Beer Tasting in The Door

Usually when I go to Door County, there is wine involved.. either wine tasting or wine purchasing. Since our boat tour was in Bailey's Harbor, we decided it was easier to go beer tasting than wine tasting afterwards. Door County Brewing Company was literally just down the road from the dock. Okay most of the towns in the Door are about 2 blocks so it's easier to walk around them.

We didn't actually go to the actual brewery but Door County Brewing Company Musical Hall. It servers both Door County Brewing Company and Hacienda Beer Company beers along with live music at night and board games anytime. Both brewing companies are local to Bailey's Harbor. We opted to sit inside since outside seemed more cocktails than beer. Laurie, Jeanne, Cindy, and I went with a flight of beers while Bonnie opted to try the root beer.

The flight came with 5 5oz beers. EEK!! I barely can finish 1 beer let alone like 2. I am not big beer drinker. You literally made your selection from the chalkboard hanging behind the bar onto a card. You could choose between beers from either Door County Brewing or Hacienda Beer.

Being not much for beers but having a good idea of what I like and don't like, it was tough coming up with 5 beers. Jeanne struggled too and she is a beer drinker. Some of them, I literally chose because of their name or ingredients (i.e. coconut). Jeanne suggested my fifth choice since I had no clue to put down.

They poured your beers according to your card... so unless you are smart enough to put down the beers in light to dark order (or a reasonable drinking order), your flight was a mish-mash of tastes and colors. It was up to you to figure out how to drink them.

My five beers

Big Sister -- a Witbier with Hibiscus from Door County Brewing. I mainly chose this one because of the hibiscus since I really loved hibiscus tea at the tea party this year. Sadly, I was disappointed. It wasn't bad but the hibiscus tea is much better. It was a very pretty red color. We all picked this one.

The Only Time Is Party Time -- A Milk Stout with Cold Brew Coffee and Coocnut from Hacienda. UGH!!! Horrible. No coconut whatsoever. All I tasted was coffee. I hate coffee. Jeanne drank this one for me.

Everything Eventually -- Citrus dry hopped pale ale from Hacienda. Everyone got this one and this one was everyone's least favorite. Laurie described it as vomit. It kind of grew on me. I definitely was not a summer shady that I was expecting.

I'm Not a Doctor -- I believe this one was from Hacienda but I don't recall what the flavor was. This one actually was my "favorite" of them if I had to pick a favorite. It had the smoothest taste and didn't taste like Miller or Bud.

Clawhammer --  A classic German style pilsner from Door County Brewing. I should have picked a different beer. I should know that anything German Style Pilsner is going to be like Miller. I was not a fan.

We also split a pretzel. It was the size of my head. It was worth the $8.

The beers left a lot to be desired Most of them had to grow on you. I don't think there was one that anyone of us loved. Jeanne did like her Polka King and Cindy her Clawhammer. Personally I would have stuck with wine.

4814. See the lighthouses of Door County

When planning the Door County trip, one of things Bonnie wanted to do was see the lighthouses. We happened to be up in Door County for the Door County Lighthouse Festival which happens in spring and fall. The festival included different tours you could take to see the lighthouses. We opted for a two hour boat tour. It seemed like a nice way to see the lighthouses and spend an afternoon.

We boarded the small boat in Bailey's Harbor. The boat theoretically could hold 40 or so people but they kept it to about 20 so we would be comfortable. I honestly don't know how they could fit 40 people on the boat unless we were on each other's laps. It only had seating around the perimeter of the boat which the guide assured us, it didn't matter which side of the boat we sat on, we could still see all the lighthouses.

The first set of lighthouses we saw were the Bailey Harbor Range Lights... from a good distance away. The range lights guided the boats into the harbor back in the day. If the lights aligned you had clear sailing into the harbor. If they didn't, you better get them to align or risk running across the many shoals that litter the peninsula and becoming another shipwreck.

Our captain steered us over a couple of the shipwrecks in the area and like when we kayaked many years ago, they were difficult to see. All you really saw were dark shadows that they claim to be wooden beams and hulls of ships that ran into trouble coming into Bailey's Harbor. Maybe with some good scuba gear, one might be able to identify the shipwreck. To us it looked like Lake Michigan.

Motoring right along, our guide got us as close to The Bird Cage Lighthouse as he dared without hitting those shoals and grounding (or sinking) us. The Bird Cage Lighthouse got it's name for the bird cage like structure at the top of the lighthouse where the light was house. It is need of repair and it was hard to see because it was hidden behind trees.

The last lighthouse on our tour was the Cana Island lighthouse which is world famous for it's design. The actual light is so large you can walk in it and stand up... after walking up 82+ steps to get to it. Not that I would know.. we never got off the boat. I would have loved to see this lighthouse up close and personal. I would have loved to feel the temperature difference out on the observation deck which I was told was like 15-20 cooler than in Bailey's Harbor. I guess I will have to wade out there some other day.

It was a nice boat tour if you don't mind seeing 3 lighthouses from a distance. I honestly thought I was going to get a lot closer than we did... like actually docking at them. Silly me. It is not a bad tour but I wanted more... more lighthouses.. closer to them.. a bigger boat.. something to make the $52 worth it.

Goats on Parade

My cousin was turning 50 this month and she wanted to go to Door County for her birthday. A couple of us cousins decided to go with her. As we were beginning to plan, she saw something about a goat parade in Sister Bay then realized it was last year's dates. Thanks to a quick Google search, I found indeed we were going to be up there for the Sister Bay Roofing of the Goats Parade. 

Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant keeps goats on its roof to eat the grass roof and this was the weekend that they would roof the goats for the season meaning the goats would make their first appearance on the roof this year. They have a parade the goats and any other goats down the street and up on the roof. People are welcome to dress as goats and Vikings as well.

Bonnie, Laurie, and I got to Sister Bay about an hour before the parade at 10:30. After browsing a few shops, we found a nice open spot in front of the restaurant to watch the parade. Only to be told about 10:15, the goats don't go that far. They only go up to the alley and then turn into the alley to get up the roof. We decided to move into the alley which gave us a great view of the roof as well.

After we moved into the alley, I noticed a table where kids could make paper goat hats. I meandered over and asked if there was an age limit. Of course there wasn't and I quickly put together my goat hat. All the pieces were pre-cut (thank you to who ever did that) and all I had to was glue, staple, and tape the hat together. 5 minutes later I had a beautiful goat hat.

Besides making goat hats, you could buy a sticker for a donation to the animal shelter. You put your name on your sticker and stuck it on the parade route. If a goat pooped on your sticker, you won a prize. I was slightly disappointed that I wasn't the one to stick my sticker on the road. Some official parade poop sticker person got that honor. I guess they preferred one person to get ran over versus 100s. No I didn't buy a poop sticker but after seeing the amount of goat poop I probably should have. Besides the official poop sticker person stuck all the stickers in a bunch in front of the alley. I would have rather stuck it in the middle of the route or even on the side.

At 10:30 the parade began with people leading the official Al Johnson goats on ropes down the road and up on the roof. Other goats also followed. There were big goats, baby goats, hair goats, and mini goats. They were all so cute.

There was the official beer bringer who wheeled in the official beer keg for the goat festival which we did not stick around for.

Up on the roof they go...

This was probably the shortest parade I ever was too. The parade route was about two blocks. We were headed back to our car about 8 minutes after it started and that was after watching roofing of the goats for several minutes. It was literally probably a 60 foot parade.

If you are ever in Door County for Roofing of the Goat Parade, check it out. People come from all over to see it and people even dress up.The people watching might just be worth it.

Go to Yoga in the Park

For the last few years, I wanted to do Yoga in the Park but thought I would feel stupid being a novice. After a few weeks at Yoga at the Library this winter, I realized that I could handle yoga in the park. I also found out not only Yoga in The Park was going to be in Appleton and Menasha but Kimberly as well.

I decided to go to yoga in the park at Sunset Park even though I had a good book to read. Hiding in the back so I can follow others better, I was able to keep up fairly well. The difficulty was slightly more difficult than the winter session but I was still able to keep up.

Picture courtesy of Yoga in the Park Facebook Post

I learned a few more yoga poses. I also learned that the unevenness of the grass makes tree pose a lot more challenging. Just being outdoors on a gorgeous night, made it all that more enjoyable. I can barely get through 20 minutes at home but I could easily handle the hour at the park.

Even if you are a novice when it comes to yoga, yoga in the park at least in Kimberly is a great way to build your yoga skills. 95 Yoga House did an awesome job at making it easy for everyone to follow along. I will definitely be joining them again when the schedule allows.

993. Build a birdhouse

Danielle texted me towards the end of last year or the beginning of this year asking me bird house or bird feeder and I was like if it's for the bucket list, I need both. She picked up birdhouse and bird feeder kits. I was thinking she got these at like Home Depot or something.

The weather was finally nice enough to make our birdhouses and bird feeders after Danielle and I went on our bird hike. I met her at her house and discovered these weren't home depot kits.. there were from the Dollar Store. Normally that's not a problem. Dollar store crafts are cheap and fun. These were teeny tiny birdhouses and feeders... maybe for a hummingbird or something equally as small.

I was expecting to have to nail the pieces together. Oh no, these birdhouses and feeders required glue which was included in the kits. However since the birdhouse was made of balsa type wood, we were dealing with a very tiny edge to glue and try to get to hold. The hardest part was trying to get it not fall apart. Luckily Danielle was thinking ahead and got some craft glue as well which helped immensely.

It was not the most perfect bird house but it stayed together.

We probably should have painted it before we put them together. At least the kids thought about that and colored theirs with markers.

Fast forward several weeks and I finally got around to painting my birdhouse and bird feeder. I wanted to make them red and white but I didn't have any red paint. I wasn't going to the store to get red paint so blue sufficed.

In the meantime I lost the eyelet screw to put on the string for the bird feeder so it can't really go outside.

Once the paint dried, I hung my birdhouse in the tree. It last a day or two before the eyelet screw pulled loose. There really wasn't a good way to attached it to the birdhouse. So now my birdhouse is in the garage.

I can honestly say I built a birdhouse. Did a bird live in it? Nope. I really have no desire to make a bigger one. I'm not a huge bird fan and I find them annoying when they try to build nests near my patio. So it's probably a good thing I didn't make a large bird house. For all you bird people, if I get to make another birdhouse in the future, I'll gladly give it away.

337. Celebrate Cinco de Mayo

I've never been big into Cinco de Mayo but I do love my Mexican food. It might be the people I hang out with that we just don't do the whole margaritas on Cinco de Mayo thing. The hubby isn't a big fan of Mexican so we rarely go out for Mexican let alone on Cinco de Mayo.

When I discovered my annual tea party was on Cinco de Mayo, I was like I want a Mexican Tea Party. Does such a thing exist? Is it even possible to have a Mexican tea party? With some help from Google, Pinterest, and Stacy, it turns out that we most definitely can have a Mexican Tea Party. So what if it's not a "thing."

I told everyone that it was a Mexican Tea Party and bring your favorite Mexican dish. Erin was like I don't know any Mexican dishes. I was like make Mexican Wedding Cakes. She wanted to know if they were really Mexican. I was like close enough for me.

Since scones is a staple at my tea parties, I wanted to make Mexican scones if they even existed. Turns out that one can make Mexican Chocolate Chip-Oatmeal scones or even Cheddar Jalapeno scones. After looking over a few recipes, I figured I could adapt my go-to scone recipe into mini Mexican scones and that's what I did. I added some cocoa powder, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper to the batter. They were like the hot chocolate cookies at Christmas but in scone form. I did add cinnamon chips to half the batch. These might be my favorite new scone.

We had scones; we had Tres Leches Cake and churros. There were tacos and quesadillas. But you can't have a tea party without tea. Stacy found me a Mexican tea recipe that used Hibiscus petals. Thanks to World Market, I was able to find the actual petals and not just hibiscus tea. I am not a fan of iced tea but this stuff was amazing. Since I only had a 1/2 cup of petals (because I was cheap) I only made half a recipe which was definitely not enough by any means. Everyone loved it and I made sure to save Stacy a cup.

I was going to go all out and decorate with a Cinco de Mayo theme but time ran out so I went with the traditional tea party look.

Who knows next year what theme our tea party will have. I kind of liked having a theme to the tea party. We shall see...

My Mexican Tea Party probably wasn't the most "authentic" to celebrate Cinco de Mayo but it sure was fun. Maybe one day I will go out for Margaritas on Cinco de Mayo.

690. Go birdwatching

I don't even know why go bird-watching is even on the list. I like nature. I like going for hikes but I'm not one to sit and watch for nature. Maybe I thought everyone should go bird-watching at least once. Who knows.

Luckily Heckrodt Wetland Reserve is teeming with wildlife and has a bird club. The even better part is they have bird hikes periodically throughout the year so novice bird enthusiasts can learn the names of the birds and learn how to identify different birds in their yard. Since I figured there is no way, I'm going to do the whole bird-watching thing by myself with a pair of binoculars and a guidebook, I decided to participate in one of these hikes.. even if it was at 8 am on a Saturday.

Dragging Danielle and Gavin along, I joined the bird watching hike and even got my very own pair of binoculars to use. We didn't go more than 10 feet from the Nature Center before we saw our first birds. Okay so it helped there were feeders there. We saw cardinals, blue jays, robins, red-breasted blackbirds, among others. I've seen (and could identify) all of those birds. I swear we spent a good thirty minutes oohing and aahing over the birds at the feeders. Danielle and I hoped we would actually get to walk because so far I wasn't impressed.

After everyone got there fill of cardinals and robins, we headed down the boardwalk. Soon we stopped to find an board owl hanging out in top of a tree. After scanning the whole area, I finally was able to discover the owl. Even with all the pointing, I was having difficulties spotting him with my binoculars. I have to admit he was pretty cool to see and wished I brought the good camera.

There's an owl in those trees somewhere

Then we headed over to the pond. The pond had small ducks. I've seen those around the complex before. However, we also saw white herons and blue herons. The white heron was a bi tricky to pick out since he was hanging out along the edge of the marsh. A seagull was having fun trying to pull something out of the water. Danielle and I were disappointed we saw no turtles. I know I know this is a bird hike but still the turtles would have been cool.

Danielle suggested we head over the bridge. There we found a hawk and some other birds. By this time I was losing interest in the birds and wanted to get on with my day. However, since I borrowed the binoculars I needed to stay with the group.

Eventually we headed back to the nature center and I could head home. I don't mind bird watching per se but I definitely have about an hour attention span and we better be moving a lot. Maybe that's my problem, I can't stay in one place long enough to look for birds.

Will I ever bird watch again? Maybe. The right opportunity will have to present itself. Until then I will just keep wandering through the wetlands hoping to see a woodpecker or owl.