We’ve been home a couple of hours and I’m already grouchy. Damn shih tzu. Damn cold house. Damn, damn, damn.

Which is not the way I planned to start the post about the last day of vacation, so let’s scratch all of that and start over…

We headed home early this morning, after one last soak in the super-hot, extra large tub and some awesome french toast. One last glass of Door County cherry juice and four or five trips up and down that staircase to get the car packed.

We stopped at GLAS (the coffee shop I mentioned yesterday) for another cup of awesome coffee and I grabbed a bag of skateboard blend to help support the fundraising drive for the Sturgeon Bay skateboard park. (I have a weakness for skateboarders.)

Then, we headed for Renard’s for cheese. Siri was confused about where Renard’s was and after driving an extra 10 miles through farmville, I turned around and ignored her directions in favor of my own memory… we had our photo taken with the mouse and bought a TON of cheese, a cherry pie and some sort of sausage. We’ll be eating cheese for a month, which is ok by me. Mmmm, cheese.

Next stop, the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help which was super interesting but our timing was horrendous. 11am on Ash Wednesday (Sassymonkey informed me that it was not Ash Wednesday, which just goes to show that vacation causes time to stand still and early Easter really throughs me.) Oy. The gift shop wasn’t open because of Mass and the Stations of the Cross were covered in 3′ of snow with a not very good path between them. We braved the snow at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Monastery but this was more snow and less ice and seemed … just too difficult. I kind of wish we’d done it anyway. Ah well, we will go back — and we’ll make sure we do it at a better day/time.

And then, the uneventful but enjoyable drive home. Mid-40’s and sunshine until we hit Cook County, where it turned dreary and colder. Blah.

It’s nice to be home with Skeeter and the prairie dogs. (Both were very happy to see us and Skeeter is happily sleeping ON MY PILLOW with TW now.)

It was a great vacation — I highly recommend Door County in the off-season. If you go, you should stay at the Colonial Gardens B&B, you’ll love it. (hah, click the link — that’s pretty much what it looked like — all that snow, though it was really starting to melt nicely by the time we left. See the top of the stairs, on the left side of the house — that leads to the Bungalow Suite, which was the room I chose. The very pink and awesome room.)

I had only planned a few things for today, because TW had to get some work done and because we’ve had some really full days so it seemed like a good time to slow down a bit.

I took a short nap in the morning and then we headed out to visit the Door County Maritime Museum and from there we stopped at GLAS and had one of the best caramel macchiatos ever. Seriously. What a great coffee shop. We’ll be stopping there again in the morning, on our way home.

We headed back across the bridge, parked on 3rd and walked over to the Door County Dogs/Stove Dog Bakery where we bought a couple more dog toys. Then, a walk past the old Carnegie Free Library on our way to the current library that also houses the Miller Art Museum.

Wow. We did not expect that quality of art in a little free museum inside of a little library. Amazing. And, we spent $100 in the little gift shop (they only take cash or checks so I had to walk/run 3 blocks to an ATM, sheesh.)

Next, we popped into the Door County Confectionery shop and another toy store on 3rd and then headed to the Door Peninsula Winery so TW could buy cherry bitters and I dunno what other kind of alcohol. We also bought a variety of olive oils and vinegars.

After a couple of hours back at the B&B, we walked over to the Inn at Cedar Crossing for dinner. Everything was EXCELLENT. The artichoke/gorgonzola dip, the mushroom ravioli, the grilled asparagus, the stuffed chicken and the cherry pie. It was all really, really good.

Another great day.

Ya know, I know people walk around on iced over lakes and drive on them but I’ve never actually SEEN that done, southern woman that I am. I saw it today and didn’t like it. Have those people not heard stories of people falling through the freaking ice? And at the end of March? Gah. No.

We made it to Lautenbach’s Orchard & Winery, in hopes of a sleigh ride but there were no sleigh rides available. Instead, we shopped for a ton of cherry products and though we weren’t hungry we didn’t let that stop us from buying a couple of (amazing) cherry donuts and a cherry soda. I should have taken that as a sign that we were going to eat way – too – much.

We wandered around Fish Creek where we saw KIDS walking on ICE and their parents LAUGHING and TAKING PHOTOS. Crazy people, I tell you, and then headed to Egg Harbor.

I was really hoping the Edgewood Orchard Gallery would be open, it wasn’t. I was even more disappointed once I actually saw the place. The sculpture garden was amazing and we’ll have to go back when there’s no snow.

I don’t know how it happened but we ended up in some girly shop, Kim’s Boutique and even more surprising we spent an awful lot of money on things we would not normally buy. It was fun and the boutique just happened to be across the street from Greens n Grains, the place I’d picked out for us to eat lunch.

Next stop, Door County Coffee & Tea, (where we bought more coffee and desserts we haven’t actually eaten, yet) and Pet Expressions (yes, we bought presents for Skeeter).

After a long, long day, we headed back to the B&B for a nap … or that’s what we were doing when I impulsively turned onto HWy 57 to drive past The Farm (darn, it’s still closed) and then we ended up almost to Bailey’s Harbor before I turned around and headed back so we could have our nap.

Such a weird vacation — sporadic cell service and by 5pm I hadn’t turned on my laptop AT ALL. I’m surprised I could nap with all of the withdrawal symptoms…

After our nap, we decided to give The Greystone Castle a try for dinner. Aye yi yi. TOO MUCH FOOD (and a whole lot of taxidermy) – 3 hours later and I’m still stuffed.