Mark and I had a wonderful opportunity to spend a weekend on Washington Island in Door County a couple of weeks ago. We seized the chance and enjoyed ourselves immensely! The top picture is of us thrilled at the specatular beauty of the Lake Michigan shoreline. This picture shows my excitement crossing "Death's Door," the name of the waters between the mainland at Gill's Rock and Washington Island.
These tiny little guys are juniper berries--and the reason why we came to Washington Island. One of Mark's products is "Death's Door Spirits" and one of their products is gin. Gin is made from juniper berries and "Death's Door" was sponsoring a "Juniper Festival" for some of their associates. 
Juniper berries grow on these rather large bushes and we spent about 3 hours painstakingly picking these puppies off their prickly branches (hence the protective gloves Mark is wearing in the previous picture). It was interesting learning more about the actual distillation process.
I have to be totally honest. Although it looks like I'm being a good berry picker in this picture, Mark ended up doing most of the harvesting, as I was precoccupied with snapping photos of the beautiful landscape and plantlife on this little farm in the far northeast corner of the island.
The blue berries are ripe and the green berries are not ripe.
There were about 20 of us participating in the Juniper Festival events that weekend. You can see a few in the middle of this picture behind Mark who is in the foreground.
A delightful little bird nest.
Working on the island at the hotel we were staying at was our friend Kate, who used to be our banquet coordinator at Morels! It was great catching-up with her and she treated us to a special private tour of the island! It was great!
The island's shoreline is really quite interesting because it changes so drastically from one "beach" to the next. This little beach we went to was definitely harsh, jagged, and very rocky. The waves were quite frequent and intense here too. We definitely understood how the name "Death's Door" emerged from the old Native American history of a passage under duress.
Kate and me
This shoreline was a few miles away (the island is 17 sq. miles in area) close to the ferry.
Tundra swans were swimming casually around this area.
This is yet another shoreline of the island. Kate informed us that Lake Michigan waters are quite low this year.
King Mark ruling the shore!
Our first night on the island we enjoyed a meal hosted at our hotel by Death's Door Spirits.
Day 2 of our visit was just as beautiful as day 1.
The Washington Island Hotel.
Mark and I drove to Tower Park and climbed MANY stairs to get to the tower and MANY more stairs to go up the tower! Whew! We enjoyed the view of the island and Lake Michigan.
Mark walking down the stairs that lead us out of the park.
We had to wake before sunrise on Monday to catch the first ferry off the island. Our early rising was well-rewarded with a sky full of color and a dark shoreline. It was amazing.
On the mainland we treated ourselves to an scrumptious breakfast at The White Gull Inn.
We had a leisurely drive upon returning home. We decided to drive down the "other side" of the peninsula where there isn't as many cute little towns. A spur-of-the-moment decision was to stop by Cave Point County Park, which was really small, but packed quite a fun, dramatic punch! Initially, I didn't even have my camera out, but I quickly retrieved it upon taking a few steps out. This is a place where you don't want to have unsupervised children--because you can walk right next to some rather steep cliffs and walk about slippery rocks--but it is really, really fun because you can do those things! You feel connected to the beauty there. Here, the water comes in and....
crash!
The shoreline is carved from the pelting waters and the rocks have prehistoric critters imprinted upone them. Why I didn't take a picture is beyond me. I really think I was so in love with this place, that I couldn't think straight!
Mark walks gingerly among the stony shore.
Charming little pools of clear water line the area.
Splash!
Just the water tumbling over some little rocks was mesmerizing to watch.
Ducks struggling with the waves at White Dunes State Park (which is located right next to Cave Point).
