A vacation to Door County, Wisconsin

Two weekends ago my gal pals and I took a much needed weekend trip to the Hamptons of the Midwest. That's right, peeps, Door County, Wisconsin. After trying to get my girls up there for ten years, we finally were able to plan it and they adored it. It's about four and a half hours away from Chicago and great for a long weekend. There's tons to do no matter what your interests are from biking up the coast, parasailing, paddle boarding, kayaking, to lots of shopping and great beaches. However, there are a few things which you must do if you find yourself in the Scandinavia of the US.

Stop at the Walmart in Sturgeon Bay to stock up on food and supplies. Because no trip is ever complete without a trip to the local Walmart.

Rent a condo and cook half of your meals at home. We stayed at the Landmark Resort in Egg Harbor because this is where I've been staying with my family since I was a little kid. They've got an indoor pool that's open 24 hours and we made good use of it.

Cook an awesome dinner your first night in town.

Walk around the resort and take pictures of the scenery.

Get up early in the morning for a trek to Al Johnson's for some Swedish eats.

Take obligatory pictures of the goats on the roof while waiting for a table.

Take silly pictures in the gift shop while still waiting for a table.

Fill up on Swedish EVERYTHING, including meatballs, pancakes, and lingonberry preserves (not pictured).

Go to the beach because the sun is burning holes in your skin and the only cure is jumping in a large body of cool water.

Later on, for dinner, you must witness the famous Door County fish boil. We went to Pelletier's in Fish Creek for ours.

You will learn how to bone your piece of fish, but it won't work as well as in the pictures because whoever created this manual is clearly a fish boning guru.

But aside from the bones it'll be the best piece of whitefish (caught that day!) you've ever laid on your taste buds.

The next morning you will wake up early to make breakfast, check out of your room, and then drive along Hwy 42 to visit all the shops.

You will take more obligatory pictures with the faux humans at Nan & Jerry's Bait & Tackle in Fish Creek.

Then you will stop at every food market along Hwy 42 from Fish Creek to Egg Harbor.

You will see cherry pies at every stop along the way and kick yourself for not buying one. You were conflicted because Cafe Selmarie in Chicago makes the best damn cherry streusel pie ever ever ever but when you return you will find out that it's currently "out of rotation" from their shop. You will stare longingly at this picture of scrumptious cherry pies.

And really, what trip to Wisconsin is complete without a basket of deep fried cheese curds among the best friends a girl could ask for.

Connie's Diner (Formerly Phil Rohrer's) in Two Rivers, Wisconsin

My gal pals and I took a trip to Door County last weekend (more on that in the next post). I've been up there a handful of times since grade school, but one particular trip with my brother and his wife, had us stopping at this 50 something year old small town diner called Phil Rohrer's along the way. We got burgers for like three bucks and because my affinity for greasy spoons in Small Town USA abounds, I knew I had to get back here, like stat. Well, stat became about a decade and in that decade Phil Rohrer retired and Connie took over. I may spend a lot of time going to gourmet restaurants and cooking with unusual ingredients but I am a sucker for dives who believes that therein lies the lifeblood of America. If you want to truly know America you must visit its small town diners. Connie's Diner, located about 3 hours north of Chicago, is one of them.

We arrived with empty bellies and salivating tastebuds at around lunchtime, settled down in a booth, and studied the menu.

Fresh caught fish beckoned from the specials board.

I ordered the classic, a griddle burger slathered in mayonnaise on a toasted bun. Sometimes you've gotta go for simplicity.

This is the coconut shrimp Nina ordered.

Jessie ordered the lake perch.  

 And I...well, I certainly never said there was going to be anything healthy about this place. They are famous for their "raw chips and gravy," which are freshly fried thin potato chips in a brown gravy. And surprisingly delicious. I have no idea what is in that brown gravy and I don't think I want to know.  

 I often think this decor is overdone or ends up looking like a contrived 50's diner. Back when it was Phil Rohrer's it didn't have the kitsch, which was part of the charm for me.

Our waitress did all the cooking for our table herself and brought us our food one by one as it was finished.

 To finish the meal off I ordered a slice of delicious homemade custard pie and Jessie ordered the red velvet cake.

A vacation to the Upper Peninsula in Michigan

Over the week of July 4th, my brother, Chris, his wife, Karen, and I went to the Upper Peninsula in Michigan. We specifically stayed in the Les Cheneaux Islands in the uber-cute coastal town of Hessel. The Les Cheneaux Islands hold special meaning for my family because my great-great grandfather, William Henry Coryell, homesteaded one of those islands. It is his namesake (and mine)- Coryell Island (Coryell is my middle name). There is a lot of family history up there and I hadn't been to the area since I was 7 years old, so I don't remember a whole lot but my brother spent a lot of time there in his youth, staying at the cottage of my great aunt Ruth, who inherited it from her mother (William's daughter). I had anticipated this trip for years, always wanting to go but never finding the right time and expected a trip to Coryell Island to be easy-peasy, but in fact it wasn't. This is because our family is no longer on the island and so we really had nowhere appropriate to dock our boat. We were able to beach it and walk around the island, but it felt weird, like it just wasn't ours anymore. Which was kind of sad and kind of cathartic because it's been 10 years since my great aunt died and the cottage was sold and all this time we've felt like we were missing out on something that truly belonged to us. It was the realization that it isn't ours anymore that made it bittersweet.

This is the entrance to the Mackinac Bridge, which was slightly hair-raising to cross. It gets very windy, the bridge moves slightly, and the rails to the side are a little on the short side. We drove very slowly over the bridge - you can only go about 30, especially on windy days.

There are those short rails I was telling you about...

We arrived at the cabin we rented at around dinnertime. I died of cuteness when I entered - it was just so rustic and comfortable I had no real desire to leave it for the week. This was our beautiful view of Lake Huron.

That's my brother Chris. We mostly did this while we were at the cabin, in various places, like the beach, the living room, the front porch, the kitchen.

This is the view of Lake Huron from our cabin. I fell in love and wish I could spend my summers up here. I need to get into a career that allows me to have my summers off.

This is the view to the west of our cabin. We stayed at Hessel on the Lake, which has got to be the nicest resort on any of the Les Cheneaux Islands. Just a quarter of a mile beyond those trees is "downtown Hessel," which consisted of a bar & grill, craft shop, super cute grocery store/deli/cafe/ice cream shop, and a boat store.

The name of our cabin was Higgins House.

At night, we walked around and I attempted to capture the beauty of this town.

This is Hessel Grocery, the cutest little cafe and grocery store outside of Southport Grocery here in Chicago. Unfortunately, I didn't get to eat in the cafe, but I sure enjoyed being enchanted by its charm.

Look! It's an actual phone booth!  Yes, people still use them here I guess. Cell phone service is almost nonexistent!

This is the Hessel Post Office.

And EJ Mertaugh Boat Works, a boat shop in Hessel.

Here's my brother on a boat.

We spent some time in downtown Cedarville, which is 3 miles east of Hessel. It's where the area grocery store is, the schools, and the library, pictured here.

I'm on a boat!

We were able to get to Coryell Island and see the old family cottage. Here is the boat house. Nothing has changed.

Here is my brother and I in front of the family cottage. It looks exactly the same as I remembered.

The weather up there was unseasonably warm and virtually no one has a/c because it's not generally needed. Of course, we were up there during an intense heat wave. Luckily, I was able to jump in Lake Huron any time I got too sweaty for my own good, which was about every day.

Hey there! That's my sister-in-law, Karen on the right.

We cooked a lot while we were there. We bought a bag of potatoes that lasted us the whole week. On one of the days I made these with sliced red onion. They were insanely delicious.

We went to the Cedarville Historical Museum and got to see some things related to the Coryell family. In the bottom right corner, you can see my name on the registry. I didn't even know it was there so that was fun. While there, I informed the docent of my connection to the island and she was thrilled and remembered that she had recently found old photographs of the family in one of her desk drawers in the back. She graciously brought them out to show us and informed us how rare an occasion it was for her to meet a Coryell descendant.

My great-great grandfather, William Henry Coryell married Louisa Sherman (both pictured in the middle of the first row)  in the mid 1800s and they had 12 children. The one in the bottom row on the far left is my great grandmother. Myrtle May Coryell. When William homesteaded Coryell Island in the late 1800s, he built a lean-to and had space for cows and other animals. Since it was an island, it was only accessible by boat so winters were particularly rough. It continually amazes me what our ancestors went through to make a life. People today don't have the constitution for this kind of stuff.

In the middle row on the left is my great grandmother Myrtle holding my grandfather, Kenneth Sherman Jacobs. Her mother is the far right in the middle row - Louisa Sherman.

Here are more pictures posted in the museum. This one on the bottom right is of my great uncle Gene and his cousin, Louis.

That is my grandpa Jacobs on the far right alongside his cousins and his brother (at the front).

I have more pictures that I will post, but this was an enjoyable trip. I cannot wait to go back there again; it is truly a respite from the hustle of the city - no cell service, everything is slow-paced, and it was very relaxing.