The Door Peninsula, North to the Tip

The Door Peninsula runs north from Sturgeon Bay like a thumb between Green Bay and Lake Michigan, and the classic route follows Highway 42 up the bay side, village by village, ending with the boat to Washington Island. It is best in late June or in the last week of September, wants two or three nights, and should be driven slowly, since the whole peninsula is only about seventy miles long and hurrying it misses the point.

Start where the ship canal cuts the peninsula in two and the lake boats still come in for repair. Walk the working waterfront for an hour, cross the old bridge, and stock the car at a farm market on the way out of town. From here north the orchards begin, cherries in summer and apples in fall, and the roadside stands are the correct place to spend small money.

The prettiest of the bayside villages sits at the gate of Peninsula State Park, and the park is the afternoon, a shoreline drive, a climb up the bluff tower, a swim if the season allows. Stay the night here and book a fish boil, the peninsula's old Scandinavian supper, where whitefish and potatoes go into a kettle over an open fire and the boilover is the show. Watch the sunset from the park bluffs with everyone else, since some crowds are correct.

An easy morning's drive north, with stops wherever the water shows through the trees. Sister Bay has the long green waterfront and the famous sod-roofed Swedish restaurant where goats graze overhead all summer, which sounds like a gimmick and has been holding down the middle of the village for generations anyway. Lunch here, then continue north as the peninsula narrows and empties.

The highway ends at Northport and the ferry takes over, a half hour across the strait the French called Death's Door, which is calmer than its name on most days. The island is the peninsula with the volume turned down, farm roads, a lavender field, a beach of smooth white limestone pebbles that rattles when the waves pull back. Spend the night if you can, since the last ferry takes the day visitors and the quiet that follows is the whole reason to be here. In the morning, take the boat back across and drive south with the windows down.