Door County peninsula

Route description

Milwaukee has a lakefront lined with museums, including the Harley-Davidson Museum and the Milwaukee Art Museum. I-43 runs north along Lake Michigan to Green Bay, where fans can tour Lambeau Field. From there, WI-57 leads onto the Door Peninsula, between the bay of Green Bay and Lake Michigan.

Sturgeon Bay, where a ship canal cuts across the peninsula, has shipyards and a maritime museum. North of it, WI-42 follows the bay side through orchards and small harbor villages such as Egg Harbor and Fish Creek. Peninsula State Park has bluffs, beaches, a campground and the Eagle Bluff Lighthouse.

Ephraim is a village of white clapboard buildings on a harbor, founded by Moravian settlers. In the evenings, several restaurants on the peninsula hold fish boils, a Scandinavian tradition of cooking whitefish over an open fire. For the return trip, take WI-57 along the quieter Lake Michigan side, with Cave Point, Whitefish Dunes and the Cana Island Lighthouse.

Cherry blossoms come in late May, and the cherry harvest is in July, when roadside stands sell fruit and pies. Summer and fall weekends are busy, and campgrounds, especially in Peninsula State Park, should be booked well ahead. From Northport, at the tip, a car ferry crosses to Washington Island.