Iowa and Wisconsin

The Amana Colonies in Iowa were a little disappointing to me.  I'm not sure what I was expecting.  But it was just a little too "touristy" I guess.  We did see some gorgeous farmland on the way, with perfect farmhouses and barns that were even better than the houses.

We visited an old schoolhouse (built in 1870) and saw a film about the Amana religion and their community.  That was very interesting, but I'm afraid if you want to know more about them, you will have to look up their website.  I don't think I can do their story justice.  But the schoolhouse and the film and the adjacent museum were very interesting.

 Toys from the 1800's.

The old wash house was next door to the museum.  

In this building, a group of women did laundry for the entire commune.  

Doesn't that look like fun? 

Ummm....NO! NOT FUN!

At the art gallery we saw lots of wood crafts.

This is the Lily Pond.  So full of lily pads you can hardly see the water. 

Wish we could have seen them in bloom.

We did see lots of pretty wildflowers.

On Saturday, we left Amana and drove to the Door County Peninsula in Wisconsin.

Okay, Wisconsin people, who can tell me the name of this wildflower?  

We've seen them growing everywhere up here on the peninsula.

We arrived at Harbour Village RV Park, between Sturgeon Bay and Egg Harbor, Wisconsin, last Saturday.  By Sunday afternoon, I was ready to see that big Lake Michigan!  We found a little park with a beach and a pier, and I certainly was not disappointed!

While Tim went out on the pier to chat with the fisherman people, Charlie Chihuahua and I went wading in the cold water.  Well, I went wading, while Charlie tried to climb on top of my head.  He does not like water!  I really think he is some strange mix of Chihuahua and cat.

Oh, and did I say the lake water was cold?  I meant turn-your-toes-blue-icy-cold water!  And there were kids swimming in that stuff!  And it was a cloudy chilly day, maybe 75 degrees, so it's not like they could get warm when they got out of the water.

Tim is on the left.  He talks to everyone he sees if they have a fishing rod in their hands.

I don't know if you can tell. but there are some kids playing in this water. Brrrr!!!

Monday, I just wanted to see the lighthouses.  I had wanted to take a tour, maybe take a boat to some of the islands, but since our time (and money!) were limited, and we want to do a lot of stuff at Mackinac Island, we decided we would just drive around and find some lighthouses on our own.

So we did.

Sherwood Point Lighthouse

This was as close as we could get.  Big ol' No Trespassing signs everywhere.

The Coast Guard means business here.

Canal Station Pier Head Lighthouse

We walked down this loooonnnng pier to get close to it.

At the other end of the pier, back on dry land, is the Coast Guard facility 

and Canal Station Lighthouse.

We also stopped at a Farm Market and bought fresh strawberries and cherries and chocolate covered dried cherries and honey and cherry jam.  There are several cherry orchards here.  Yum.

Today (Tuesday)
Moved the 5er to Badger Park in Peshtigo, Wisconsin
Made reservations in St. Ignace
Did laundry
Had a conversation about RVing with the nice man who owns the laundry.  He owns a 5er too.
Bought groceries at WalMart in Marinette