An Ideal Day on Washington Island

For the past few years as we worked toward our goal of retiring, we often started conversations “So – speaking of retirement...” During these conversations we added to our list of things that needed to be done, ticked off progress made, but mostly talked about how we imagined our lives would be apart from work. Now that we’re actually living the dream, so to speak, a recent day captured it beautifully.

We caught an early morning ferry (“Just the two a yuhs?”) from the very tip of Wisconsin’s “thumb” sticking out into Lake Michigan across “Death’s Door” to Washington Island. It had probably been a quarter century since we’d made the trip. With no real plan, we eventually found ourselves at Jackson Harbor, looking a mile and a half across open water at Rock Island. The weather looked, the winds were light, so we decided to seize the carp and paddle over to the island. Rock Island is actually a Wisconsin State Park with regular ferry service during the summer months. This early in the season there was no ferry, so we had the island to ourselves. We spent several pleasant hours wandering the trails and exploring historic sites.

Back at the dock we relaxed and hydrated (it’s a safety issue) with an adult beverage before heading to the island’s performing arts center to watch the local school kids perform the musical “We are Monsters“. Pretty impressive for grade school kids. It must have been exciting for the kids to perform in front of an enthusiastic packed house. It was fun for us to be able to peer through this little window into island life.

After the play it was off to Fiddler’s Green Pub. Kate, the proprietor, is a fascinating lover of music and pub funkiness. Two long time friends of Kate came in to play and sing in the most informal of settings. By the end of the evening everyone in the bar had pretty much met everyone else, and also had been invited to play or sing. A friend of the musicians bravely picked up a guitar and shared a song. It was a magical evening.We ended up back at some property owned by a friend of a friend who graciously and enthusiastically encouraged us to stay on his land. We spent another peaceful night in the 4Runner.

As we imagined and dreamed, this was exactly the kind of day we hoped for…being active in beautiful places, meeting new people and adding unique experiences to our memory bank. Clearly, you don’t have to be retired to enjoy a day like this. You just have to look for, and then say yes when opportunities arise. For our part, we’re going to continue to seize the carp wherever and whenever possible.