The Johnsons in Wisconsin, In Wisconsin: Part Three

Monday started off with our fire side breakfast. Seth was our camp chef and treated us to eggs and bacon or pancakes in the mornings and even cleaned up all the dishes. Loved that!

After breakfast we decided to take a boat ride. Now of course all the boat rides were $30 plus per person BUT we also had all kinds of brochures attempting to entice us to visit Washington Island, a small island off the tip of the peninsula. Now the brochures did not seem to have a whole lot that looked intriguing but to get the 5 of us and our car over to the island it was $60 round trip. So we figured that even if the island was a total bust, we would get a 30 minute boat ride there and then a 30 minute boat ride back so we drove aboard and set sail. The kids loved the boat. They ran inside the cabin, and then outside, and then upstairs and then back again. I am sure the other passengers found them thoroughly annoying, but we were able to cross fun boat ride off of our checklist so we were happy.

When we arrived on the island we asked at the Visitor's Center what they suggested. They told us to just go anywhere. Didn't sound like much of a suggestion or endorsement. There were two tram tours that would take you to the different tourist stops on the island that you could ride for $25 per person. Or you could just drive up the main road yourself and stop at them on your own. We took door number two. We stopped at an island artifact museum which was just a log home with a few old arrowheads and an anchor found in Lake Michigan. Didn't even get the camera out for that one.

Next up was the Farm Museum which was just old farm equipment piled around to look at and a couple goats to feed. No one even worked there. You just looked around on your own.

Then we were off to Stavkirke. This was one of two things that actually peaked my interest in the brochure because it was billed as an old Norwegian church. The brochure didn't say how old but I still thought it might be interesting to see. So we arrived to find a very pretty church, that was built in 1998....a replica of a church built in Norway in 1000. Bahahahaha! By now we were cracking up at Washington Island.

The church reminded me and Alyssa of The Burrow. Seth said The Burrow was a shack and that we were nuts, but we still saw the resemblance. 10 dork points for you if you know what I am talking about and 10 more if you agree with me and Alyssa.

But there was one more place in the brochure that I wanted to see before we headed out. Schoolhouse Beach! Sure beaches are a dime a dozen around here but this one has no sand. The beach is made entirely of smooth limestone. Sounds uncomfortable but it really wasn't. The stones were too big to get in your shoes and too smooth to bother your feet much if you didn't have shoes on, and super bonus, the water was warm. On Lake Michigan? Who knew? We enjoyed our afternoon at the beach and since there was no sand we weren't even grimy and dirty when we hopped another ferry and headed back to the mainland.

Seth tried to get Alyssa to swim out with him and dive off that orange platform, but the water got deep pretty quick and she ended up chickening out.

Without sand you have to make rock castles instead.

Our next destination was going to be another visit with those trolls I showed you, but along the way we saw a cherry orchard. We wanted to pick cherries last year but they were picked out when we arrived. This year they were still picking tart red cherries, but in the end we decided against picking 10 pounds of cherries that are too tart to eat. Sure they make great cherry pie filling, if you know how to pit them and transform them, which I don't. So we did not pick, but we did visit the orchard. We sampled cherries and jams and salsa and juices and then went out to the playground. My funny kids get so excited whenever a business has a playground. For some reason that is so much cooler to them than just a regular old park. And so we played...

Along with a traditional playground they had a fun rope maze. Seth and Alyssa got a head start.

But after they muddled around in there for ages team Alex, Mommy and Chloe cracked the code and came out victors.

And of course no tourist destination in Wisconsin is complete without a few of these silly things.

Now off to see the trolls. I told you they had something to see at their house and now I will reveal what it was....

So what you say? You have seen a goat before? Well before you snub your nose at my offering, allow me to zoom out.

Not just a goat, but goats, on top of a roof made of grass. And to make things even more fun, this is a Swedish restaurant called Al Johnson's. Believe me all we heard about from Alex all day long was the restaurant named after him. He kept playing dumb and asking what is the name of the place we are going for dinner again? just so we would have to keep saying his name over and over again. We finally quit humoring him and then he would follow up his own question with does it have anything to do with me?. In the end we just started to call him baby Billy, after my dad because my dad is the only other person I know who is quite so enamored with his own name. In fact, I could imagine my dad doing the same thing all day had we been eating at a place called Bill King's.

We thought it was quite appropriate that Alex was wearing his King shirt while he was channeling his Grandpa King. And just so you know, he is fiercely proud of the name King as well, which is why he was thrilled to find this King lion shirt to replace the size 3 King crab one from a few years ago that he refuses to retire. Thank you Gymboree for continuing to find ways to put the word King on your clothing.

After our Al Johnson's fix we headed back to camp and decided one, to go to the office and book one more night because we didn't want to go home in the morning and two, to head over to the camp wide campfire. We usually stick to our own little campfire but this was a pretty good time. We sang lots of songs (which my kids are still singing), heard lots of stories and even participated in some interactive stories and Native American Legends.

Then with a very full day under our belts we called it a night, or at least the kids did. We sat around our own quiet campfire for a few hours and then joined the sleeping monkeys.