Couple Dorks in Door County

Friends, I did it again! Disappeared off the face of the earth for the entirety of summer. Happy to report I’m back to talk about my incredible weekend getaway to Door County, Wisconsin! It’s been a slower year of trips, and whenever that happens it can be very hard to stay motivated. That’s exactly why my friend Hailey & I booked a short getaway to Door County to escape for a bit this Labor Day weekend. I hope you all were able to relax and feel a bit better about the close of summer and start of fall! I gotta say it’s been a pretty lackluster summer so we better be in for some colorful leaves and delicious pumpkin spice this Autumn season.

Hailey & I drove up to Door County from Chicago in the middle of the day Friday - to dodge the traffic and start our vacation a little early. We made a pit stop in Milwaukee, where we grabbed a WI must, cheese curds, at The Black Sheep downtown. These were some pretty unique and delicious pancake battered cheese curds so I can definitely recommend them. We walked around the riverfront & visited the Milwaukee Public Market, which had tons of cheese and souvenir shops ripe for the shopping. We then got back on the road just in time to arrive at our Airbnb in Sister Bay before nighttime. We stayed at SwedeInn, a local motel-style Airbnb that was super walkable to all the local hotspots, like the Husby’s Bar (with live music galore), the wonderful boutique Spot, and delicious Cherry flavored lattes at Happy Coffee. The accommodation at the Airbnb was lovely, I’d just warn that the internet was definitely a little dodgy - so be prepared!

The next day, we hit the Brown Butter Bakeshop in Sister Bay, a renowned little bakery with the most delightful pastries. The bees seemed to think so too because that marked the first of many attacks they orchestrated against us. Sharon: 0, Bees: 1

We then headed to Fish Creek, an adorable town in door county with tons of boutiques and eateries. We shopped till we almost dropped - don’t ask how many new outfits I have… that’s between fish creek and my bank account. Some of my favorite stores were Love Letter Door County and June Landing. Right by the town is Peninsula State Park, home to the famous Eagle Tower  lookout (you’ll see why I call it famous in a minute). We also made a stop in the cute town of Egg Harbor, where we had a yummy lunch on the rooftop at Mezzanine (bee attack number 2). 

After lunch and snapping some shots of the water, we moseyed over to Lautenbach’s, a famous orchard and winery near fish creek. This place is the coolest! You’ll find delicious jams and salsas to taste, cool souvenirs to pick up, and the option to sample a flight of 5 wines for only $5-10. The options are endless - there’s sparkling wines, moscatos, reds, whites, and tons of fruit varieties. I guess that’s how I wound up bringing a bottle home 🤷‍♀️

We also discovered - through no shortage of posters all over the store - that the ICONIC cinematic masterpiece “A Cherry Pie Christmas” was filmed right there in door county! If you’re curious about the pie recipe (which includes shredded cheese, because that’s exactly what Hollywood thinks wisconsonians are like) and you don’t have access to the Hallmark channel, you can check it out on the best of the best streaming services, Tubi and Prime Video. I mean after all, the movie will show you all of Door County’s most famous spots! And if you haven’t picked up on my sarcasm yet, don’t watch the movie - that’s 2 hours of me and Hailey’s lives (3 if you count the internet lags) that we’ll never get back.

We had a delicious dinner at Loft and then drove back to Sister Bay for their annual Marina Fest! We got to see some incredible fireworks right over the lake about a 6min walk from our Airbnb - highly recommend for next Labor Day weekend if you’re a fireworks fan. Haven’t seen great fireworks in a while and those were pretty epic.

Sunday was nature day, and we started it off at Klauds Kitchen, which had some fun seasonal drinks and delicious pastries. We then checked out The Secret Garden, a beautiful Green Gables themed garden with butterflies and beautiful plants all around. We even stopped at Lavender Island, an awesome store with tons and tons of lavender scented things and cool trinkets. If you know me you know I love a chachki and there were so many this trip! Peach Barn was our next stop, an awesome barn brewery with cool ciders and an epic outside area where tons of people were hammocking and soaking in the sun. 

Then it was time to work off those pastries! Our first nature destination was Newport State Park on the northern peninsula of WI, where we did a lovely hiking trail and saw some beautiful lake views. We discovered it was Wisconsins first internationally renowned “dark sky” park, so we did come back at night and were able to see countless stars in the sky, including the whole Milky Way! When we saw people with red light flashlights navigating the beach at 11pm, we knew that was stargazing to the next level! We also journeyed to Ellison Bay, where we visited Charlie’s Smokehouse and got some great views of Death Door Bluff, a super cool ship passage bordering WI and MI. The cherry on top (see what I did there? Hallmark would be proud) was taking the Death Door Boat Tours live music sunset cruise and jamming to some tunes (that definitely are a bit older than I am) while out on the water. After one last dinner at a place I won’t name because it wasn’t very good, we retired to our home to watch Hallmarks finest under the covers. 

Our final day started the way every day should start- a trip to the local Alpaca farm! HUGE shoutout to the Door County Alpaca Ranch in Baileys Harbor because Tanzy runs an amazing farm with 47 alpacas (and even some adorable bonus kitties) that you can feed and learn about for just $10! She even has a little shop with items her kids have knit from the alpacas fiber that you can take a look at after the tour. Can’t recommend this enough, it was definitely a highlight of our trip. We also made stops at Bailey Harbor Ridges Sanctuary and Cave Point County Park on the way down the door county peninsula. Both offered stunning views and the latter even had some wild cliff divers in action! We had one last meal at Scaturo’s (may or may not be featured in that horrendous movie from the night before) and then we set out on the road and made our way back to Chi town. 

All in all, it was a trip I’ll never forget - from the delicious ice cream at Door County Creamery to meeting an alpaca named Rosie Posie in the flesh. And none of it would have been nearly as fun without my weekend partner in crime, Hailey! I know you’re reading this so here’s an extra shoutout because your cookies are almost as amazing as your personality. If you’re in the market for an amazing Labor Day weekend in 2027, follow these steps:

1.) Get yourself a Hailey

2.) Buy an alpaca 

3.) Plan a trip to door county

I guess you could settle for just #3, but where’s the fun in that? 

Until the next crazy road trip….

Sincerely, 

Sharon