Door County (Bailey’s Harbor) June 7 – July 7, 2021
All I can say is WOW! We absolutely fell in love with Door County. Several people asked how we selected this area for our Great Lakes trip, and the truthful answer is – I don’t know. I think I read about it in an RV travel blog and Steve thinks he found it while researching areas around the great lakes. In the end it does not matter, because I am so glad we found the area and that we are staying a whole month.
Door County is a peninsula situated between Green Bay (the bay and not the city) and Lake Michigan. Green Bay (the city not the bay) is located at the south end of the peninsula at the mouth of – you guessed it – Green Bay (the bay not the city). The county is about 75 miles long and about 10 miles wide. Quaint little seaside towns dot the exterior of the peninsula and the interior is relatively uninhabited with orchards (cherry), farms, and fields.
With the exception of Sturgeon Bay (the largest city in the county, population 9,144) the county does not have any stop lights. All of the villages (I think they are too small to be called cities) are home to small shops, restaurants, markets, breweries and wineries. Door County is a tourist destination, but the tourists have not overwhelmed the area and it still retains its small town charm.
We are staying on the Lake Michigan side of the peninsula in Baileys Harbor (population 1003) and love the town. It does not have a grocery store, but you can purchase necessary items at the gas station which is right on the water. We love the farmers market which is held each Sunday. It is small but we bought fresh salad greens, tomatoes, kohlrabi, green garlic, snow pea pods and wonderful local flower bouquets.
The first week in Baileys Harbor we met neighbors with similar ebikes. So, we finagled an invitation to ride with them. We rode to Fish Creek, had lunch at Wild Tomato and rode back. The ride was about 20 miles round trip. We had a great time meeting Dale and Sandy and ate dinner with them (also at Wild Tomato) in Sister Bay.
Baileys Harbor is home to Door County Brewery and of course we tried the brewery once. OK, so we went more than once. On the weekends the brewery has live music and we saw Hunter Gatherer (yes, that is his name) one beautiful Sunday afternoon. We sat at a table with a couple from Milwaukee and instantly bonded over music and beer. We plan to keep in touch with Paul and Dianne.
My next post will be about our one year anniversary, and then I will write more about Door County
“Lake Michigan” by Bob Schneider. We saw Bob Schneider at the 30A Singer Song Writer Festival.