1,000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die (71 page)

W
HERE
: 120 miles east of Minneapolis, MN; 28 Ninth Ave. Tel 800–568-1995 or 715–924-4594;
www.canoebay.com
.
C
OST
: from $325 (off-peak), from $375 (peak).
B
EST TIMES
: Jun–Aug for water sports; 1st half of Oct for peak foliage.

The Cape Cod of the Midwest

Wisconsin

Door County occupies the top two-thirds of the 75-mile long Door Peninsula, which thrusts like a sword from Wisconsin’s northeast corner into Lake Michigan. To the west lie the sheltered waters of Green Bay; to
the east, the vast blue expanse of the open lake; and in between are Door County’s 300 miles of ragged, rocky shoreline, dotted with ten lighthouses, busy marinas, and quiet beaches. No matter where you wander, you’re rarely more than a dozen miles from water’s edge. Drive the two-lane highways that connect the whitewashed waterfront towns: Egg Harbor, Fish Creek, Ephraim, and Sister Bay entice visitors with endless shops, galleries, restaurants, and streets made for strolling. Inland, cherry and apple orchards crosshatch the rural landscape, along with antiques shops, summer stock theater, and other surprises.

The bustling town of Fish Creek is the epicenter of the county’s busy “bayside” and one of the upper Midwest’s earliest resort communities. Tucked at the end of Main Street, the White Gull Inn has drawn vacationers for more than a century. The carefully tended white clapboard inn is still a lovely place to stay, and serves some of the finest meals in town, its menu often boasting whitefish and lake trout pulled from local waters. Be sure to make reservations at the White Gull or at Pelletier’s, another area restaurant, for a fish boil—Door County’s traditional fisherman’s dish of whitefish, onions, and red potatoes boiled in an enormous pot over an open fire. Don’t miss the drama when cooks splash kerosene over the flame, creating a fireball that boils over the kettle and removes fishy oils. Top it off with a piece of cherry pie made from fruit harvested from local orchards. In Sister Bay, Al Johnson’s showcases the region’s Scandinavian fare. Along with the Swedish pancakes and lingonberries, the restaurant is famous for its traditional sod roof, where a resident herd of goats graze.

Old-fashioned clapboard buildings are part of Door County’s bucolic charm.

Explore Door County’s natural wonders at Peninsula State Park, a 3,776-acre limestone headland that juts out into the bay between Fish Creek and Ephraim. At Eagle Bluff, a 75-foot observation tower offers views of the half-dozen islands sprinkled offshore and the hazy horizon of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in the
distance. Nearby, volunteers give tours of the Eagle Bluff lighthouse, a buttery brick tower built in 1868.

You’ll find greater solitude when you venture to Door County’s “lake side” or its northern reaches, where low-key resorts lie hidden along sand beaches and rocky bays. You won’t reach the end of the county until you’ve hopped a ferry across the Portes des Mortes Passage (“Death’s Door”) to Washington Island, then another to Rock Island State Park. Here, ringed by a horizon of water and woods, you can fully appreciate the landscape that has been luring vacationers for decades.

W
HERE
: Sturgeon Bay, gateway to the Door Peninsula, is 141 miles north of Milwaukee.
Visitor info:
Tel 800–527-3529 or 920–743-4456;
www.doorcounty.com
.
W
HITE
G
ULL
I
NN
: Fish Creek. Tel 888–364-9542 or 920–868-3517;
www.whitegullinn.com
.
Cost:
from $140; fish boil $19.
P
ELLETIER’S
: Fish Creek. Tel 920–868-3313.
Cost
: fish boil $15.
A
L
J
OHNSON’S
: Sister Bay. Tel 920–854-2626.
Cost:
dinner $15.
P
ENINSULA
S
TATE
P
ARK
: Fish Creek. Tel 920–868-3258.
B
EST TIMES
: June for Ephraim’s Scandinavian Fyr Bal Festival; July–Aug for warm weather; Oct for brilliant foliage.

The Country’s Largest and Most Prestigious Cross-Country Ski Race

Hayward, Wisconsin

Each February, some 7,000 fit, Lycra-clad folks descend upon the Wisconsin northwoods to participate in the American Birkebeiner, a cross-country ski race that weaves 31.7 miles (51 kilometers) along a
hilly, heavily wooded trail from the Telemark Resort near Cable to the finish line on Main Street in downtown Hayward. Since its inception in 1973, when only 34 people participated, the race has grown into the largest cross-country ski marathon in the nation.

For some, it’s serious business. The Birkebeiner is part of the Worldloppet, a circuit of 14 Nordic ski races held on four continents. Named after a historic Norwegian ski event, the Birkebeiner is the only Worldloppet event held in North America, and attracts a top cadre of professional racers from more than a dozen countries. While pros may complete the course in about two hours, legions of weekend warriors soldier on for double or triple that time. Amateurs can compete in the full race—after all, sturdy Scandinavian stock runs thick in the upper Midwest—or can sign up for 23- or 12-kilometer options.

You don’t even have to click into skis to join in on the party. An estimated 15,000 to 20,000 spectators line many portions of the route, and it seems all of Hayward is there cheering at the finish line. Equipment demos, citizen sprints, family fun races, and other events round out the weekend. Telemark Resort is the center of the festivities; book extremely early if you want to stay here during the Birkie, it’s worth it for the exuberant atmosphere.

The rest of the winter, most of the Birkie Trail is open to the public, groomed for both classical and skate skiing. Five kilometers of lighted loop trails near the County Highway OO trailhead are especially lovely for nighttime skiing.

W
HERE
: 140 miles northeast of Minneapolis, MN. Tel 715–634-5025,
www.birkie.com
.
Hayward visitor info:
Tel 800–724-2992 or
715-634-8662;
www.haywardlakes.com
.
Cost:
$65 fee to participate; Birkie Trail Pass $5 daily, $15 annually.
T
ELEMARK
R
ESORT
: Cable. Tel 877–798-4718 or 715–798-3999;
www.telemarkresort.com
.
Cost:
from $69 (off-peak), from $109 (peak); higher during Birkebeiner.
B
EST TIMES
: Jan–early Feb for most reliable snow coverage.

From Company Town to Luxe Golf Resort

Kohler, Wisconsin

Sure, it sounds odd to build an exclusive resort around a plumbing factory, but that’s exactly what happened in the village of Kohler, a name known for its fashionable, high-end plumbing fixtures. In 1918, company president
(and later governor of Wisconsin) Walter J. Kohler built an impressive, block-long redbrick Tudor building directly opposite his factory, as a dormitory for his immigrant workforce, believing “a worker deserves not only wages, but roses as well.” Today, one of Kohler’s favorite quotes is etched in stained glass, radiating from the soaring windows of the handsome Wisconsin Room restaurant, once the workers’ dining hall: “Life without labor is guilt; labor without art is brutality.”

In the 1980s, the workers’ dormitory was turned into a high-end inn, and the property was eventually expanded to encompass 240 rooms, four restaurants, handcrafted woodwork, and (not surprisingly) lavish bathrooms. The hotel’s Immigrant Room offers upscale dining and artisanal cheeses in its adjacent Winery Bar, while the more casual Horse and Plow reflects the region’s German immigrant heritage, with its signature three-cheese soup and grilled Sheboygan sausage sampler.

Golf is the primary—but far from the only—draw of the American Club. Four magnificent championship courses frame the resort, each designed by famed course architect Pete Dye and laden with praise by golf critics across the country. Blackwolf Run’s two 18-hole courses (River and Meadow valleys) take advantage of the region’s naturally undulating glacier-scoured terrain. Dye proclaimed upon their opening that “there could not be a better natural setting for golf.” He next created Whistling Straits in 1999, which required a bit more work: Some 13,000 truck-loads of sand and dirt were brought in to create the rumpled landscape along a flat bluff above Lake Michigan that now evokes the windswept, rough-hewn courses of Scotland and Ireland, complete with grazing sheep. Whistling Straits hosted the 2004 PGA Championships (a rare honor for such a new
course), and is slated to do so again in 2010 and 2015.

The Kohler Waters Spa’s RiverBath rejuvenates you with a cascade of mineral-infused water.

The Kohler attention to detail is evident throughout this tidy property, which at every turn feels as perfect and photogenic as a movie set. At the 500-acre River Wildlife nature preserve, guests can hike 30 miles of trails, ride horseback, hunt pheasant, entice trout and salmon from 7 miles of rivers and streams, and dine on country gourmet at the rough-hewn log cabin River Wildlife Lodge restaurant. At the new 22,000-square-foot Kohler Waters Spa, guests can choose from more than 50 treatments, many showcasing Kohler’s plumbing marvels, such as the RiverBath, featuring a waterfall and river currents. For a nuts-and-bolts look at Kohler’s namesake business, visit the Kohler Design Center, where the “Great Wall of China” fills one end of the showroom with a vast display of plumbing fixtures.

W
HERE
: 55 miles north of Milwaukee; 444 Highland Dr. Tel 800–344-2838 or 920–457-8000;
www.destinationkohler.com
.
C
OST
: from $180 (off-peak), from $285 (peak); greens fees from $141.
K
OHLER
W
ATERS
S
PA
: Tel 20–457-7777;
www.destinationkohler.com
.
Cost:
RiverBath treatment $95.
B
EST TIMES
: May for the Kohler Golf Expo; Oct for the Kohler Food and Wine Experience; Nov for In Celebration of Chocolate.

Newport of the Midwest

Wisconsin

The genteel town of Lake Geneva may be in southern Wisconsin, but with its location just 10 miles north of the state line, Chicago-area residents have long laid claim to this popular vacation area. Geneva Lake, a deep
, spring-fed beauty some 21 miles in circumference, sits right on the town’s doorstep, while three other smaller lakes add to the region’s resortlike feel, luring legions of boaters, golfers, and multiple-generation vacationers.

The railroad first carried Chicago’s elite north to the cool waters and woods of Lake Geneva in the mid-19th century, where they built elaborate summer homes along the lakeshore. But it was the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 that established Lake Geneva as “Newport of the West” or “Hamptons of the Midwest.” Having lost their homes and businesses, leading industrialists with names like Wrigley, Maytag, and Montgomery Ward sought refuge here, building even more palatial estates and commuting back and forth to Chicago.

You can enjoy a casual view of the mansions and their vast emerald lawns on foot thanks to a 26-mile Shore Path that wends along the lakeshore, traversing parks and estates. Longstanding tradition rather than law keeps this former Indian footpath open to the public, so be sure to respect the generosity of owners and stay on the path itself when strolling to your heart’s content. The greatest concentration of mansions lies along the north shore, so Lake Geneva’s Library Park is a good starting point.