July 30-Aug 1, Fish Creek, WI

Today we find a light rain and overcast skies. We leave Oconto and travel 25 miles north and across the Green Bay to our first stop on the Door Peninsula and the town of Fish Creek.

Peshtigo Reef Light about ten miles out of Oconto marks a large and very shallow reef well offshore.

Homes on shore as we approach Fish Creek

Door County shore.

Owen and Matthew.

Drew and Linda.

Fish Creek Municipal Marina.

We dock at the Fish Creek town dock right down the small hill from the main street of the town. We have 50 amp power, showers and wifi internet in the office and sometimes at the end of the dock.

Downtown Fish Creek.

Nice shopping. Ice cream store here.
Owen had a 'Fat Elvis'. Banana with peanut butter and chocolate. Outstanding.

Interesting wind sculpture is our crew's favorite.

Fish Creek is a high end tourist town with lots of shops and restaurants and seems to be a very nice area for a second home or a weeks vacation. The town is full this week and we can see why tourists find this attractive. There are lots of trees (feel is 'up north') and the weather is cool and pleasant. The town is nestled up against a large rocky wall and that seems to make the town feel 'cozy'.

Kim, Linda, Matthew and Drew.
Fish boil cooking.

Fish boil flameing to 'boil over'.
(They throw kerosene on the fire)

Fish boil done.

Fish Creek is home to the 'fish boil', a famous way of cooking whitefish, potatoes, and onion with lots of salt and then adding a pint of kerosene to the fire at the very end of cooking to boil over the cooking kettle thus removing the floating fish oils. (Don't try this at home!) Then the dish is served with a generous amount of melted butter, cole slaw, bread and cherry pie.

Matthew and Drew fishing for perch on our dock and catching a few.
Catch and release!

The weather clears the second day and we have clear skies and moderate temperature of mid 70's. We take the dingy off KOKOMO II so Kim, Drew and Matthew can go exploring. They find the beaches filled with large sharp shells and find walking difficult without protective shoes. Every area is different. The shoreline is beautiful from the water and there are quite a few large homes overlooking the bay.

Neat chair design.
Sailboats.

Palm trees.

Cottages for the birds.

Wall hanging for a music store, our favorite shop in town.
Drew gets a harmonica and instruction book.

Kim finds a kalidioscope that looks at the flowers and plants.
Very unique and a beautiful effect.

Third day is windy (15-25) with small craft warnings and so we are staying in Fish Creek another day. Rain clears out by 10 am but the winds increase and we are happy to stay put another day in this cozy town.

July 29, Oconto, WI

After our visit to the Railroad Museum and lunch on the boat we head out of Green Bay and go north 25 miles to the Hi Seas marina just outside Oconto, Wisconsin. This is a very nice small marina and we will just overnight here. This will make two short travel days instead of one very long one on the way to our next stop at Fish Creek on the Door Peninsula.

Matthew gets used to being on the boat as we motor along.

As the marina is about a mile from the town and we are inquiring about a cab or other way to get to town, we are given a loaner car at the marina by some other boaters, J.C. and Debra Nelson, who are at the marina on their boat GLASS SEA LADY. J.C. works as a mechanic from time to time with John the owner of the marina. What a treat. We find a car show in town, have a nice dinner away from the boat and find a very large well stocked grocery for provisions for our new and hungry crew.

1959 Chevy

Camero SS (Supersport)

Street rod.

1957 Chevy

We can say that the people at the Hi Seas Marina make this one of the nicest places we have visited on our trip. And the dockage rate is the lowest of the season. We would highly recommend this stop to anyone in the area.

July 27-28, Green Bay, WI

We got a break in the windy weather today. Awoke to calm wind conditions early in the 27th so we left Frankfort at 6:45 and crossed the 55 miles of Lake Michigan to Sturgeon Bay in less than 4 hours.

Leaving Frankfort at sunrise.

Sturgeon Bay Ship Channel North Pierhead Light
is a welcome sight after we cross Lake Michigan.

We docked at Stone Harbor and found workmen using a large crane jackhammer rig to install a coffer dam so they can replace an existing bridge just outside the marina. The noise is very loud and will go on for ten hours a day, so we decide to move on.

Freighters at Sturgeon Bay

Sherwood Point Light as we turn south out of Sturgeon Bay.

So we head south another 35 miles to the town of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Long day on the water today as we move a total of 90 miles.

Approaching Green Bay we nickname the high bridge ahead the 'coathanger' like the famous one in Sydney.

Railroad bridge opens for us.
Downtown ahead.

We arrive at Green Bay and find dockage at the Green Bay City Center Marina in the middle of the downtown area. The docks are all short (30 feet) and the power is all 30 amp (and not separate circuits) except one at 50 amp. All the other boats at the marina are much smaller and we do not think many cruisers get into Green Bay and if they do they probably do not come back as the facilities are not in place for cruisers as yet. We finally get 50 amp power but there are no showers or office and no internet.

KOKOMO II and FOXY LADY II at the Green Bay City Marina

We are docked next to the FOXY LADY II, a coctail and dinner cruise boat that seems to be doing a good business. We met the owner/operator/captain and he was friendly and helpful during our stay at the marina. FOXY LADY II is a very nice boat for a dinner cruise.

Another bright spot is that we are in the shadow of the Holiday Inn and they have free internet in the lobby and are helpful with our tourist questions. We try for a rental car but this is the weekend of the "fly in" and air show at Oshkosh and all the rental cars for a hundred miles around are taken.

Green Bay Packer's 'stuff' is everywhere.

The Green Bay Packers are the biggest 'thing' in Green Bay (Green Bay has taken the nickname 'Titletown') and we walk to the Titletown Brewing Company restaurant for dinner.

Downtown Green Bay.
Only one store remains open in this block.

The downtown Simon Properties Mall.
Now converted to some offices. Mostly vacant.

1930's Meyer Theater, built for movies with a large organ
for the silent movies' sound system, now has live local theater.

Brown County Courthouse with a copper dome.

Next morning Linda and Owen walk the downtown area near the riverwalk and the courthouse where the main downtown shopping area used to be. We find few stores still open. Vacancy rate for the commercial downtown is over 50%. A large Simon Properties mall was downtown and has failed twice. The mall is now converted to some offices and is mostly still vacant. The town has big plans for the riverwalk area but nothing is working as yet.

Matthew, Kim and Drew.

Matthew, Kim, and Andrew (Drew) arrive from California after lunch and we are glad to have them aboard. They were able to fly into Green Bay and took a short cab ride to the Holiday Inn and walked to the boat. This is one of the most convenient places we have found for a crew change and is the reason we are here.

Our crew visits the Railroad Museum in Green Bay (rated a GEM by AAA) and see several big steam engines that are now retired (Diesel replaced steam in the 1950's) and some of the passenger and freight cars of the period. The museum had some nice exhibits including an interesting one on "Hobo's". The exhibit explained how the hobo's would chalk signs (in code) on rail cars to tell other hobo travellers what was ahead in terms of law enforcement, safe drinking water and the availability of handouts. Sometimes they would sign their names. Maybe this is where 'graffitti' got started.

This is 'Big Boy' the largest steam locomotive ever built. It has 16 drive wheels and was used to haul hundreds of coal cars up and down the hills of Wyoming.

Linda in the cab of 'Big Boy'.

Drew and Matthew operate a 'handcar' used by workers on the railroad.

We saw the memorial to 9/11 in Green Bay that contains the names of all who died at the twin towers.

9/11 Memorial.

July 25-26, Frankfort, MI

This morning we moved 35 miles from Leland to Frankfort. It rained hard last evening and as the front has moved through the area, it seemed clear and calm enough this morning to move to a new port.

Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes

Six hundred feet high

Several miles long

Lake Michigan still had a 1-2 foot chop today and so we bounced a little but as it cleared around 10 am and was a pretty day as we cruised by North and South Manitou Islands and then the 'Sleeping Bear Dunes' National Park. We were able to see several miles of the 600 foot tall sand dunes from the water.

Betsie Point Lighthouse

The Betsie Point Lighthouse is reported to be the most photographed lighthouse on Lake Michigan. Probably because it sticks out on a point and we can get within a few hundred yards of shore as we approach the lighthouse.

Light at the entrance to the Frankfort harbor.

Frankfort has some popular beaches.
Water temperature is in the mid 60's.

Jacobson's Marina.

The "Emery's", some looper friends, raise the bar
with a welcome mat and flowers.

Frankfort is a nice stop and we are staying at Jacobsons Marina for the first night along with many larger cruising yachts from Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois. We are certainly not the largest yacht here.

Downtown Frankfort

The town is just above the marina and has many shops and restaurants.

The RIVER RAT is a charter boat with 29 (count em) rods.
He's ready.

Fish cleaning station in Frankfort is very busy
with anglers cleaning King Salmon.

We plan to head for Wisconsin with the first good weather. Sunday was not good. So the second night we moved to the Frankfort Municipal Marina, about a hundred yards east, to save a few bucks, and are berthed next to a 55 Flemming Motoryacht, INDEPENDENCE. Looks like we may be here for several days.