North of the Tension Line

Took my traveling buddy (aka Manny) back up to Door County this weekend for the FOPPI Annual Volunteer Picnic.  We took Christie's little Nissan instead of my Cobalt, as it's still waterlogged -- Christie's car is so little that the Ferry Line was able to squeeze it on SIDEWAYS! 

I'm not sure if the captain recognized me or that he's just very accomodating to all guests, but I asked if we were going to go past the Plum Island range lights so I could get a picture of them lined up, he hadn't planned on it but offered to do it for me.  So I got my 'perfect' picture.

When the range lights are aligned the mariner knows to start turning into the channel. 

Manny found some floatsam from a shipwreck and I wished that I would have taken some pictures of the floatsam that I saw last month as it wasn't visible anymore.  That's what I get for not charging my camera batteries the night before!

We had over 90 people at our volunteer picnic which was awesome as last year we had six!  My good friend, Dan Nilsson was awarded Volunteer of the Year for his dedication to FOPPI.  He highly deserved the recognition; I only wished he could have been there -- I would have loved to have seen the look on his face when his name was announced.  We sold about $500 of FOPPI merchandise and are ready for a reorder!  Yahoo!  We'll get that Coast Guard Station painted yet!

Manny had such a great time that I only saw him when we left the boat and when we boarded it to go back to Washington Island!  In between he was spotting poison ivy, running back and forth for supplies, carrying gear and being an all around awesome helper.  It's a time when he can run around and just be a boy.  Instead of bringing back smelly crab claws, this time he searched the beach for lake coral and found some awesome specimens. 

On the way back to our cottage I stopped at School House beach to show him the neat rocks there.  He tried to wade in the water but slipped and fell so ended up joining the other kids on the raft -- in his clothes!

Sunday we went to the Farm Museum, which is an open-air museum filled with neat old artifacts from days long gone on Washington Island.  I enjoyed being able to experience the museum at my own pace while he explored and just called out whenever a photo op came up.

We stopped off at the Door County Maritime Museum in Gills Rock on the way back to the Ferry and he learned about the Lyle Gun, fishing tugs, and shipwrecks.  And again, another photo op.

I've got a feeling he had a great time.  He made note of the fact that he's had more cool experiences by the age of 13 than I had -- how'd he know?