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Door County
My wife and I will be there for about three days in the middle of October. Have never been there but have heard it is beautiful. Please advise what is the best use of our time there. We are avid hikers that love the wilderness but want a great meal and bed afterwards. We would like to experience the "Fish Boil" and would love to stay at a hotel on the water. Thanks
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Can't believe you've had no responses to this. Timing: Oct. 12-13 and 19-20 are big fall festival events. Very crowded, if you like that sort of thing. Lodging may already be difficult to find if you are thinking 'weekend.' Much more recommended is a visit that skirts those dates and will greatly reduce the 'crowded' feel. Fall color is typically getting pretty well underway the last week of September and continues into mid October (tho nothing is very predictable these days.) Your weather could run from lovely 70s to snowflakes - this is the Upper Midwest after all...(-: There are many wonderful hiking options - within the state parks (Door County has five, including Peninsula, the second largest in the state) and the Door County Land Trust, which now has some 8000 acres under protection. They offer a map that details about 20 of their properties that are open for hiking. (You can check it out online) As you are probably aware, the county is surrounded by some 250 miles of shoreline - Lake Michigan on the east and the waters of Green Bay on the west. Glidden Lodge and Gordon Lodge both offer shore settings on Lake Michigan (with quite nice restaurants attached). The Shallows, just south of Egg Harbor and situated on Green Bay is very popular. The town of Ephraim (oldest community on the peninsula and very picturesque) has a number of very nice motels facing the water. The Edgewater Hotel in Ephraim does a fish boil and has a water-view dining room. There are quite a few really good dining choices including Alexander's (between Fish Creek and Ephraim), Chives (Baileys Harbor), Fireside (Egg Harbor) and Shoreline (lovely water view, Gills Rock). Mister G's (Jacksonport) will give you the 'Wisconsin supper club' experience. There is a main Door County Visitor Bureau (www.doorcounty.com), but each of the villages also operates their own information center for detailed local information. Hope this gets you started. It is a beautiful, peaceful place. |
Thank you so much for the information, particularly about the festival dates that we will definitely work around.
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Originally Posted by DurangoDave
(Post 16909576)
My wife and I will be there for about three days in the middle of October. Have never been there but have heard it is beautiful. Please advise what is the best use of our time there. We are avid hikers that love the wilderness but want a great meal and bed afterwards. We would like to experience the "Fish Boil" and would love to stay at a hotel on the water. Thanks
There are a number of fish boils, although I think the oldest might be Pellitier's in Fish Creek... that being said, the fish boil ceremony itself is over in about 90 seconds, and is roughly the same everywhere you go. There are almost a dozen places to go on a hike, state parks abound around DC and you're probably never more than 10 minutes away from hikable land. One other note .. There are a number of village "festivals" that go on in October. Maybe that's a good thing for you, maybe not. Lots of people descend upon a small area, so it can get difficult to get around in that village. If you're in that village, maybe that's awesome, maybe that's a problem if you want to escape. (I'm blowing that out of proportion. Usually it would take 2-3 minutes to get out of a village. With a festival, maybe that's 10 with a detour.) There is a unique hike to take that'll cover a lot of distance. Head north to the Washington Island Ferry. take your car and drive around the island a bit, then take another ferry to Rock Island .. (likely best to buy both ferry tickets in one transaction.) Rock Island doesn't have any cars .. it's just a big hiking/camping island. There's a unique lighthouse that's a ~2 mile hike from the dock. The Boat House where the ferry docks is .. really incredible for its location. Door County's tourist season has a hard stop, late October or 1st week of November. You might go to a restaurant on Saturday and it's closed for the season the very next day. Also, check the fall foliage map .. (google "wisconsin fall color map" .. this forum won't let me post URLs) .. peak color is usually around the 2nd-3rd week of October. But with the variety of trees, any week in October will be good. I'm happy to provide other recommendations with some more info.. |
We were blown away by Cave Point County Park, on the Eastern side of the county. A beautiful hike, very picturesque.
https://www.doorcounty.com/experienc...t-county-park/ |
My wife and I went last year and camped in Peninsula State Park. We thought it was a great park, and enjoyed seeing an outdoor play at the Northern Sky Theater. We did the fish boil at the White Gull Inn, which was fun. I'm not sure how it compares to the other fish boils in the area though as that's the only one I've been to.
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We spent last weekend on Washington Island in Door County, where I was surprised with a proposal from my (now) fiance. It was, as usual, beautiful.
Here are some pix from 2017, including Cave Point Park: https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...2ecb9e5fef.jpg https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...3e7e20e921.jpg And here are some from this weekend: https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...a9411a5b0f.jpg https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...cc23281acf.jpg https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...4087afa812.jpg |
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