But there is no picture – don’t get excited. I wasn’t able to get the wolf’s permission. I just thought that would be a good way to get started telling about today in Door County.

More rain than we thought. Colder than we thought. We started our day with breakfast at White Gull Inn, Fish Creek. Most of us tried the Limpa toast with chopped cherry jam and it did live up to its reputation. Our plan was to visit a few stores and galleries during the rainy, windy and cold part of the day and try to hike in the afternoon. Turns out that was an excellent plan.

I got my souvenir shopping over at the first tourist store we went to. There are so many of them, and they are all attractive. They’re full of T-shirts and sweatshirts with place names, and of course, Door County is on all of them. I found my hiker medallions for Peninsula State Park, which I knew we would be hiking later in the day (and a sweatshirt, gloves and extra waterproof jacket because I was really cold).

We went to Edgewood Gallery next and spent an hour looking at all kinds of sculptures, paintings and jewelry. Many of the sculptures were large, outdoor pieces placed along landscaped paths. Pictures are better than words…

It hadn’t rained and was starting to warm up so we had a quick lunch in one of our motel rooms. I think everyone on this trip really enjoys our camaraderie, especially the time spent talking over meal times. Last night we covered our progressive deafness and hearing aides. Today it was dementia, ALS and MRI panic attacks. You can probably guess our age range. Actually, I am the oldest and feel a little like an imposter among them, but I’m here and that’s what counts.

We all wanted to get out on a hike, so we did the Hemlock Trail at Peninsula State Park. Here is where we saw the Grey Wolf. It was fairly close and crossed the path ahead of us. It turned and looked at us long enough that we could tell it wasn’t a deer or a dog. Then it disappeared into the woods on the other side – an uncommon sighting. What a great place with excellent views of the bay, and beautiful cedar forests. The observation tower at the end was quite an impressive structure. It had a long winding ramp that climbed above the canopy and ended at the top of the tower.

Every day winds down with what is called a debriefing. We were talking about why it was called that when it’s really more like a happy hour. It doesn’t matter. Today it’s going to be at the pool and hot tub.

We have dinner reservations at a very nice restaurant at 7. I don’t know if I’ll feel like writing after we get back so I’m signing off here. More tomorrow.