2018 Great Lakes Trip – Madison & Door County, WI
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Monday July 2nd – Thursday,
July 5th
Lake Farm Campground, Madison, WI
Our
next stop in Wisconsin was Madison, the Capital City. The campground I found
was south of the city in a nice preserve area, Lake Farm. This campground is
very nice and has great spacious campsites. This area has an amazing bike trail
system, mostly paved but some areas are gravel. Bicycling is a major activity
in the area. The only downside for us is the county requires a permit to ride
these trails. Since we are not local residents, a daily pass costs $5 per bike,
WOW! We also took the dogs to a nearby dog park, where the fee was $5 per dog,
needless to say, we didn’t take them in.
When we
arrived and setup our campsite, we were immediately assaulted with swarms of
mosquitos! It was so crazy, we had to stay inside as much as possible. The poor
dogs were covered with these beasts just trying to walk them. At least the
weather was a little cooler here.
Our
plan was to spend the Fourth of July here celebrating, but it was a challenge
to be outdoors. We did drive into downtown Madison to check it out and find
where the fireworks were going to be. Apparently, the smaller communities
around Lake Monona have their own displays, so they can be viewed from any
location around the lake.
The
next day we drove into town to an outdoor sporting goods store and purchased an
outdoor screened room. We were finally able to sit outside and enjoy our nice
campsite. Kurt was able to ride some of the trails and he really enjoyed them.
However, I caught some kind of 24 hour bug that kept me inside with a fever. Oh
well, I didn’t want to sit outside anyway. Since I was not well enough to go to
watch fireworks, Kurt went into the city. I watched the celebration on TV of
the NYC/Macy’s fireworks and music extravaganza. That worked for me!
So this
stop was pretty much a bummer for me mostly, and for July 4th
celebrations! We were ready to move on to our next location, north to Door
County.
Friday July 6th – Thursday, July 12th
Baileys Grove Campground, Door County,
WI
Our
drive north into Door County, the peninsula between Lake Michigan and Green Bay,
was very pleasant. We immediately enjoyed the cooler temps and were amazed to
view the lakeside from the highway. This peninsula is not more than 10 miles
wide at the most. The shoreline is enormous, with many parks and harbors along
the waterfront. Door County has many lighthouses, several of which date back to
the 19th century. Near the town of Baileys Harbor, the Cana Island Lighthouse
offers Lake Michigan and peninsula views. Lake Michigan is cold enough to
moderate the temps along the peninsula. Door County is also famed for its
cherry orchards, many of which offer cherry picking.
We
stayed at Baileys Grove campground and really liked the property and campsites.
We got settled into our site, which had full hookups. The campground offered
many amenities; pool, laundry, wifi, and free popcorn every evening! The
campground was about 1 mile from Baileys Harbor, so we could ride our bikes into
town and enjoy the views.
We also
drove to the west side of the peninsula to visit Peninsula State Park. While
there we hiked with the dogs one day and another day we took our bikes and rode
the trails in the park. We also visited some small harbor towns, with their
marinas and lovely beaches; Fish Creek, Egg Harbor, Sister Bay, Ellison Bay,
Gills Rock and Jacksonport. In various places there were lighthouses and sunken
ships in the water. We even got our
kayaks in the water and paddled along the shore of Cave Point Park. This was a
very interesting rocky shoreline with carved out caves. There was so much to
see and do there, we really fell in love with this area.
We so much
enjoyed our relaxed time here and we would love to return one summer, except to
stay at least a month!
