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| Finny having a ball at Whitefish Dunes, Door County |
So we decided to ask Finny's brother's mommy, Christine, if we could borrow Nemo for our camping trip to Door County so that Finny would have a playmate. Fortunately, Christine, was kind enough to let us take her gentle guy for a few days.
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| Nemo resting next to Stafford First stop, Green Bay. The brothers wanted to see their other brother, Tundra. They will all see each other at the end of the month at Sammyrama, the annual Samoyed Rescue reunion, but as long as we were passing through, why not break up the trip with a little rough and tumble with Tundra? |
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Finny, get off your brother!
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I slept through what Stafford says was the most constant lightening and thunder he's ever experienced. Apparently there were two tornadoes that touched down not far from Keith and Carolyn's home. A man at the campground later that day said that the lightening went on for so long that he thought he was having a retinal detachment. Glad I missed it.
We arrived at Bailey's Harbor in mid-afternoon due to our usual late start on any camping trip.
I loved our campground - clean bathrooms, free hot showers, and complimentary coffee in the morning and popcorn. And you can't beat the starry sky at night.
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| This new gas-guzzling beast hauls the camper much more easily than the mini-van. Admittedly I feel pretty bad-ass in it. If only people knew how not-bad-ass I am and that my other car is a Prius. |
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Staff coming back from the beach where he had to check out the wind conditions for kitesurfing. From his expression, it looks like it's a no-kiting day.
We were only staying from Wednesday afternoon until Friday morning, so I was anxious to get the fun started. As an outdoor enthusiast, I think there are loads of physical activities and beautiful spots in Door County. So it can be hard to decide where to begin. The lack of wind on Wednesday made it a perfect day for stand-up paddle boarding, or SUPing. Fortunately, we had packed our SUPs, but unfortunately we forgot to pack the paddles. Not much good without them. Fortunately, an outdoor store in downtown Bailey's Harbor kindly let us use their paddles, $25 for 24 hours. Stafford's luck pulled us through a tough spot once again. I imagined a lazy paddle along the shores of Bailey's Harbor. Staff had something different in mind. My husband does not do anything half-assed, and slow and easy are generally not his style. He convinced me to paddle ACROSS THE ENTIRE HARBOR. To be fair, when I say he "convinced me" I really mean that he just asked, "How about we paddle to that peninsula on the other side?" It didn't look that far from the beach. Well, I should know that water tends to add an optical illusion, so something that looks not that far is really about 3 miles away. About halfway across, I started getting hunger pains, my upper back and arms were achy and my low back on the right side was developing a cramp from bending over. I forgot to mention that the outdoor store gave me a child-sized paddle, hence, the lower back pain. It was actually very peaceful when I wasn't feeling sorry for my sore hungry self. The waves started to pick up a little about mid-way across. The scene at the end of the movie, A Perfect Storm, came to mind where Marky Mark is bobbing up and down among the huge waves. (Our waves in Bailey's Harbor were tiny, more like those created in the wake of a speedboat, but my mind is prone to exaggeration.) The shoreline across the harbor is a jagged and rocky peninsula that creates a natural breakwater. That's what I prefer to do on the SUP, explore shorelines or interesting land formations that are hard to get to on foot. On our trip earlier this summer to Petenwell Lake, I paddled close to shore and saw a bald eagle looking down at me, possibly sizing me up for a snack. I was struck by how majestic and strong she looked up on her branch. Such a beautiful creature. But I digress... You get to see things close up on a SUP that you can't see from shore very well, like the seagulls diving into the water for fish in the middle of the bay. There was a cluster of them flying in circles and then straight down as they spotted their prey, and they didn't seem to be worried as I approached them. I wondered if I was going to paddle right through their dinner party, but at the last minute they flew off. We survived our SUPing expedition, but admittedly I was pretty sore for the next three days. Later that evening, we headed over to Fish Creek for a visit to my favorite childhood confectionery store. The old-fashioned tub filled with salt water taffy is still there, and I bought some of the soft chewy candy in honor of my Dad, his favorite.
 
Flowers-Quintessential Door County
The harbor in Fish Creek
Look over this way, boys! Mommy's trying to take your picture! |
Sunset in Fish Creek
The next day brought warm sunny temperatures in the 70's again with only a slight breeze, not enough for kiting but perfect for a day at the beach. Whitefish Dunes beach has a dog beach, which sounded perfect. The plan was to take doggies down to the beach, get them good and tired and then we would go out on the SUPs, this time just laying on them and paddling with our arms because we had returned the paddles to the outdoor shop. Despite the fact that the dog beach was an almost 15 minute hike from the parking lot, Nemo and Finny managed to find some energy to play.
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| I don't know whose ball that is. Finny must have stolen it from the brown doggy nearby. |
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| Uh-oh...I think that grass might be protected plant life. |
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| The boys ran up and down the beach like this for about an hour. |
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| You know that sand is coming directly into our trailer.
One more stop before returning home- Potowatomi State Park. Wow, such rustic beauty! I can't believe we had never camped there before. We had to stop to take in this view from a bluff.
We are so grateful to Christine for letting Nemo join us on our first trip without Yuki and Cloudy. Although his calm demeanor didn't really rub off on Finny, the brothers had a great time together, and that's all that matters. 
Nemo
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