On our way into Door County we were stopped at the draw bridge to allow some sail boats to pass by:
Door county is the tip of a peninsula which creates the southern shore of Green Bay. Bailey's Harbor is on the south side of the peninsula which is the lake Michigan side (less than 5 miles across to the other side). Once we were setup and the navigator was all read up on where to go and what to do, we headed for the quaint little village of Fish Creek:
We walked the streets and along the shoreline:
Houses & businesses all along the streets had beautiful landscaping with many different colorful flowers:
We drove further east on the peninsula past another quaint village of Ephrain to the village of Sister Bay. The local burger/bar & neighboring home made ice cream shop were packed with people. We found this Tiki Hut on the water where you could walk out on the marina piers:
or sit and watch the sunset:
Another day we headed to Peninsula State Park with our bikes. 1st we climbed up the 76' Eagle Tower for a great view of the park and Horseshoe Island on Lake Michigan/Green Bay side:
We then hit the Sunset bike trail starting at Nicolet Beach and rode 5 miles along the shoreline to the Fish Creek entrance of the park. The trails are all hard pack with wildflowers and great views of the water along the way:
The entrance fee ($10) for this park also covered Whitefish SP so we stopped to check it out too. Nice park with a nice long beach. Many kayakers were cruising just off the beach here:
The only downside was due to recent water temp changes there were hundreds of small alefish washed up on the beach which not only looked bad but it didn't smell so good here! From here we drove along the coast north around the whole peninsula stopping at Cana Island to check out the lighthouse on the way:
Rowley's Bay didn't have much going on but looked like a great place to launch a kayak. Gill's Rock and Northport were mostly about ferries which you could take out to Washington Island where Rock Island SP is. We kept rolling back down through Ellison Bay which had a little more to offer so it was a little busier. We stopped at Sister Bay to walk the shore. Many people enjoying the "beach" here (on a Monday afternoon - does anyone work any more?).
Another day here we biked from the campground down to Bailey's Harbor, then north 200 yds and right on some "rustic road" (according to the signs). This was a great place to take a bike ride. It goes along the shoreline with a public beach and marina along the way. At the end of the paved road you can go left on a hard packed dirt road for another mile to a culdesac. Nice ride but this is not on the recommended bike trails on the peninsula. Later we hit Egg Harbor to walk around and check out the shops. The view of the waterfront from the park there was beautiful:
After checking out the village, we drove a mile south to the Harbor Ridge Winery (& cheesery). We sampled some excellent wine and cheese and left with our hands full of good stuff! Later that night we went back down to Egg Harbor to catch the sunset. Very unique sunset with what looked like rings in the sun:
and as it set further, the sky became more colorful:
Door County is a very nice place to visit. There are so many unique quaint little villages to check out, biking, water activities and surprisingly easy to get around with all of the tourist here. We're off to Arlington Heights, IL to visit with the Napoleons after making a lunch stop in Cedarburg, WI to visit the Wulffs. More to come . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment