Door County, Wisconsin

We are leaving this peninsula tomorrow with some sadness.  Not only is it a beautiful place but it is also now filled  with wonderful memories for John and I.  Over the past two weeks we have pretty much traveled over the 75-mile-long peninsula. At its northern tip we took a ferry over to Washington Island. On another day we visited the lighthouses at Baileys Harbor and Cana Island. In the town of Sturgeon Bay we walked around the historic district which is currently decorated with many colorful sturgeon.

  Also in Sturgeon Bay we found the Door County Museum which has on exhibit many items belonging to its pioneers.  In the museum we learned a lot about the peninsula and its history for about the past 150 years. The first cherry orchards were planted in 1862. Below is one of the cherry exhibits located in the museum.

 I must say that for me this is the best time to visit Door County, just because I love cherries. While here I have eaten cherry doughnuts, cherry brats, cherry peanut brittle, and cherry pie. I have even stocked up on the fruit before driving from the county. One other food popular in Door County is fish.  At the Door County Museum there is a display explaining the ever-popular fish boil. The first one was done in Door County in 1962. One meal for our family reunion was a fish boil at the Log Den restaurant. We learned from the cook there that originally the fish for a fish boil was trout, which is an oily fish. When that fish is boiled in water it leaves an oily scum floating at the top of the water. To avoid dragging the carrots, onions, potatoes and fish up through that oil scum a large fire is created.  The water heats up rapidly then and the oily layer boils out of the pot. The fish used in the current fish boils is whitefish, so technically that fierce fire is not needed. After giving us that piece information, the cook tossed some lighter fluid on the fire and we watched our pot of food become engulfed in flames. It all made for a great plate of food, which was finished off with a piece of cherry pie.

 Before closing here I want to mention one very scenic spot on the peninsula, which is Cave Point County Park. The waters of Lake Michigan and Green Bay have carved the peninsula's rocky shoreline into caves, arches and cliffs. Below is a picture of the caves along the water at the county park.