Exploring Door County by Kayak

Greetings!
This fall's visit to Door County was a special one. We "know" the area pretty well now and so decided to do some extensive exploration by kayak.

As I grew up on a small island (http://www.cityislandbirds.com/) and Sheena grew up along the coast of England, Door County is the perfect place to bring back those good memories of spending every day, all day "on the water".

Here I am making my way to Horseshoe Island from Nicolet Bay. (photo by Sheena John)

The official "purpose" of this trip to Door County was to participate in the First Annual Ridges Flea Market. (http://www.ridgesanctuary.org/) To help raise funds for this wonderful organizing was gratifying. To clear some stuff out of the garage was gratifying too! Everyone had a fun and successful day.

Many thanks to M.Lee and a great Organizing Committee!

Getting up early on the days following the Flea Market was easy, as this is the view from the adorable and comfortable cottage that we leased from JRVacation Rentals http://www.jrvacationrentals.com/

More of the sunrise could be viewed from Baileys Harbor, less than a mile from the cottage.

For me, every step outside has something to do with birds...but aside from glimpses of a few warblers and a pileated woodpecker, most viewed birds were of the seagull variety! Here's a juvenile watching me paddle up to his rock perch.

I've always wanted to "park" my kayak and go somewhere interesting, and Door County provided many opportunities to do just that. Here we pulled ashore to the Grafitti Building and visited the Francis Hardy Center for the Arts, able to browse the beautiful collection of Farmscape photos by Paul Lurie.

During the week of picture perfect weather, we paddled Egg Harbor, Nicolet Bay, Ephraim and Fish Creek.

While back on land, we visited some usual favorites including Cana Island, Whitefish Dunes and Cave Point. We even managed to fit in a production of Sherlock Holmes by the Peninsula Players and a couple of new restaurants including a fabulous creperie called Mr. Helsinki's !

So many things couldn't be "fit in" to a short week, but as our delightful cottage neighbor reminded us, "there's always something to come back to" in Door County.

Take a look at a video taken at Cave Point. Don't get seasick!