Happy Birthday, Annie!

Today was Annie's eleventh birthday. When I talked with her this morning, she had opened her Aunt Terri's package and started reading the book Half Magic. When she called back later in the day to thank us for our present, she had finished the book. I figure the five books we sent might last a couple of days 8-)

Door County has 2000 acres of Montmorency cherries (the sour cherries used for cherry pies). We went to Lautenblaut's Orchard County Winery and Market, where we picked a pail of cherries for $6. It's near the end of the cherry season here, and the cherries are very ripe and easy to pick. Then we went on a scenic trolley tour which mainly focused on the dramatic coastal views from nearby Peninsula State Park.

Pick your own cherries!

Trolley Mike was our tour guide.

We shared a picnic lunch at a table overlooking the orchards and the cherry spitting contest area, and then we went inside and tasted samples of the wine. Most of our tastings were of cherry wines of one sort or another, and we both agreed that cherry wine isn't our favorite.

We drove to the east coast of the county to visit Bailey's Harbor to see the range lights and the Cana Island Lighthouse. The upper range light now functions as the office of a local wildlife refuge, and the range lights have been replaced by a single coastal light over a large sign with vertical white and red stripes. We parked and walked across the rocky causeway to visit Cana Island.

Bailey’s Harbor Upper Range Light

Cana Island Lighthouse

Picking the cherries was the easy part. When we got home we pulled out a couple of bent paper clips and started to pit the cherries--wow, that was a lot of cherry pits! We kept talking about the cherry desserts we were looking forward to . . . .

The fun part!

The master boiler adjusts the fire.

We had reservations for the 7:30 fish boil seating at Pelletier's Restaurant in Fish Creek, but we were asked to come at 7 p.m. Good thing, since the line at the door was slow and it was 7:15 before we had our fish boil tickets and were directed out back to watch the proceedings. Large caldrons were boiling briskly over wood fires. A big steel basket was lowered in and then 5 pounds of salt was thrown in the water. The "master boiler" explained that the salt helped firm up the fish and flavor the potatoes, whose ends are cut off to allow some of the salt to penetrate. A few minutes later, sweet onions were thrown in the pot. Then another steel basket full of Michigan whitefish steaks was lowered into the pot. After exactly 8 minutes, the bell rings and to shouts of "boil over!" fuel oil was thrown on the fire, causing a sudden boil over that removes the fish oil from the pot.

Then everyone found seats either indoors or out, and wait staff brought the dinners to us: plates of fish, potatoes, onions, and cole slaw served with drawn butter, and baskets of fresh rye and white bread. For dessert everyone gets a slice of cherry pie. We both pronounced the meal quite enjoyable. The food was tasty and the experience fun.

We stopped at the Main Street Market in Egg Harbor on the way home for milk and bread. Jenske had called earlier when our cell connection was bad, so I called her back and we got an update on what the gang has been up to since we parted ways. They are visiting Dennis and Linda Apple in Wausau, IL.