Door County 2013, Day One

On to the Door County portion of our trip. We spent our first night in a hotel in Sturgeon Bay. We tried to stay right by Lambeau Field like we did last time but everything there was booked so we headed north.

We had some time to kill the next morning before our 3 PM check in time at Peninsula State Park so we started out at one of my favorite spots in Door County, Cave Point County Park.

You have seen these exact same views from Cave Point every time I have been there but it is so pretty that I just keep taking the same shots.





 
Building rock castles



 
Be careful if you go in the water here, because those rocks are slick.














After our time at Cave Point it was only 1:00 so we still had two hours before we could set up camp. Thankfully that morning as we looked through brochures in the hotel lobby, the girl at the front desk told us about a restaurant that is fun for kids, called PC Junction. We had not heard of it on either of our previous visits so we were excited to go somewhere new. It was in Baileys Harbor which was on the way to where we were headed. It was the weirdest, coolest  restaurant ever. My kids are still calling it one of their favorite parts of the trip.

The restaurant has a train theme and your food is delivered by a counter top train if you sit at the counter. Of course there is a wait to sit at the counter but we had time so we decided to wait. And while you wait there is so much FREE weirdness to look at and enjoy behind the restaurant.

We started out on these pedal cars but quickly realized that they were not built for two adults sitting side by side. Our legs were too long and we kept bumping in to each other so I jumped off and put someone with smaller legs in my spot.



 
Checking out one of the pigs.



 
Chloe went and played on the school bus.
 
And the giant chess board. I don't think knocking down all the pieces is the correct way to play but whatever. 
 
There were doors and windows that went nowhere.
 
And some led to outdoor rooms where you could play.
 
Seth and I played on that Ping Pong table for awhile. I am not so good at Ping Pong.


 
While we were playing on this truck slide our number came up at the counter so if you want to see any more of the weirdness this place has to offer you will have to go there yourself.
 
Only 4 people per group can sit at the counter and the rest of us sat at a table behind them. Even those of us behind the counter had our food delivered by train. Only those outside of the bar area do not have that option. The counter is made of old doors and the lighting was terrible for pictures but can you see the track running around the counter?
 
Here come our food. When you are about to get a delivery they call out the name of the station where you are sitting and then out comes the train.

 
Even when the train was not delivering food it was riding around with characters on it and a few times they put a bubble machine on it and it rode around blowing bubbles at everyone. This place was so much fun!

After lunch it was time to check in and set up camp. Grandma is always prepared and brought all kinds of fun toys for the kids to play with while we set up.
 
Alex requested that I take this picture and it is a good thing because I never managed to take one of our campsite. We actually had two tents and plenty of space for both of them. We were surrounded by trees so you would never know anyone else was camping nearby.


Once we were set up the kids wanted to go to the beach. We camped at the Nicolet Beach campground this year. Last time we were in another part of the campground and had to drive to the beach and this year there was a shortcut behind our site that took us there in about a minute. It was only 68 degrees and with all the trees at our campsite we were all in sweaters but it was sunny at the beach so I figured if they thought it was warm enough to swim then I'd let them swim. The other 3 adults went shopping in town and I stayed with the kiddos.

They are doing some work on the beach so it was fenced and the swimming area was smaller than the last time we were there but it was shallow and warm and so the kids were happy.




 
After swimming and showers we came back to camp to find Seth and Ann working on dutch oven chicken and potatoes. It took a long time to cook (but turned out yummy) so we were starving and tired by the time we ate so after dinner we put the munchkins right to bed while the rest of us stayed up by the fire and enjoyed a beautiful clear sky full of stars. 

The only camera I brought was my waterproof one and it is pretty good outdoors but not so much indoors but here are our sleeping monkeys.


As you can tell by the sheer amount of pictures posted here, it was a fantastic first day in Door County.