Doing the Door

In two words, Door County is a photographer's paradise. I definitely took my share of photos over the past two days. I was thinking a lot of my lens-loving siblings while I was there.

I'd see something in nature and think: "Ron would take a nice picture of that." Or we'd drive by an old boat among weeds and wildflowers and I'd say: "Now Rayna would stop and take a picture of that." But I found enough subjects on my own -- and was pretty pleased with a lot of my results. Some highlights:

The golf course we played Sunday was called The Orchards at Egg Harbor. The fairways were lined with cherry and apple orchards. That was different -- at least we could find our errant balls!

We crossed the ferry to Washington Island in the late afternoon. I had just been reading that Door County was named after the Native American translation: Death's Door. That's what they called the land mass because the treacherous waters sunk so many of their canoes between the islands and the mainland. I was glad to arrive safely!

Thanks to the tourist tips from the owners of the inn, we found a special park with a beach filled with water-smoothed rocks. It is such an unusual shoreline -- and in need of protection and preservation -- that anyone caught taking a rock from there is subject to a $250 fine!

The inn owners also pointed out the perfect spot on the island to be at 8 p.m. for the sunset. Looking at the photo above, wouldn't you agree? It was like watching a ball of fire slowly lower itself into the water and disappear over the edge of the Earth. Very cool to be in the right place at the right time!

Today's golf course was quite memorable. Not only did I get my best score of the summer so far, the course offered spectacular views of Egg Harbor (right). It was a unique layout. There were times when we trekked that cart up the entire steep bluff, then shot the ball down to the green on the bottom. Other times we were right along the shoreline. Beautiful! I normally don't take my camera golfing, but I'm glad I did!

For only being gone 36 hours, we took in a lot, yet thankfully managed to relax. And, as Jim pointed out, we filled a couple scrapbook pages! (See why I love him so much?)