July 29, 2015
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Whirlwind Vacation
Last week my cousin Ginny from northern California flew into my area. Her plane landed around 9:30 on Tuesday night and twelve hours later we were in the van and on our way to Wisconsin to visit our cousin Debbi. We didn't dawdle on the road because Debbi is a half-year resident of Washington Island and we had a ferry to catch. We pulled up to the ferry dock a half-hour before the last ferry, making it onto the third-to-last ferry of the day. I was amused by the benches on the ferry dock, warped by decades of bottoms.
Washington Island is beautiful, peaceful and mostly a dead zone for cell phone and WiFi signals. I didn't even bother to take my laptop with me. I occasionally picked up a Sprint signal on my phone, but Ginny was out of luck with her AT&T phone, except for one tiny strip of sand on the east side of Detroit Harbor.
The first night we were there, we ate supper on Debbi's back deck overlooking the water. We talked the sun down and the moon up.
The mosquitoes chased us indoors, but we ventured back out later to look at the stars. It was amazing! There is very little light pollution and there were so many stars visible - not to mention the Milky Way. I haven't seen such a vivid night sky since my childhood in Colorado.
Ginny and I enjoyed exploring the island while Debbi was working at her bookstore. We visited Schoolhouse Beach which is covered with smooth limestone rocks instead of sand.
We looked at old headstones at the Washington Township Cemetery.
We admired the two Barn Quilts on the island.
And of course we did a little bit of geocaching.
On our second day there, Debbi had set up a private wine & art class with multi-media artist Cindy Wunsch.
That's Debbi, Ginny and me with our paintings. They still needed to have resin applied to them when we left, so they will be mailed to us. Mine is based on a view I saw when I went with Debbi on her morning walk with her dogs.
Our third day on the island, Debbi took us to Nelsen's where we were inducted into the Bitters Club by downing a shot of Angostura Aromatic Bitters.
It tasted pretty nasty... reminded me of Vick's cough syrup from my childhood. But I downed it like a badass and earned my membership card.
We did a lot more and saw a lot more, including a visit to a lavender farm.
I will post later about the Stavkirke and the lighthouses and a couple of cool things we saw from Debbi's deck. Right now, I need to sign off, feed Boo and get ready for water aerobics. It'll feel good to be back in the water after the many hours I've spent in the van the past week. My routine should be getting back to normal starting tomorrow... for a little while...
Comments (6)
It looks like you had lots of fun -- I hope the visit was as enjoyable as the varied activities! I'll be anxious to hear more -- in the meantime, glad you're home safely! The ferry and the bridge were ok? Welcome home!
@slmret: The visit was very enjoyable and both the ferry and the bridge were not scary at all. I was worried about the actual driving onto the ferry from the dock, but it was a wide entrance and the ramp was flush with the dock. The bridge did not have the big cement barriers and those are what make me nervous on big bridges. We were almost crushed by a semi on a bridge with cement barriers once. I had maybe an inch of clearance between the cement and my side mirror. The passenger mirror got brushed by the wide load on the semi and pushed in. There was a scratch and some yellow paint from the front end loader that was on the flatbed trailer. That's how close we came. But the Mackinac Bridge had wide lanes and the speed limit is strictly enforced so everyone was behaving. Piece of cake!
@saintvi: Oh, yay! Glad you survived the first encounter, but equally glad that it was an easy drive this time!
I'm glad you enjoyed your trip, and glad you are home. I like your painting, and the rows of lilac. Old cemetary carvings are often spectacular; I like the one you show.
The "barn quilt" reminds me of the Pennsylvania Dutch hex signs I saw many years ago.
So you are an official Islander! I think I'd have to remain a tourist!! I'm relieved to hear that the ferry and bridge were a snap - that gives me confidence that if I ever did want to head that way I'd be able to handle it...
I really enjoy old tombstones ~
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