With Covid still around us and with the Delta Variant on the upswing, we decided to travel to Door County, Wisconsin for a few days of bicycling. We also like the food, the recreational shopping, and the peace and quiet that goes along with a rural setting. It’s frequently called the Cape Cod of the Midwest and we’ve been to both and prefer Door County. Plus, we can drive here and bring our bicycles.

We stayed at the Bailey’s Harbor Yacht Club Resort which is along the fairly isolated Ridges Road just outside the small town of Bailey’s Harbor. We are on the Lake Michigan side of Door County which is a bit quieter than the Green Bay side and better for bicycling. Most of the restaurants and shops, however, are in the little towns along the bay side including Egg Harbor, Fish Creek, Ephraim, Sister Bay, and Ellison Bay. Most boating activities also occur in the calmer Green Bay Area.

The Yacht Club where we stayed has a bit of history. The land was first developed in the early 1900s including the building of a home and some bungalows for vacationers. By the last half of the 20th century, it had developed into a bustling resort, complete with a hotel, a busy marina able to dock large yachts, and a helicopter landing pad used by Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonalds. But the resort burned completely to the ground in 1993. It seems a lot of buildings are destroyed by fire in Door County and I suppose that’s because of the rural locations of so many establishments. The resort was rebuilt – there are now four separate buildings – and the hustle and bustle has been replaced by a quiet vacation location which serves as a good base for biking and hiking activities.

Looking across the bay towards Bailey’s Harbor at sunset from outside the Yacht Club Resort.

Also along Ridges Road and about a mile from the Yacht Club is the Ridges Sanctuary. Totaling 1,600 acres, the sanctuary’s name is based on its topography of 30 ridges and swales created by Lake Michigan over the last 1,000 years or so. The sanctuary is home to various species of plants, insects, and birds. There are several hikes through the area, just be sure to fortify well with mosquito repellent.

The Sanctuary is also home to the Range Lights built in 1869. They are still in their original position as when they were actively protecting Bailey’s Harbor. A white light burned in the top window of the Upper Range Light, and a red light burned in the Lower Range Light. A boardwalk connecting them was used to carry fuel to the lamps. When the lights were lined up they provided direction for boats to come into the harbor avoiding dangerous shoals. In those days Bailey’s Harbor was a busy logging center shipping lumber to other Great Lakes’ ports and was a much needed harbor on the Lake Michigan side of the penninsula.

Today, Bailey’s Harbor is quieter than the towns on the other side of the peninsula but it became a little busier when a craft brewery opened here a few years ago. More recently a small outdoor adventure shop opened which rents kayaks and sponsors kayak and canoe trips as well as zip lining trips. There are also a couple of gift shops along the main road as well as a yarn shop that’s been a fairly recent and welcome addition.

There are several nice restaurants in town including the Harbor Fish Market, Chives, and the Cornerstone Pub. A new small-plate restaurant called Clover and Zot just opened this year and breakfast is available at the Heirloom Cafe as well as the Harbor Fish Market.

So what did we do on our first morning in Door County? We drove about eight miles across the peninsula to Fish Creek for breakfast at Pelletier’s Restaurant. It’s just a traditional breakfast place with an outdoor patio and a fish boil several nights a week that’s reasonably priced and near lots of shops.

Including the Confectionary Shop where I go to buy licorice of various kinds.

After breakfast we stopped at the Nordoor bicycle shop in Fish Creek which is a busy place. They do a huge number of bicycle rentals as the entrance to Peninsula State Park with its camping sites and bike trail is just across the street. They also sell lots of bicycles; the owner told us he had 1,500 plus bicycles on back order to be delivered during the summer of 2022 or 2023.

Then we went back to Bailey’s Harbor to get our bicycles. Our first ride was to the Coyote Roadhouse which is on County Road E and about a 14-mile round trip from the Yacht Club.

To get there, we took Ridges Road to State Route 57, then followed County Road F to County Road EE, turned on Red Cherry Road, and after a few more miles turned onto County Road E. Finally, we crossed over Kangaroo Lake and arrived.

The main objective for this ride was to have a cup of “Hold Onto Your Shorts Chili.” And the place has several options for outdoor dining. It’s very, very casual.

We headed back to Bailey’s Harbor taking County Road E until it intersected with Route 57, then rode down into town.

Going through downtown, we passed by the beautiful flowers at the Blacksmith Inn at the corner of Ridges Road.

We also passed the Ridges Sanctuary Nature Center which is on the opposite corner of Ridges Road. This building is only a few years old and the location was previously a restaurant, the Sandpiper, which advertised pancakes as big as Lake Michigan. The restaurant was another Door County building destroyed by fire nearly ten years ago.

Ross rides along Ridges Road back to the Yacht Club. We spent the rest of the day reading and relaxing.

There are lots and lots of dinner options in Door County. We tend to find something we like and just keep going back on return trips but we also vow to try a new place each time we are here. Our usual favorites include the Waterfront Restaurant in Sister Bay, the Shoreline in Gill’s Rock, and the Harbor Fish Market in Bailey’s Harbor. And, we can almost always count on getting a hamburger at the Cornerstone Pub in Bailey’s Harbor when we are tired of seafood.

If we want to do a fish boil, then we would try for reservations at the White Gull Inn in Fish Creek. I don’t know if fish boils are indigenous to Door County but they are common events offered by many restaurants in the area. The menu is usually limited to white fish, boiled potatoes, cole slaw, and cherry pie. Everybody should try it once I guess. It began as a way to feed a lot of north woodsmen quickly by boiling a big pot of fish. The boil master starts with water and salt, then adds potatoes and onions, then finally the fish. When the fish are done – about ten minutes – the key event is the boilover caused by throwing a small amount of kerosene on the fire. This gets rid of the fat that rises to the top of the pot as the fish are cooked.

When we arrived in Door County this time, we discovered that some of the most popular restaurants were almost totally booked for the days we were here. But we made reservations where we could and for the times we could. We have tried several times to eat at the Wickman House in Ellison Bay but never think to call a couple of weeks ahead for reservations. It gets good ratings and maybe someday we will be able to get in. The Wickman has a sister restaurant, Trixie’s in Ephraim, that is fairly new and we have never been there either. Trixie’s is a first come, first served option so probably go early or go late. We also had that on our list as a possible new place to try this trip but never managed to get there.

I think restaurant openings now are dictated a lot by Covid. Much of the summer help is international students who are not here and the rest is made up of local college students who are in the process of returning to classes. Even when staffing is not an issue, seasonal weather dictates when places are open. Currently, many restaurants are closed either on Monday and Tuesday, or on Tuesday and Wednesday.

We had made reservations for dinner tonight at the Harbor Fish Market in Bailey’s Harbor. The weather was good and we ate outside by the lake. From that outside eating area, you can see across the bay to the Bailey’s Harbor Yacht Club, unless the fog comes in. For dinner tonight, Ross thought he had some of the best whitefish ever. It comes fried, baked, or blackened. They also have a lobster boil available several nights a week.

We finished off dinner and our day with cherry pie. And cherry pie is almost a necessity in Door County; Wisconsin is the 5th largest producer of cherries in the U.S. and most of those are in Door County. This trip we had our pie fix at Harbor Fish Market. It’s one of the best and we split this piece. A la mode of course.