Kewaunee, WI - July 19 - August 13, 2006
As the temperature and humidity continued to rise we headed northwest to Kewaunee seeking the cooling breezes off Lake Michigan. The village of Kewaunee, with its 19th Century neighborhood built on a bluff overlooking the lake, its lighthouse, piers, tugboat, seagulls, marinas and fishing boats reminded us of California's north coast - except the fog was warm. We parked at the Kewaunee Village RV Park just north of town and perfectly located for exploring the village and lakeshore by bike and on foot.
We determined this would by our stop for taking care of all that personal maintenance stuff - doctors and dentists. Consequently, much of our time was spent trekking to the Aurora Medical Center in Green Bay and ABC Family Dental in Luxemburg. Both facilities were very helpful and welcoming to nomadic novices seeking healthcare on the road. We loved the names of the villages. Our appointment trips took us through Poland and Slovakia. Once we missed our exit and found ourselves in Denmark.
Just northeast of Kewaunee is Door County, a 75-mile long peninsula. Bound by Green Bay on the west and Lake Michigan on the east, it has 300 miles of shoreline and ten lighthouses. Door County is a Midwest vacation destination with upscale summer holiday communities sprinkled among farms and cherry orchards. It also offers several wineries including "Just a Stones Throw Away", with its advertising slogan "just a convenient 2,500 miles east of Napa".
We made three excursions into Door County during our stay in Kewaunee, including a trip to Baileys Harbor for lunch and to see the Cana Island Lighthouse and a trip to Sturgeon Bay in search of the ever elusive sourdough French bread, including a stop to sample Door County's sour cherries in a "pick-your-own" orchard. We spent a day touring up the more developed Green Bay side of the peninsula and hopped a ferry to Washington Island for a day of biking.
We devoted a day to trekking south along Lake Michigan to Manitowoc and the Wisconsin Maritime Museum. Manitowoc had a well-established shipbuilding industry when it was commissioned to build submarines during World War II. We were surprised to learn that the subs were unable to reach the ocean via the Great Lake's seaways, so they "sailed" to Chicago, passed through Chicago's sanitation canals (don't ask) to the Illinois River and eventually down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico.
We toured the USS COBIA, a WWII submarine, and had the opportunity to hear a veteran who served on the sub during the last months of the war, speak about life on the sub. The crusty, old fellow gave us a much better perspective of challenges of duty on a sub. We were impressed with sailors' ability to endure the close spaces and perform their duties in what can be difficult and harrowing conditions. We concluded that we could not pass the rigorous psychological testing required to qualify for submarine duty - and Bill would be seriously height challenged.
Towards the end of our stay in the area, we drove over to Appleton on Lake Winnebago to check out their downtown Farmer's Market. We were not disappointed. This was the best farmers market we found since leaving California. After checking out Appleton and the beautiful Lawrence University campus, we drove south along the lake to the town of Neenah.
Neenah, a very quaint and beautiful town on the shores of Lake Winnebago, it is the home of several paper product companies and paper barons. It has a very large park bordered by the Fox River, Lake Winnebago and an incredibly elegant neighbor. Nestled in this neighborhood of mansions is the Bergstrom-Mahler Museum our destination. The museum claims the largest collection of glass paperweights in the world, currently numbering 2,300 pieces. Many of the paperweights date back to the mid to late 19th Century and were created by such artists as Baccarat, Boda and Waterford. We noted one attractive paperweight in the gift shop priced at $4,500. As in the case with the $400 purse that Susan didn't buy in Madison, WI, we decided the paperweight didn't quite fit with our lifestyle.
After twice extending our stay at Kewaunee we were given a clean bill of health and were free to go on our merry little way. Next stop, the Michigan Upper Peninsula and the shores of Lake Superior.
