Yankee Southern Transplants in the Upper Midwest: Explore the Door

Door County is the peninsula of NE Wisconsin that juts out into Lake Michigan and separates the Green Bay (the City of GB is at the bottom of the Bay) from Lake Michigan. Door County is widely known throughout Wisconsin and beyond for ample recreational opportunities (including 5 state parks, one of which requires a ferry ride), >300 miles of beautiful lakeshore, and charming beach towns and marinas, not to mention the famous produce (especially cherries and apples). In addition to weekender Wisconsinites, this area receives a lot of visitation from out-of-state, and the Chicago area of Illinois most especially. It feels very beachy (or at least similar to the shore towns where I grew up in South Jersey), minus two very notable components: the smell of salt water and the waves.

We decided to take a scoping trip up to the Door to see what we could see. We had a little bit of information, but just planned to play it by ear for the day. There is a nice scenic byway loop that takes you up one side and down the other (depending on your direction, you could do either way- we did bayside up, lakeside down). Along the way are a number of small towns with quaint shops, farm stands, wineries, and swanky resorts, lodges, and homes. Since it's cherry season right now, all of the farm stands had nearly every product imaginable that could be produced from cherries- jams, jellies, pie fillings, salsas, mustards, wines, barbeque sauces, baked goods, chocolate, fudge...and the list goes on. We ended up finding the Door County Festival of Fine Arts, so we walked around the small fair and enjoyed the sights in Waterfront Park, Sister Bay. Cherry pie for lunch (of course) from Seaquist's Orchards (the link has a neat video on harvesting cherries), and then an early dinner at Shipwrecked Brew Pub & Inn in Egg Harbor. We finished off the day by hanging out in Jacksonport at Lakeside Park's public beach. A refreshing first swim in Lake Michigan!

We already decided we will need a couple more targeted trips out that way- a winery tour, camping, hiking and biking at the state parks, and a seasonal trip during apple season. Lots of year-round festivals to check out, all less than an hour away!