Door County

Our dog Cassius is a cherished member of our family.  He is kind-hearted and fairly passive, but a true adventurer and a lover of life experiences.  For these reasons, it always makes us feel a little sad when we go away on a trip and have to leave him with family.  I know he loves family, but more than that, he loves to be by our side everywhere we go.  Hanging his big scruffy head out of the car window, walking in the woods, catching a flick at the drive-in, and sniffing out interesting smells along rivers and lakes.  When we planned a short trip to Door County, Wisconsin last month, we planned it such that Cassius could be with us.  A dog-friendly hotel, a movie at a drive-in, restaurants with outdoor seating, etc.  We went for a long walk at Peninsula State Park, where I searched for wood frogs to photograph.  We also visited Ephraim Wetlands Preserve and Whitefish Dunes State Park.  Overall, we had a great trip.

Here's a picture Aimee took of me and Cassius with a multi-trunk tree.

 Aimee and Cassius at the hotel's dock on Green Bay.

 There was some fantastic geology throughout the peninsula.  Here are some features on the hotel property.

 Lots of cedars, mosses, lichens & fungi, talus rock, & karst topography.

 I found this cave at the top of a steep slope.  I decided to explore it...

 A view out from the inside.

 Our trip to Peninsula State Park was memorable.  It was a great day to search for wood frogs (Lithobates sylvaticus), and I was hopeful to see some.

 I stopped by a big fallen tree to admire all the ferns and mosses that were growing on the old root ball.  It was then that I noticed the wood frog!  It turned out to be the only one I'd see on the entire trip.  This is how I came up upon the frog - in-situ.

A closer shot of this plump forest beauty.

I moved the frog to this new pose for a few more shots.

There was no shortage of really cool fungi.  I took so many photos but there is no way I can post them all here, so here are a few select shots.

These little ones seemed to glow.

Vivid orange fungus on large rocks.

We passed this old, long-abandoned mansion and stopped to take photos.  Right on front of the house was a fresh DOR western fox snake (Pantherophis vulpinus).

Back at the hotel, I decided to return to the talus slopes to look for redback salamanders (Plethodon cinereus).

They turned up underneath almost every rock.

These are notoriously difficult to photograph.

We watched Antman at the second oldest drive-in theater in the state.

On the way back home, we stopped at Whitefish Dunes for about an hour and a half.  Here are a few shots from our short visit.