Door County - Post

Photos from the trip are now on flickr, click here.

Door County is a solid 5+ hours from where we live, and a world away.

We got up to the peninsula, an area surrounded by Green Bay and Lake Michigan, just in time to enjoy the tail end of its fall color spectacle. Now back at home, you will be hard-pressed to find a tree past it’s prime, if not just starting to turn colors.

There are so many things to love about Door County – but what I love the most is an area where you can live in the “country” and be far removed from everything, yet you are part of a greater community. I love that a Peninsula, which you can cross in about 10 minutes, is filled with forests, woodlands, bluffs, and farmlands that make you forget the water lapping the shores straight ahead and the busy little town centers. I love that you can drive on a country road and stop off at a barn where inside is an art gallery with incredible art, where cherry and apple tree orchards share land with cows, and where even the “fanciest” restaurant doesn’t mind you walking in off the street (low-season) in your jeans and wind blown hair – after all, you just got back from Washington Island.

Last time we were in Door County, it was the middle of November, snow was blanketed, leaves had fallen, and not much was open. The little we spent outside consisted of running to and from the car. But we only spent 1 full day there, which meant getting engaged, seeing sights, and having a nice dinner at the White Gull Inn. We have no photos from this trip, so that’s all I remember.

One month earlier this time means colorful leaves, cool crisp breezes that a lightweight scarf can handle, and a little bit more life. Although a lot of places closed right before we got up there (the weekend of the 18th was a big festival and then a lot shut down), I would venture to say that early October would be slightly better (you can rent mopeds in the park), but we were told that September was the best time of year.

What we like about the off-season is abundant parking and no reservations. You can go just about anywhere and you don’t compete with a single soul. It’s almost blissful. Until you realize you’re in the middle of a forest and there isn’t a single soul…

Matt and I really made the best of the time we had; we stayed at the beautiful BlackSmith Inn so we made sure to spend enough time there to enjoy the hot tub, the view outside our balcony, and the treats (popcorn, cookies, hot apple cider). We also had a couples massage at Sacred Ground Spa. This was Matt’s first massage and it was actually really fun to have this done together and then talk about how good it was all day long.

This time we also went to Washington Island in an impromptu decision that had us speeding along winding roads to catch the next hourly ferry. Washington Island was DEAD. Nothing except the corner store was open so we just enjoyed the sights – Schoolhouse Beach, Little Lake, the Lookout Tower, and Jackson Harbor. That evening we ate at The Inn at Kristoffers, which was a really nice restaurant and we had views of the Sister Bay marina. Matt had this butternut squash soup with maple syrup that was killer, licking the sides of the bowl killer (and ohmigod, here's the recipe). Dessert was a pumpkin mousse cake that almost sent us into a sugar coma, a good sugar coma.

Another day we checked out the Lighthouse at Cana Island, which was so off the beaten track, you were amazed to still be on the Peninsula (and even more amazed that people live back there in the woods). Then we went through Peninsula State Park, and took one of the hiking trails where it was surprisingly warmer in the forest.

We also did – finally – one of the fish boils that Door County is famous for at the White Gull Inn (there are a lot of restaurants that do this). It starts on the back patio where a cauldron of hot water and salt is set over a fire, then in goes the potatoes and more salt. Finally the fish is added and kerosene is added to the fire to raise the heat over 500 degrees. The oils – the good omega 3 oils – from the fish rise to the top and get skimmed off, then it boils over from the heat and voila, the fish boil. It’s served with butter, lemon, and tarter sauce; as well as the potatoes and cole slaw (for greens). And cherry pie finishes the meal.


The ironic thing about the fish boil, as our boil master told us, is that the point is to skim the oils off and then eat the fish with butter and tarter sauce. So we take a healthy fish, remove the most excellent essentials from it, and replace it with artery clogging butter. I wonder if the dairy council runs the fish boils?? Although this is thought to be a Scandinavian tradition, it runs counter to their healthy eating habits. Tarter sauce has to be a new phenomenon for sure.

We drank some very good pumpkin and cherry ale at Shipwreck brewery and got a six-pack to go, we shopped at Bea’s Ho-Made goodies for cherry jams, and found a local potter who makes such beautiful bowls and vases. It was nice to talk to a local artist and buy her art for our living room – our little memento of Door County.

Door County - Pre

Six years ago, Matt and I got engaged in Door County Wisconsin. After grad school, France, and hopeless job-hunting on my part, he said we needed a break and so we went north. On the frozen balcony of the Blacksmith Inn in Bailey’s Harbor in mid-November, he knelt down and proposed. It was all very romantic and, as I am the most clueless person around, it took me entirely by surprise.

Taking a trip for our anniversary has become a good habit we would like to keep (last year being the exception), so we kicked around a few ideas for this year: Montreal, Vermont, Charleston, Virginia … Schedules, airline prices, lack of planning all pretty much killed a few of those ideas. So then we started reminiscing about Door County, the quaint and quiet of it all and how we haven’t been back since our engagement, and it all clicked into place.

It seemed right since this was our 5-year anniversary, kind of a milestone mark as far as anniversaries go (5, 10, 15 – what is it about those 5s), that we should go to where it all started. And not only did we book the same Inn – but we got the same room!

Six years ago, it was a very cold and snowy November. We spent a lot of time indoors, and my camera broke on the way home so we have no photos, no proof of our happy date. So this time, we are not going to have this happen. Being in the market for a new digital camera, Matt bought me an SLR for my birthday/Sweetest Day -- a new Nikon D60. I am so excited because I've been wanting to take photography classes and you need an SLR, alhtough the users manual is as big as one of Matt's MBA finance textbooks.

Well, the trip up to Door County is 5+ hours ... I think I have my reading material all picked out.

Jane Austen

If you haven’t noticed – and if you haven’t it means you take no notice that to the right I list what I’ve been reading these days, and for that I say shame on you because reading is (aside from dreaming) a perfect way to escape, relax, chill, look smart…

So if you haven’t noticed, I’ve been dousing myself in a shower of Jane Austen novels, Jane Austen bios, and Jane Austen critiques. I’m scared that if I say I like Jane Austen, I’ll get stacked into the neat little pile of other Jane-adoring women, most of whom are just 1 inch away from the Harlequins.

But alright, I admit it, I like romance, and the movies on the BBC and A&E are really romantic. There’s something about a guy in high boots and seven layers of clothing that send a flush to my cheeks. But you know, the novels are not very romantic. They don’t kiss for instance. There are descriptions of tormented passion, but nothing explicit like modern day romances. No, instead her endings are wrapped up nice and neat, a marriage and then usually a synopsis of what was to come. The passionate endings of the movies are the genius of scriptwriters, God Bless ‘em.

So for that, I like the novels even better. Intelligent novels with deep characters, living in a world that we hope the movies have portrayed accurately, one of propriety, of astute language, where money passed through men’s hand and married women end up like cattle.

Oops, did I say that? Well, I’m just finishing up the Jon Spence Jane Austen Bio Becoming Jane Austen**, and towards the end he talks a lot about marriage in the early 19th century. Mostly he speaks of the realities of marriage and that Austen’s books usually end at the wedding ceremony and not beyond. What if we were to go beyond, what would we find? Marriage meant pregnancy after pregnancy after pregnancy. That is, if you and your husband got along. If a marriage had no children, it was seen as an unhappy marriage. Ha! More like a smart marriage.

Jane Austen had several brothers; all except one had wives who died in childbirth. Two of them had more than 10 children by the time they died, in their mid thirties, having worn out their bodies to the brink of death. Spence notes that Austen witnessed all of this. She witnessed her niece becoming pregnant not two months after having given birth, and seeing her sisters-in-laws broken down by not having, in one instance, 1 year in 17 years where they are not pregnant.

The outcome of all these children meant that these were “happy” couples; couples who still enjoyed each other’s company. But the physical toll on their bodies was almost cruelty. Jon Spence says that Jane Austen's last book (uncompleted) may have indicated her own "confrontation with her own brothers... The problem she had to grapple with was, quite bluntly, why her own brothers did not respect their wives enough to restrain their sexual desires."

Someone wrote on Amazon.com, that with the risk of childbirth, it was amazing that any of the women even wanted to be married. But what was the alternative to marriage? In Jane Austen’s family, two of her brothers inherited money from childless relatives. They never would have given any of the money to the girls, so automatically Jane and her sister are not as well off as the brothers. For them to have money to live on, they need to marry – and marry as best as they could. Just like younger sons risked their lives in the military, so did all the daughters by marrying and getting pregnant.

Maybe Jane Austen didn’t have to write about what happens after marriage because her contemporaries knew what happened and probably didn’t need to be reminded when they read her novels for the same reason we do – for pleasure, for escape, for relaxation, and maybe to look smart.

** This biography was the basis for the movie Becoming Jane, which is obviously much more passionate than the bio. I suggest a rental, it's really good. There's even a blog dedicated to the movie

Cat Fancy

Solar Nerds

Saturday was the Solar Tour I talked about here, and Matt and I only managed to see 4 houses out of the 7 I had mapped out for us. Oh yes, I google-mapped our tour and if it weren't for the fact that we were searching for crumbs on the car seats to sustain us just another hour or two, we would have made it.

But the 4 houses we did see were all very unique and we walked away with a lot of ideas and thoughts on the subject of solar. First off, there are 2 types of panels we saw throughout -- PV panels that harness energy for electricity, and Solar water panels that heat the water in your house.

House 1:
This guy did everything himself and since he has such a large lot (unincorporated as well), he built all his solar water panels and PV panels on his lot as opposed to a roof. He has 11 solar water heater panels! He's only on the grid as backup and it's mostly for the winter. And he has back up battery (10, I think) storage for the evening/cloudy days.


House 2:
They just did the solar water panels - 4 of them - on their roof. The owners weren't around but a nice guy from illinoissolar was and he told us about it. I think $40,000 was the amount that a solar water system would cost. OUCH. But he said that IL and the US government both have rebates and tax incentives that help offset the cost, and then in some cases you're cutting your bills in half ... so, there's some give and take. But it takes a few years to reap the initial costs. He builds electric cars and told us the Prius was awesome. Just another dilemma: Prius or Solar Panels?

House 3:
Now this house was SPECIAL. And I'll talk more about this here on Rosemarie's Garden because it was more than just solar PV panels ... we're talking green roof, complete native Illinois prairie habitat, passive solar design house. Wow. Right in the middle of the suburbs. A true oasis.


House 4:
This one most closely resembled what we'd like to do for our house. They started with the solar water panels (installed by professionals). The owners said they saw an immediate return. Then they added solar PV panels on their own. So they have both on their (very large) roof. They don't have battery storage so the house runs on solar during the day (sunny times) and then works on the grid the other times, but they harness enough power that they don't use to sell back to their town. In this case, their meter gets turned backwards and they get money back from whomever is buying the energy.

So now that we've taken the tour, we went back home to look at our very odd shaped and tiny rooflines and wonder if we can even do this? The cost is a big factor so we would really have to invesitage the rebate/tax break issue.

Solar, dude

Solar energy.

I want it. Can I have it? Can I put solar panels on my house and transform this meek split level into George Jetson’s dream vacation home? Can I harness the sun’s power to heat and cozy-up my abode the way the Delorian harnessed 1.21 gigowatts of nuclear energy to travel through time?

Matt – who before we got married actually went to an energy fair and contemplated life in a hay barrel house – and I have thought a lot about solar power/panels. We haven’t done any research on this – how to set it up, the initial costs. But we agree this is the direction in which we want to go.

All I know – all I think I know – is that you need:

• your roof to be south facing in some way (the sun is strongest facing south)
• space in the house to house all the generators and batteries that store this energy.

We have both – we’re north/south facing with ample roof space on the south side. Plus our unfinished basement could hold a plethora of gizmo-gadgets. So now we need to explore further and lucky for us … this Saturday is an Illinois Solar Tour where you can take a free self guided tour to homes and businesses that have adopted solar energy. You can view their panels and their set ups, ask questions and see what it’s all about.

Sometimes I think the Western burbs as a whole is not as forward leaning, green-minded as the city (and near-city) dwellers, so I was so happy to see 14 different places to visit. I total in the Chicagoland area there are 100+ places. Very cool.

Move over plastic

I’ve broken free from plastic … well, plastic food containers at least.

Despite the recent scare that the plastic containers leak horrible chemicals into your food when you nuke them (what in that sentence wouldn’t make anyone say, “uh duh?”), I’m surprised I hadn’t unshackled the plastic reins a lot sooner. Plastic containers suck.

• If you put them in the dishwasher they sometimes bend all out of shape.
• Most times the lids fly the coop, off to the same “Land o’ Lost Things” where the sock doubles end up.
• And if you can find a lid, they usually stop fitting properly and you get all sorts of spills
• There’s no easy place to store them, they end up taking the entire top row of your Lazy Susan and you find yourself shuffling for 2 pieces that match every morning around 7AM, with your eyes barely open.

Glass, notwithstanding the possibility of shattering into a million pieces, will hopefully be a better choice. And it better be better because I’ve just ordered a whole bunch of new glass containers which will fit snugly into my lunch bag, and house all my leftovers.