After our house was booked solid all summer long, we finally had it to ourselves again over Labor Day.  It was SO good to be back!  We arrived to wonderful letters written by our renters telling us how much they loved our house and their stay on Washington Island.  And for some, promises to be back next summer!  We were left fabulous artwork by the kids who stayed in our house and some beautiful drawings on rocks for each of our own kiddos.  We are so happy that the families that came to stay loved it there as much as we do.  And, we are so grateful that they all treated our home like they would their own.  Thank you renters!  We loved reading all of your letters and hope you'll come back again!

We had a lot people who loved dining at Fiddler's Green and Sailor's Pub.  We hadn't been to either of those places since we had kids so we were happy to hear that they were still good stops.  Since our kids are little bit older and pretty good at eating out we decided to go for an early seating at Sailor's Pub outside on the patio, overlooking the water, with the sun setting.  Perfect.  The food did not disappoint. I had fried perch with a honey wasabi dipping sauce.  My husband had a pasta with lobster.  My mother in law had whitefish right out of the lake.  Our kids ate everything we had, including very good dinner salads.  It was great!

Another favorite stop this summer is the newly opened Island Bread Co.  Yummy bread and a fun stop before you get your cup of joe at the Red Cup and a good book to read at Island Books.

 Here's the newly built wood burning fire they use to bake some of the bread.  It smelled wonderful!

 The water was the absolute lowest I've ever seen it.  There were rock bars that we could wade out to and build rock towers.  We also just sunk our chairs in the water and watched the kids splash around.

 One morning a rare kyaker came by.  

 And stopped to fish.  Can you see our rock towers on the rock bar?

 This time we didn't see any sandhill cranes on our shores.  But driving around the island one day we spotted them!  I think we counted up to 33 of them!

 Something else new on the island is the the Island Dairy.  It's off the beaten path and looks like it could be an ale and cheese house.  It was once the island dairy and has been other things since but has been sitting untouched for many years.  Until this year when it was bought by a couple who completely restored it and turned it into something absolutely stunning.  My photos don't even do it justice.  The first floor is a gallery with a little island history.  The upstairs is a beautiful space that they will rent out for events like wedding etc.  Like I said, these photos don't do it justice because there are large windows that overlook nothing but land...the views are stunning.  The space, not to mention is pretty amazing too.  Just look at everything!  That huge fireplace, those doors that lead out to a second story deck.  It would be a perfect place to host an event!  There's talk of using this space, when not in use, as a place to come and have homemade soup, island bread, and play games and lounge in comfy furniture.  Watch for new developments for this place, it sounds like they aren't even close to the things that have dreamed up for this place.  Make sure you stop by on your next visit.  I loved seeing photographs of a Wisconsin photographer in their gallery!

 Someone was smart enough to grab up our place over Columbus Day weekend, one of our favorite weekends on the island.  Lucky them!  But, we'll be back a lot more in the fall.  Unless, of course, you beat us to it!  :)