Foreign readers now outnumber the Americans, so a little explanation is necessary.
Door County is Wisconsin's "thumb", the peninsula that sticks into Lake Michigan. Lake Michigan is enormous. When Margaret Copland of New Zealand saw it for the first time, she exclaimed," It's an ocean." She couldn't believe it was a lake until she waded in it and was convinced it wasn't salty. It is one of the five Great Lakes that provide the greatest source of fresh water in the world. "Don't ever let them take it away," she said. Every so often Texans want to run a pipeline of that fresh water down to their state but the states and the Canadian provinces bordering the lakes have formed a consortium to defend them.
Door County, which juts into that lake, is a scenic wonder, with five state parks as well as some county parks on rocky shores that were settled by Scandinavian immigrants. (When the Swedes and Norwegians saw those bluffs, they must have immediately thought of the shores of home and settled in.)
The windy peninsula of Door County is perfect for orchards. In the spring, visitors stream into this part of Wisconsin to see the cherry trees bloom. From early summer on, the Door is full of markets selling local produce. This weekend it was pumpkins, squash and the last apples of the year, especially the favorite apple of everyone in Wisconsin, the honey crisp. The wineries have another use for the fruit.
The little villages along the shores have drawn artists for generations. There are painters, potters, and fabric artists displaying their wares in galleries all over the county. The villages prosper in the summer when the tourists come from all over the Midwest and beyond to enjoy the cool breezes from Lake Michigan. They bike, hike and fish, then go into the villages to shop and dine out at the supper clubs or do pub crawls.
Above all, they love the shore, the lake and many islands. Exploration is part of the Door County experience.
More tomorrow.
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