Day 3 - Washington Island

We woke in the morning and decided to go to Al Johnson's for breakfast.  Their trademark "The place with the goats on the roof" always leaves the kids astounded. We went early as the place fills up quickly and had a great breakfast.  From there we decided to travel North to Washington Island.  We have never been there before and planned to spend 2 days. The water was beautiful and calm as we headed to Shipyard Island Marina.  Lou, the harbormaster helped us into a nice slip that was across the street from "The Red Barn" and next to a small public beach.

We decided we were going to head to the downtown area to see what Washington Island was all about.  I must be honest, it was not what I expected and was underwhelmed with what I found.  We rode our bikes down the county roads all 4 of us on our own bike which in the beginning seemed like a huge mistake.  Pierce learned to ride a bike (barely) last summer, but has been getting better and better, so we thought why not bring his bike along as opposed to the tag along.  Well, after much whining, crying and a whole lotta "I CAN'T!" we made it to the downtown area (about 3 miles from our slip.)  We were going to stop for lunch but Paul encourages us to keep pushing on to the rock beach.  His rationale was that it was only 1 more mile and there was food close by.  So we kept on treading... up hill and made it to the famous rock beach called School House Beach.  Apparently it is one of 5 in the world with smooth stones.  We are having so much luck on our annual vacations that we have now seen 2 of the 5 over the last 4 years. Determined Peyton even managed to find sand after digging through the rocks.

I was disheartened when I saw that there was not any restaurants near the beach so after a little while there we decided to trek back to the downtown and stopped at a roadside restaurant for a quick lunch and then started back to the marina.  Overall, Pierce managed to make it 8 miles, which ended up being a great opportunity for him to get more comfortable on his bike.

We swam at the nearby beach for a little while in the afternoon and then ate at a wonderful restaurant that was right next to the marina.  The food was absolutely fantastic at Sailors Pub!  Hard to believe there is a 4 star restaurant on Washington island, and while a bit pricey, was definitely delicious.  When we arrived at the marina we noticed people working in the restaurant starting at around 11AM but the restaurant did not open until 5pm.  Come to find out they are only open to 8pm, after a nice waitress informed us that "this wasn't Chicago!"

Boys Doing Flips on the Beach!

Beautiful Sunset at Dinner at Sailor's Pub!

Day 2- Horseshoe Island

When we woke up in the morning everything was very quiet. The night was still and calm my only complaint was the heat. We did not run the generator be cause all week it had been getting very cool at night, but this night did not seem to get as cool. I had woke up through-out the night a bit uncomfortable from the stuffiness, but all and all was not that bad. It may have been the fact Scott and I stayed up late with the fire scavenging for fire wood and make bad decisions with both the fire and consumption of adult beverages...

The next morning we picked the bottles and cans out of the fire that we thought was a good idea to put in there the night before, took a few ibuprofen for the other bad decisions and went for a hike around the island. Grace and Peyton stayed back for some fishing. Grace forgot her tennis shoes so all she had was flip flops not the best for hiking. Plus, Peyton and Pierce just made the hike the day before. There is a trail on the island that is 1k around the entire island. It was a fun little walk and allowed us all to see the sights from the entire island.

After our walk we decided to go to Little Sister Bay to Fred and Fuzzy's resort for lunch. In order to get this done we had to get showered and ready for the day. Scott and I soaped up and did a lake bath. Jill showered on the swim platform as she was not going for the cool morning dip! It was decided to leave Liming (Scott and Jill's boat) on the island and take one boat over due to the shortage of space at Fred and Fussy's, so we all jumped on Always Starboard and were on our way to get some famous fried green beans (our favorite item on the menu).

Upon our return we parted ways with the Derosier's and started our way to Sister Bay as our first port of call on our trip for Friday night. We thought we had never been there before by water, but then quickly remembered being there with our 248 fourwinns and getting stranded with engine problems. Maybe that was why we removed this port from our memory.

The boys had fun at the little beach just next to the marina where they jumped of the break-wall and played in the sand even though the sand was filled with some larger stones. After some beach time we went to dinner, some ice cream and came back to the boat for the night.

Summer 2014 Summer Boat Trip -

This year for our annual vacation we decided to keep it a bit local. Our plan was to have our boat in Sturgeon Bay for the remainder of the season starting at the beginning of August. In the past few years we have left our boat in Sturgeon Bay for an extended time after our trip due to the water conditions on Winnebago after the end of July. 

Our destination was our favorite marina in Sturgeon Bay, Centerpointe Marina. The boat had been there for a couple of weeks prior to our trip. When we arrived at Centerpointe around 10am Thursday Morning we had to do some last min provisioning. Along with that the canvas had a few bad seams so I had it fixed at one of the local shops that morning as well. 

After last years big water trip where the family swore not to do another trip due to the wind and weather, we were tweaking our plan. For the first night the plan was to go stay on the hook at Nicolet Bay or Horseshoe island. Our friends the Derosier's went with us up to our first spot. We swam at Nicolet Bay and took t he dinghy to the beach and enjoyed the afternoon. Weather and waves were not an issue on this day it was beautiful. 

As the day was winding down Peyton and Grace swam to the boat and got some money to buy all the kids ice cream from the beach concession stand. After that we all went back to the boat and went across the bay to horseshoe island for the night. 

The kids gathered wood while the adults made a nice dock side steak dinner. During that time both Peyton and Pierce walked all over the island and had a great little adventure in the woods on their own.