I’ve heard for years, from various people, that Wisconsin is beautiful in the summer. I am glad to report that it did not disappoint! All the foliage is green, green, green, and the trees are so pretty. There are cedars, maples, poplars, firs, birches, and pines, each one beautiful in its own way.
Our first stop was Door County, a large peninsula that juts out into Lake Michigan from Wisconsin’s east coast. This peninsula features craggy cliffs, miles of farmland, plentiful wineries, and adorable coastal communities. Some of the quaintest and cutest towns are Sturgeon Bay, Sisters Bay, Ephraim, and Bailey’s Harbor. We camped at Peninsula State Park, located in Fish Creek, another picturesque town.
Scandinavians originally settled this area, and that heritage can still be seen today, not only in the architecture of the buildings, but also in some of the customs. We attended a traditional fish boil one evening at the Old Post Office Restaurant. (In case you wondered about the name, the building used to be an old post office. :) The fish boil was originally used to feed the large number of lumberjacks that came to Door County for the logging industry. A large metal kettle was filled with small red potatoes and water and heated with a wood fire underneath. After a while, small sweet onions were added, and then Lake Michigan whitefish. During this, a man nicknamed Torch explained the history behind the fish boil. All those ingredients were boiled for a few minutes more, and then came the grand finale. Torch stated that there was now a layer of fish oil on the top that was undesirable to eat, so in order to boil over the fish oil, he threw a can of kerosene on the fire. As expected, the kettle became engulfed in a large fireball with thick black smoke. This lasted about 20 seconds, and then the fire resumed its low burn.
After that, we were ready to eat! The waiters at the restaurant came around and deboned our fish for us. We smothered everything in butter and it was melt-in-your-mouth delicious. (The kids opted for chicken fingers. Shocking!) To top it off, for dessert they served their famous cherry pie, topped with vanilla custard. (We questioned the difference between ice cream and custard. Our waiter said that custard has 5% more milk fat than ice cream, so it tastes creamier.) The cherry pie with the custard tasted like cherry cheesecake!
We spent the rest of our time in Door County enjoying the views of Lake Michigan and exploring the coastal towns. We bought some of the locally made wine and fudge. Since you can’t go to Wisconsin without trying some local cheese, we made a pit stop at Renard’s Cheese Shop as well.
One really interesting curiosity that we saw in Sisters Bay, WI was a Swedish restaurant with a grass roof. That doesn’t seem so wild, right? Then we noticed that mountain goats lived on the roof! We also saw a man on the roof, mowing the grass!
Today, we head southwest to Baraboo, WI and Devil’s Lake State Park. We will be having dinner with my oldest friend in the world, Courtney Anderson, and her family!