out.  Nate and I also did some bass fishing in the bay and caught some good ones there too (but let them go....).  The sunsets were all beautiful and we had a great time hanging out with some awesome people!!! I seriously can't wait to go back! 

We left North Liberty Friday after work and drove to Madison and stayed at an iffy (at best) but cheap motel.  Then we drove the rest of the way in the morning, got all our lisences and tags and tickets and got up there asap!  Nancy and Steve had gotten there Friday night and slept in the boat since the people renting the cabin were still there one more night.  We got everything unloaded and I met everyone who was already up there. 

Nate and I (really just Nate...) had a list of restaurants we wanted to definitely visit so we got to work on that as well!  Hmm, the short list of places we ate is Al Johnsons, The Shoreline, JJ's, Summer Kitchen, and The English Inn.  We also visted Cana Island Lighthouse and saw Harry Potter and Horrible Bosses at the Drive-In one night;) Anyway, I"ll get on with the pictures!

Nate is getting reaquainted with his Wisconsin friends, haha;) These little guys are kids of people Nate and his family always vacationed with in Ellison Bay.

Sunset the first night. It was always a "to do" to see the sunset!

Our private harbor and pier.

The Seagull, Nate's parents' cabin

The grounds. Shuffleboad courts, fire pit, and other cabins in the resort.

The chairs we watched the sunset from. Picturesque, huh?!?

A look at the resort from the pier.

Steve's, Nate's dad, boat and boat slip.

Nate and I took the boat out by ourselves when Steve had to go back and help at work for a couple days. Captain Nate was getting a little hot....

Sunset the night Nate and I took the boat out.

Looking up at the main entrance to the restaurant Al Johnsons. It is a swedish restaurant and they had wonderful breakfast food! They also have grass on the roof with goats grazing, haha!

At the Drive-In watching Harry Potter and Horrible Bosses. Great Night.

The first salmon! It was only about a 12 pounder, I think....

I guess Nate decided he needed to show everyone how the slip and slide is done!

Our nightly "chill" by the fire.

Not a very flattering picture of me, and the fish is apparently not a good one to eat, but I forgot my camera the first time we went out when I caught a couple good small mouth bass. Oh well!

Friday night dinner at The English Inn. We went with Steve and Nancy (Nate's parents) and it was soooo good!  They have 5 different kinds of fish to choose from for their all-you-can-eat fish fry. Needless to say,we were stuffed.

Sunset on Friday night, I believe.

lounging in the chairs at the end of the pier watching the sun set.

Finally, a good salmon! This one was 19.98 pounds, so basically a 20 pounder! However, the guy weighing in his fish right before us weighed in at 32 pounds....damn. But Nate thinks that guy will win the tournament with that fish....oh well, I'll settle for 20 pounds of salmon!

Visiting the Summer Kitchen for some great soups and sandwiches

Inside at the Summer Kitchen

A very windy storm suddenly came up as we were watching the sunset Saturday night. Almost everyone at the resort had left earlier that day except us (rentals are from Saturday to Saturday) so we were running around trying to secure everything!

There was a little bit of a "sache" (I think that's how it's spelled).  Its when the barometric pressure drops suddenly and it sucks the water out and the water level drops really low in the harbor. Then it basically rises quckly and floods.  The one this day wasn't too bad, but Nate and his parents told me a story of one awhile ago when it put all the boats up on the pier, yikes!

Here is the Cana Island Lighthouse Nate and I visited Sunday after his parens left for home.  It had some good historical info that we toured but we didn't go all the way to the top because you had to have on close toed shoes....oh well.

Then we stopped by Ellison Bay State Park and walked to the overlook onto the bay.

The sunset on our last night. It was absolutely beautiful!

The stairs down to the beach that Nate and his dad built this week. There always had to be a project;)