Weborg in May (Part Two)

I just love it when a plan comes together...

So it was with my plan to camp at Weborg Campground in Peninsula State Park on May 21-24 - 2010.  The weather was (mostly) nice and the birding was as phenomenal as I had dreamed (hoped) it would be. 

Lured in to my early spring junket to Door County, WI by a promise to rent those little motor-scooters when we got to the Park; son Nelson had agreed to come along.  Now Nelson probably would have gone along regardless with his old-man, however the chance to zip along on something motorized and different appealed to him immediately.  The intense birding I was planning on doing - probably not so much.  I will give him a lot of credit for even pretending to be interested in the constant avian anecdotes and factoids which I was gleefully spewing, as his face never betrayed anything different.  I actually kinda' sorta' think he may have really enjoyed the intensity of the hunt, but I'll gladly wear his admission of, "No, Dad I didn't mind at all...I really learned a lot" as a badge of honor.

While moving around the Park in our three and 1/2 registered days, both on foot and on bicycles we had brought with us we saw over 76 species of birds; many of them migrating warblers.  (No...sorry...I choked on the $ 48.00/hour quoted charge for a single motor scooter, and Nelson didn't even seem to mind my backing away from that idea) I made it up  for stiffing him on his scooter-ride the best I could, by playing three rounds of stimulating mini-golf and competative go-cart racing in amongst stopping for locally made ice cream in delicious waffle cones and other area confections.  One of the more famous of the must-do stops is in Ephraim.  The signature red and white themed place is called "Wilson's" and is a local iconic (104 year-old) restaurant and ice cream parlor that serves your basic hamburgers, fries and malts, while filling the summer-time college kid need for steady employment between semesters.  I particularly LOVE their home-brewed draft root beer.   This year I bought both of us commemorative ball caps...why?...cause I just love ball caps.  (and tee-shirts...I love those too, so I bought one)

One of the most memorable things particular to this trip to the State Park was definitely the enormous patches of brilliantly blue forget-me-nots.  Because I had never been in the park this early in the year before, I didn't know about this particular stunning display.  As I rode along one of the many bike paths in the park, I was taken with the incredible beauty of these simple flowers.  The sheer concentration of them seemed to cause the ground to glow with their natural iridescence.  Another first for this trip was the amount of trilliums in bloom and the occasional delicate yellow Lady slipper along the trails.  Mostly I just enjoyed the company of my first born, as he gladly accompanied me on each adventure I dreamed up.

The two of us had nice fire-side talks while sitting and sipping beverages, and allowed the time of day and amount of natural light to slowly lull us into a non-typical bed-time each night.  The crickets and frogs on our side of Weborg's natural marsh, cranked it up to full volume at dusk.  The cacophony was truly spectacular and would probably keep most light sleepers from drifting off to La-La land...not me...I absolutely enjoyed each chirp and croak until dawn came to nudge my eyelids open.  Bacon on the camp stove, coarse ground camp coffee, and blueberry pancakes made the trip that much more memorable, and having my oldest child along to share in the simplicity of the natural world around us, was priceless.  Memories are made of these...indeed.

Thanks for allowing me to wax familial for a bit...It meant a lot to me.

Here's our bird list from the trip:

Forget-Me-Nots in Bloom!