My previous post included some ideas for my next trip to Door County. We just returned from that trip, and we didn't do anything that we planned for! That's ok; we had some great new experiences, and I am happy to share them here.
Timing
In each of the past two years, we visited Door County over the last weekend of October, which is when foliage is usually past-peak. However, this year, we booked our trip for the third weekend in October, and we arrived during peak foliage. This was both good and bad. Yes, the colors were beautiful! But the crowds were bigger, waits at restaurants were longer, and traffic seemed heavier. Next year, I might opt to go over the last weekend in October again.
Friday
We arrived to our hotel in Sturgeon Bay around four o'clock, and there was a line of guests waiting to check-in. By the time we got everything up to our room, it was time for dinner. We tried to go to Nightingale Supper Club, but they said that the next available opening would be at 8:30p, so we went to The Mill Supper Club, and we got seated right away. It was our first time at The Mill, and they had many different fish fry options (I got the walleye, and my husband got the perch). Baby enjoyed all of our food, including the fish, rye bread, coleslaw, and fries. While we didn't order a kids meal for Baby, our friends did for theirs, and they came with a scoop of ice cream.
After dinner, we went back to the hotel and put Baby down for the night. Since we couldn't keep the lights on or make noise after she was asleep, we put in our earbuds and watched a movie on our phones. Next time, we would bring the baby monitor so we could leave our hotel room and hang out in the lobby.
Saturday
On Saturday, I woke up with Baby and went down to the hotel continental breakfast around 7am. She had some sliced bread, an apple (I had to cut the apple with a plastic knife), and milk, but they only had 2% milk (she usually drinks whole milk).
Our first activity was a private tour at the Open Door Bird Sanctuary. I had never heard of this bird sanctuary before, but our friends found out about it. All we needed to do was reserve a private tour by phone and pay when we arrived. The tour was very cool, and we saw many birds (of prey) that were being taken care of. My favorite was the snowy owl. Baby got cranky during the tour (she had missed the usual timing for her morning nap), but she eventually fell asleep in the stroller. Our friend's 3-year-old also got bored within the first 15 minutes of the tour. However, the 6-year-old (and the dads) stayed engaged the whole time (almost 1.5 hours). I would recommend this activity for kids ages 5 and up.
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| Meeting one of the many owls at ODBS |
For lunch, we went to Grasse's Grill, and they were busy, as expected. All the tables were full when we arrived, but we grabbed an open table by the time we got our food. They have high chairs available. My husband and I split a couple of wraps, some soup, and some cheese curds - all good!
After lunch, we went to The Ridges Sanctuary for a nature hike. We were planning to do the Family Discovery Trail, but when we arrived, we were told that this trail could be encroached upon by hunters and that we shouldn't go on it unless we wore orange vests. This was not something we were expecting to hear. Regardless, we opted for the main trail system, which begins with a 1800-foot boardwalk. We made our way to the Ridges County Beach, which the kids loved, and we also got a tour of the Upper Range Lighthouse. From there, we walked down the Mt. Maple Trail, which was fine with our stroller, and completed the loop via the Sandy Trail, which had some tougher (sandy!) sections for a stroller. When we got back to the nature center, the kids colored and made Halloween-themed crafts at the stations they had set up.
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| Kids loving the sand |
Note that when you enter "The Ridges Sanctuary" into Google Maps, the default directions have you going down County Road Q - this is not correct. The nature center is located at the corner of WI-57 and Ridges Road, and the entrance to the parking is off WI-57. On Google Maps, search for "The Ridges Sanctuary Nature Center" or use the address, "8166 Hwy 57."
Our last stop of the day was Cave Point County Park, which is surrounded on three sides by Whitefish Dunes State Park. If you don't have an annual vehicle admission sticker for Wisconsin State Parks and you don't want to pay for a daily pass, then you can park at Cave Point County Park for free and hike into Whitefish Dunes State Park via a connecting trail. We walked along the limestone cliffs overlooking Lake Michigan, which was picturesque with some views of sea caves. The lakeside trail was very rocky with exposed tree roots, and it was not suitable for a stroller.
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| Lakeside Trail at Cave Point County Park |
For dinner, we really wanted to get prime rib (a Saturday night special in Wisconsin), but the wait was too long at the nearby supper clubs. So we got takeout from Nightingale Supper Club and enjoyed prime rib in our hotel room. I wish we had brought a steak knife! By the way, Nightingale added a mandatory 15% service charge to our carryout order total.
After we finished dinner, it was Baby's bedtime, and our hotel room went dark and quiet once again.
Sunday
On our last morning in Door County, I took Baby down to the hotel continental breakfast, and they had sausages that day (they had corned beef hash the day before, which we didn't try). My daughter liked the sausages, and she ate some eggs too. I sliced another apple for her, and she ate some more bread as well.
We left Door County and headed down to Kohler-Andrae State Park, which is located on Lake Michigan halfway between Sturgeon Bay and Chicago. Kohler-Andrae State Park is known for its Dunes Cordwalk, a unique out-and-back trail that is surfaced with wood planks connected by cords. It is like a boardwalk but designed to shift with the sandy dunes. By the way, we saw a group of about a dozen sand hill cranes in the distance (hanging out on a sand hill!). The Cordwalk is not accessible, so we used our child carrier (Osprey Poco). Baby slept in the carrier for the whole hike, which took one hour.
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| Dunes Cordwalk (South) at KASP |
What I learned:
- Open Door Bird Sanctuary is a good organization taking care of lots of beautiful birds. I would recommend this activity for families with children ages 5+.
- If you want to hike the Family Discovery Trail at The Ridges Sanctuary during hunting season, wear orange.
- If you want to eat at The Nightingale on a Friday or Saturday night during peak foliage season, make a reservation more than a week in advance.
What I would bring next time:
- An insulated food container for keeping warm food warm for Baby
- A paring knife for cutting up apples at continental breakfast
- A steak knife for enjoying takeout prime rib
- Our baby monitor so we could leave the hotel room and hang out in the lobby after putting Baby down for sleep at night
- More/different/new activities/toys for Baby to play with while in her car seat and/or high chair at restaurants (we have not introduced screen time yet).
- A smaller bottle of whole milk (which I could have purchased at CVS, but all the gas stations we stopped by were out of the smaller bottles)
