For years, my neighbors have talked to me about their favorite summer vacation spot – Door County, Wisconsin. My take on it was that we have a great Lake Michigan shoreline and cool towns, so why drive 350 miles to see more of the same?
Well, a few years ago, Jackie and I decided to make the drive. We discussed taking one of the ferries out of Ludington or Muskegon, but with the cost and little time-savings, we ended up driving. We drove through Chicago, taking I-90 north to Highway 43 to Manitowoc at the southern edge of the peninsula jutting into Lake Michigan. The mild and most popular northern side of the peninsula is sheltered from the winds and rougher waves by the Green Bay that protects the cozy villages sprinkled along the northern shore.
We drove through a half dozen small towns, between Manitowoc and Sturgeon Bay, being very tempted to stop at every antique shop and art gallery, but knowing we still had a way to go on these winding two-lane roads, we resisted the temptation.
Sturgeon Bay is the southern beginning of Door County. It is an old industrial town with large bridges over the ship canal connecting both sides of the peninsula. Dozens of barges and tugboats could be seen lining the canal below as we crossed the bridge heading north.
Immediately crossing into Door County, and heading to Egg Harbor, we began to get a feel for what Door County is all about – grape orchards, farms, and gorgeous views of the water. Just south of Egg Harbor at about dusk, our car broke down and we were a little worried until we had a tow truck take us to our motel and take our car to Baileys Harbor on the southern side of Door County for repair.
We stayed at the Lull-Abi Inn in Egg Harbor a neat and clean motel with a friendly owner. He gave us the rundown on the handful of restaurants in town. We settled on Mojo Rosa’s, a Mexican restaurant down the street. The next morning we rode bikes around the Egg Harbor, stopping at Alpine Resort, an old Bavarian resort with dozens of rooms and cottages along a gorgeous stretch of the harbor. The weather was sunny and warm so we decided to ride the ten miles across the island to Baileys Harbor. This bike ride through rolling farmland, without a car in sight, ended up being one of the highlights of the trip.
The owner of the repair shop drove about 30 miles to find a part at a junk yard and had our car fixed by 10:30 a.m. Baileys Harbor is a small, peaceful town with a dozen or more quaint stores. On the car ride back to Egg Harbor, we stopped for lunch at the Coyote Inn on Kangaroo Lake in the middle of the peninsula.
We drove north to Ephraim and checked in at the Bay Breeze. Ephraim has been described as one of the prettiest villages in the Midwest and with wooden buildings, church steeples and sailboats lining the bay, it would be hard to argue. Since the 1850’s, Ephraim has an unwritten law that dictates that all buildings must be painted white or left as natural wood. At the hotel, we asked about a local tradition, the “Fish Boil” and were told that one was starting in about 5 minutes at the Old Post Office Restaurant and we needed to hurry to make it.
We pulled into the parking lot behind the restaurant to see a large caldron in the middle of an open area with about 40 people surrounding the boiling fish. As it was being cooked, we were entertained by a gentleman that looked and acted the part of an old sea captain giving us the history of the “Fish Boil” sprinkled with fish-related jokes and facts. It was very entertaining and ended with kerosene being poured on the fire and the pot boiling over. We all headed into the restaurant to be served this local white fish delicacy. For dessert, we stopped at Art Wilson’s for ice cream, another “don’t miss “spot in Door County.
The next morning we rode our bikes along five miles of the Peninsula State Park shoreline. Parts of the trail bring you high above the water with gorgeous views of green islands far out in the bay. In the center of the park is Nicolet Bay, a beautiful sandy beach tucked back into a horseshoe shaped harbor. Kayaks and canoes are available for rental.
For lunch, we drove to Sister Bay and the legendary Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant. The food is great, being served by waitresses in traditional Swedish dresses, but the highlight is outside. The roof of the restaurant is covered in grass, and at the peak, three live goats spend their day lazily napping in the sun.
We continued north to Ellison Bay where we found a great trail leading up into the top of the rocky shoreline. Once you reach the top, by hanging onto tree roots, you can make your way down to the rock-covered shore, where previous hikers have built crazy rock statues out of the large flat rocks lining the shore. Our last stop was Gil’s Rock at the tip of the peninsula, a very quiet fishing village that has ferries taking folks to Washington Island further out into Lake Michigan.
We had breakfast in Fish Creek, the busiest village in Door County, with dozens of unique stores, restaurants and wall-to-wall people even in the fall.
We headed back south the next morning, stopping at several art galleries, wineries and fruit markets along the way. We spent three nights in Door County and felt that we gotten a good feel for this area but really only scratched the surface. All of the great things we had heard were true and we will be making Door County one of our regular vacation spots.
