Adventures

At the end of October my parents, Ted and I took an extended-weekend getaway to see my brother, his wife, and their four kids in Virginia. They’ve lived in the Norfolk area for well over five years, but because of our busy theatre jobs and bare-bones theatre incomes, we’ve never made it to their place for a visit even once. Next summer they’ll be moving out to Washington state, so if we wanted to see them and their Virginia home and attractions before the big move, it was now or never.

We arrived on Thursday morning and had lunch at Bennett’s Creek Restaurant & Marina in Suffolk. Nothing beats starting off your vacation with great seafood! I had an amazing crab cake sandwich, piled high with one of the best crab cakes I’ve ever had – almost all fresh crab and just enough fillers to add a little bit of spice and hold that baby together. It was so delicious. Ted had fish n’ chips with some pretty incredible hush puppies, and my mom and dad enjoyed house salads with big, tasty bowls of creamy she-crab soup. Everything was absolutely wonderful. Their view and location, literally on the water, was so beautiful and peaceful – a joy to us, but a challenge for them since they’d just finished a major renovation when Superstorm Sandy hit and wiped them out again. They’ve only been re-opened for a few months. If you’re in the area, you should definitely consider stopping by for a few crab cakes, some of those fantastic hush puppies, and a bowl of crab soup.

Much of the rest of our vacation was spent as family time – relaxing at their home, playing with the kids, cooking big family dinners, spending time together, etc. Which was, really, just perfect. It was incredibly relaxing, but also very much-needed time together as a family since we don’t see each other often. The picture below of my mom smooching on her grand-daughter Halle and a big crock of chili cooking on the stove is just exactly what was so wonderful about this vacation – family. We also found Cincinnati Graeter’s and Texas Blue Bell ice cream at the Kroger down there. These are my two most-favorite ice creams ever, and neither brand is sold in New York. Needless to say, this little piggy went to town on a several pints of Graeter’s black raspberry chip and a half-gallon of Blue Bell’s Moollennium Crunch, for which I feel no shame. This, also, was perfect.

Friday morning we checked out the Portsmouth naval hospital where my brother, Michael, is a OB/GYN Oncologist. In the afternoon Michael, Ted, my dad and I visited the Hampton Roads Naval Museum and retired battleship USS Wisconsin in Norfolk. Since our family has a military history, both my dad (Air Force) and my brother (Navy) were great people to visit these places with because they were really able to speak to their own experiences using the same technology and Michael’s time aboard the USS Wisconsin’s sister battleship back when he was at the Naval Academy. It was so interesting to explore the ship, but also really neat to see my brother’s and dad’s eyes light up at memories of things they recognized or remembered from years ago, and to hear them recount their own fascinating stories. I’m so glad the four of us were able to take this day together.

On Saturday, Michael, Ted, the three oldest kids (David, Hannah, and Christopher), and I all spent the day at the Busch Gardens amusement park in Williamsburg riding as many of the roller coasters as we could, enjoying the other rides, munching on cotton candy and dippin’ dots, and petting the animals (well, seeing the other animals and petting the birds) in their animal exhibit. Ted and I love trying out different theme parks across the country, so this was a real treat for us to experience this park and ride its coasters, and spend some quality time with Michael and the kids. We didn’t take a ton of pictures, but we had a great time.

We rounded out the weekend bright and early on Sunday morning with some fishing. Michael and a few of his Navy buddies co-own a fishing boat and Reel Hot Sport Fishing out of Virginia Beach. One of the things we really wanted to do on this trip was see Michael’s boat and do some fishing. So Michael, the captain, and a crew mate took us and the older kids out about 20 miles offshore to a great little fishing site. After catching his first fish, poor Ted spent most of the trip seasick (motion sickness rules this family), but the rest of us caught quite a lot of bluefish. I caught a huge rock bass that we would have loved to keep (uh, and eat), but bass season didn’t start until Nov 1. Sadly, we had to throw him back. It was a great experience, and a totally fun and relaxing way to spend a Sunday morning. I’m really thankful we were able to do this too.

‘Til next time, Virginia! We’re already looking forward to visiting Michael, Elizabeth and kids at their lake house in Washington state. Hopefully, it won’t take us seven years to make it there this next time around!

Homemade popcorn, a game of marbles, the Packer game, a Packer win, family, Chili Johns, Pizza Ranch, a day to sleep in, a quick trip to Bay Beach for a snowcone and a ride on the the Zippin’ Pippin’ coaster = a successful trip to Green Bay.

It doesn’t take much :)

Somehow, despite five years of annual Door County getaways, we’ve never left the mainland of the peninsula to venture out to Washington Island – though we always wanted to. So we made Washington Island our top priority this year. We took ourselves and the Cutlass across on the ferry and spent the day in island paradise.

This island. Oh my goodness. One small grocery store, one gas station, a performing arts center (obvs. they have their priorities in order), a post office, one k-12 school with 62 kids, lots of farmland, a farm museum, a gorgeous hand-built Scandinavian church, a maritime museum, an ice cream parlor, a handful of restaurants with Door County cherry pie and fish boils, a bowling alley, a pizza restaurant, two bars (one of which was still allowed to operate during prohibition because it specialized in bitters – medicinal in addition to alcoholic – making it the longest operating bar in the U.S.), a few B&Bs, a tiny nature and science center, a stunning limestone beach, sand dunes, moped rentals, a lookout tower, cows, turkeys, Iceland horses, cherry trees, and lavender fields. And that’s about it.

{lavender gelato!? be still my heart!}

{the lav fields on Washington Island…except not in September}

{view from the top of the tower}

{feeding turkeys! life = complete}

{stunning church interior – I adore the stained glass and sailboat}

{hard cherry apple cider and a hot freshly baked pretzel with Door County honey mustard}

{fresh lawyers, lol}

{where else is the Death’s Door gin gonna come from?}

Bliss!

We can’t wait to return in the future, and perhaps spend a whole weekend in paradise.

For most of you, this is old hat, but for anyone new(er) to my blog, Ted and I were married three Octobers ago up in Door County, Wisconsin. In a town with a sweet chapel and a population of 201, surrounded by water and absolutely zero chain stores, restaurants, anything. A destination wedding of sorts. We try to make it back to Door County once a year in September (timed around the Packers home opener game in Green Bay, of course) to celebrate our anniversary early, since we love this place so and it plays such a special role in our relationship.

There’s a pretty hefty handful of places we adore and always try to hit up every visit, but we obviously cannot make it to everything every year (because, duh, time and money). We were solely on a strict budget of birthday money for this trip – everything we spent in the Door was given to us for our birthdays with the instructions of “use this to have a wonderful time in Door County.”

So we have to prioritize and do some things some years and add others to our list for the next year. This year we chose to take the ferry over to Washington Island for the first time as our big Door County event (check the blog tomorrow for pics) and then spend the rest of the time strolling around on the mainland.

On the mainland, we scooped up bags of Door County chocolate covered cherries, cherry and lavender caramels, pecan brittle, cherry salsa, raspberry salsa, and Door County mustard at a few of our favorite farm markets (we were sure to send on some of the goodies to family back in Texas as well). And we drove with the convertible top down on the Cutlass, taking in the fresh lake air, start of the fall color, farmland, and other gorgeous sights along the way.

Friday night Ted’s parents joined us in the Door for dinner at Summertime in Fish Creek (I had a baked potato, fresh green beans, and pan seared pork chops with apples, cinnamon, butter and bourbon!) and then we saw Miracle on South Division Street, directed by our good friend Kristine Thatcher, at Peninsula Player’s – Door County’s premiere professional Theatre. The show was excellent, relaxing, enjoyable and very funny. Lots of unexpected twists in the plot, loveable characters, and tons to laugh at. We loved the story and, as always, enjoyed seeing Kristine’s wonderful directing work. And the icing on the cake is that Peninsula Players has the world’s most epic location for a theatre – in a forest and right on the shores of a lake, so you can enjoy thick wooded walking trails, brilliant sunset views of the lake and waves crashing onto the shore, a huge nightly bonfire in their wooded lakeside fire pit, and beer in their forest beer garden before heading into their indoor/outdoor theatre with for some high quality entertainment. So wonderful.

We breakfasted on Swedish meatballs, crepes, lingonberries, and whipped cream with a side of hot chocolate (I mean, really, look at that cup) at Al Johnson’s “Goats on the Roof” – our favorite Swedish Restaurant and Butik with a grass roof where goats live and graze. This place also has lake views, in addition to the fab food and goats, so it’s pretty much the best.

We browsed our favorite shops in Fish Creek and indulged in fresh cherry gelato too.

And, of course, we HAD to do a fish boil. Our usual fish boil place – Square Rigger in Jacksonport – was, unfortunately, closed for the season, so we tried Pellitiers instead, which was tasty and spectacular too. You just can’t beat buttery salted freshly caught whitefish, potatoes and onions boiled over an open fire with coleslaw and a slice of Seaquist Orchard fresh Door County cherry pie. Picking the bones out of those suckers is a pain in the butt, but they’re so delicious that it’s totally worth it.

Then, there’s always the gorgeous Door County sunsets over the pier and, this time (for a rare treat), inexplicably friendly hummingbirds that allowed us to put our hands up under their feet and hold them while they fed and their wings zoomed. It was so cool.

Til next time sweet Door!

Up next: Washington Island!