My wife and I would like to plan a long weekend (Thurs-Sun)getaway to Door County in late April. I seem to remember that we have a Doper from the area, but since the search is down, I can’t find them directly. I wanna say it’s Bibliocat, but I could be way off.
So, to anyone who lives there or has been there, can you give us some advice? Where’s a good place to stay? What are fun things to do in the spring? Places to eat? We haven’t settled on an exact location and really don’t have any reason to prefer the Bay side vs. the Lake Michigan side or any location in particular. We’ve just heard it is a beautiful place to visit in the Spring.
Things to do…count Illinois License plates
It’s been a while since we stayed up there (used to live in the Appleton area), but the majority of the lodging, restaurants and shops are on the Bay side. A lot of them have very limited hours during winter but by April things should be returning to normal.
Bring money, lots of it. Tons of it. Half as much again as you might figure.
My SO had a friend whose aunt ran a resort-y type thing up there, and she worked there during the summer. They had a separate boarding house for the (mostly Polish) help.
My SO and I took a trip up there, and ran out of money fast. We found a Motel 6 that was cheap (@110 a night) in Sturgeon Bay and stayed there for 2 nights. We made a couple of emergency trips regarding her friend, who was working on the tip of DC, quite a drive from our motel. Suddenly we didn’t have enough money to get home, and spent 4 days living with 8 Polish drinking machines…
But I digress. It’s pretty up there, very very pretty. There are a couple bays that you can swim in in summer, very nice scenic parks, and a billion boutiques lining the streets. The restaurants are overpriced and probably not worth it, but theres no avoiding them.
I remember that there were 2 highways on each side of DC, one seemed to be the scenic route, one was more tourist-y.
I’ll remember more later…
ETA: Get some cherries to get over the hype. They are pretty tasty.
What to do in Door County…when I was a kid my family went up there for a weekend and my brother took the head off a lawn ornament deer. I also remember a lake or something, and maybe a few chickens. That was about it.
I don’t understand this at all. Door County is dirt cheap by touristy, seasonal resort area standards. Sturgeon Bay isn’t really in the most popular tourist areas and the prices are on par with most small to average sized midwestern cities. Certainly cheaper than Milwaukee and Madison.
I guess what I meant was that is was waaaaay more expensive that what you’d expect for a place like Door County and Sturgeon Bay, which are really small towns in out-of-the-way places. Sure, you’re paying less than half what you would for a hotel room on the Loop, but the experience you get from it is very empty. Crappy food, full of FIBs… I guess is is a bit like Chicago! ducks
Plus, I took that trip in college, money was tight. I was expecting Six Flags, I got Disneyland.
Do not, repeat, DO NOT, go to a white fish boil!!!
It sounds like such a local fun ethnic thing to do . It is not. It is evil.
They take this funky Lake Michigan fish (which happens to be white) and chop it up, bones and all, and pitch it into a big pot with other stuff (who knows what) and boil it over a fire. Then, because the fish is oily or something, right before they take it out of the pot, they pour kerosine onto the fire which causes the pot to boil over. This theoretically causes the oily bits or whatever to flow out of the pot. Unfortunately it also causes the remaining fish bits, which you are subsequently supposed to eat, to taste just like kerosine!!! BLECHHH.
Oh and it’s really expensive just like everything else in Door County.
It is Musicat(sp?) who lives near Sturgeon Bay.
Sister Bay was my permanent address for a few years, and I have a sister who lives in Baileys Harbor.
All the state parks are worth visiting. Penninsula is the most popular. Not sure April is the best time to visit though (trails may be be muddy). But you do get some good views from various outlooks with parking nearby.
The Sister Bay Bowl (yes, a bowling alley) has the best perch (though perch is priced like lobster these days). They also have a pretty good steak (Saturday night special)
The Red Putter (between Ephraim and Sister Bay) is the best mini-golf.
There’s lots of stuff online about Door County, but it’s from people trying to sell me something. I trust first hand experiences much more.
I believe that I did mean Musicat as opposed to Bibliocat. I’m just going off memory from several months ago - I’m lucky I got that close.
FWIW, I live in the Appleton area. The limiting factor for this get away is my few days of vaction. The less I take the better, so we are looking for somewhere close.
I love Door County. My fiancee and I make it an annual tradition to go in February when it’s cold but quiet and serene. It’s also where we got engaged. We always stay in Fish Creek so that’s where I’m most familiar.
We stay at the Thorp House Inn. The main house is a bed and breakfast but there are also several charming cottages with kitchens and fireplaces. Very cozy, romantic, and reasonably priced in winter/early spring.
Another lovely B&B is the White Gull Inn. Even if you don’t stay here, be sure to have breakfast here- the coffee cake is divine. They also have a traditional fish boil every Friday evening. Personally I’m not a fan of fish in general but it’s fun to see how it’s done.
For dinner I recommend the English Inn. Good food and entertainment from a blind guy who plays keyboards and sings on the weekends. Say hello to Phil the bartender for us.
If this was your experience of a fish boil, then you had a lousy one.
The fish boils I’ve had are pretty good. Not like “OMG I’m going to die” good, but tasty enough.
Whitefish is not a particularly oily fish; we eat filets fried or baked or whatever, and it’s a light, not-too-fishy fish.
The “other stuff” they put in a fish boil is typically potatoes and maybe onions.
The process is that they have a big pot that is filled with (very) salted water. They add the fish and potatoes, and bring to a boil. When the fish is done they sometimes boil some of the water off, but I think that’s more show than anything else.
They remove the fish and the veggies from the water and serve, typically with butter & maybe some rolls.
It absolutely should not taste of kerosene. It tastes like, well, fish and potatoes. Not overly fishy at all.
I went there with my family for a couple of days when I was 10 or 11. The answer was “nothing.” It was probably the crappiest vacation I’ve ever been on.
I worked 3 summers at the White Gull Inn. Fish boils are OK, but I had enough to last me quite a while. It is more an event thing than the food itself. Russ(RIP) would play the accordian and there is afformentioned boilover.
I can’t give you much lodging advice, as I always stay with family.
American Folklore theatre (http://www.folkloretheatre.com/) is worth seeing, but it doesn’t look like they have anything in spring (fall performances are in the Ephraim town hall, summer its in Penninsula State Park)
Driving up to the tip may be worth it, but I’m not sure I’d take the trip to Washington Island in April (not sure how often it runs)
In addition to the state parks, there is a the Ridges at the north end of Baileys Harbor - some pretty areas there.
Now I’m an extra hour to the west, and we keep meaning to get to Door County for a long weekend. Went once at the end of the season, but things were pretty dead. We’d like to take our bikes to Washington Island.
Door County in April will be a bore. Try the Dells area at a waterpark hotel. Enough places are open so you don’t have to do everything at one place. Devils Lake is nearby if you want to do some bluff hiking.
DH and I went there for our honeymoon and for our tenth anniversary. We stayed at the White Gull Inn both times, and had fantastic fish boils. We also took catamaran (sp?) sailing lessons, took the ferry up past Death’s Door to Washington Island, and even walked to a lighthouse – but I don’t recommend that one in April, as we were there in July, and walking in ankle-deep water about gave me frostbite. We did drive through a state park somewhere up there, and spent a lot of time driving around and fishing…and other things. Honeymoon, ya know.
If you just want some place to kick back and unwind, what about renting a lake cottage up north like Spooner, Crandon or something. You’ll have a better chance of open restaurants, it’ll be quiet and your $$ will still probably go a lot farther than in DC.
Or, just lay claim to a bar stool at Cleo’s for a few days
. It is not. It is evil.