We spent the remaining week of vacation up in Door County peninsula, in Wisconsin. My other sister and her husband joined us, and all eleven of us proceeded to have a pretty roaring good time shopping, eating delicious food (seems to be a defining factor of Schellpfeffer family vacations), and drinking wayyyy too much coffee. 

We drove through Peninsula State Park and climbed all 76 feet of Eagle Tower to get a good look at Horseshoe Island (above). It was very windy. . .

I hunted amongst the sea of etched names for the "Alan + Noel" that I had etched into a heart when we had visited years ago, the summer we were engaged, but alas, I couldn't find it.

My sister Sarah and her beautiful family.

Then we stopped by a nature center and looked at butterflies and bugs. . .

And stopped by Nan and Jerry's (a bait and tackle shop) and took this tradional picture (we have a picture of me and my sisters with Nan and Jerry from every year we went there as kids). . .

(My sister and her husband, and the bane of vacation pictures everywhere: strangers)

Later in the week we headed over to White Fish Dunes State Park, and hiked through the evergreen forest along the rocky, cliff-filled coast of Lake Michigan (perhaps my favorite part of the trip) while the rest of the gang enjoyed the beach. Then we met up in the forest for lunch. . .

Indy got a little fresh air-crazed and then ravenously ate a nectarine. . .

And the rest of vacation was filled with all manners of frozen dairy desserts, maple syrup, Door Country cherry products, various sandy beaches, insect catching, and of course campfire-enjoying. . .

and tent-living. . .

I'm sad it's over, but glad to be home.

Welcome to summer vacation 2012 - part one. We started the vacation in Governor Dodge state park in Wisconsin, and spent three days there with my parents and my sister, her husband, and two kids. We went there all the time when I was a kid, but I hadn't been there in probably close to a decade. We hiked Stephen's Falls (which wasn't very fall-y, thanks to the drought). . .

(can someone say band cover photo?)

Stephen's Falls  is the old farm property of the Stephen's family, and one of my favorite parts of that hike is visiting the old "refrigerator" built into the side of a hill. An underground spring bubbles up and the whole floor is water with a few stepping stones and an area sectioned off to safely store perishables in the icy water. 

And when we weren't hiking, we were eating. Have you ever used pudgy-pie-makers? Alan grew up camping with these exact pie-makers. The idea is to sandwhich delicious ingredients (either sweet or savory) between two slices of bread or some sort of dough, butter liberally, and fry up over the fire. 

Hungry baby is hungry. Fear not hungry baby. . .

food is on the way. And for now we'll end on this note. . .

early morning camping-haired banana baby.

Stay tuned for part two - Door County, coming soon!