The Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity at St. Agnes Convent in Green Bay decided to take a road trip to Door County on Monday March 8th, since Sister Elena Gonzales was on spring break. Sister Jan Villemure tells the story. Sister Elena provided the pictures.
Because the shops are not open yet, Sister Elena mapped out some natural wonders we could visit. We traveled from one to the next with our handy GPS. There weren’t throngs of tourists crowding the sidewalks nor bumper to bumper cars and parking spots all taken. The weather was great for the whole day—570 on the car dash at 4:30 pm. All this added to our relaxed enjoyment of the day.
After beginning the day at St. Agnes Church with Mass and the convent for Morning prayer, we visited the following places:
Wequiock Falls Park and Jean Nicolet Historical Site.
Sister Anne Marie Selinsky’s family spent many happy times in this park and it was a trip back in time for her. Sister Elena and Sister Jan Villemure saw it for the first time. Muddy though it was to get from the parking lot to the falls because of the melting snow, we were doubly rewarded: Part of the falls were flowing freely, and part were still frozen solid. What a gorgeous phenomenon!
White Dunes State Park
The nature center was familiar to Sister Jan as she visited this site when on the Collins Marsh board. They were touring other sites to get ideas for the new nature center at Collins. The sign at this site said, “Heaven isn’t a place to go, it’s all around us.” This proved to be so true with all the beauty we saw.
Cave Point Park
This was a beautiful spot with the huge waves of Lake Michigan crashing in the caves and up into the air. The ice patches on the rocks we climbed made it challenging, but the ice and water made the sights gorgeous.
In Ephraim, Sister Bay, and Ellison Bay we walked the streets a bit. We had lunch at Shipwrecked in Ellison Bay. Then we visited Ephraim Bluff with its aquamarine ice flows on the bay side. A couple told us about Cana Lighthouse, so we cut across to the lake side again to see that site on the way home. Sister Elena recalled the day the temporary professed walked to the island on the shallow strip of rock. No way could we do that in the cold water this day.
Of course, no trip is complete without ice cream. We got some at Renard’s near Sturgeon Bay. We ended our day with Evening Prayer at home.
