Clicking on the Web: Cool tourist attractions in Wisconsin
If you’re looking to crunch a juicy, delicious apple and also would like to take a mini fall vacation, you might want to look at going across the border to Bayfield, Wis., or to Door County in Wisconsin.
My wife Judy and I have been a regular to Bayfield the past five years but have not trekked to Door County as of yet.
Bayfield is about a four-hour trip from the Twin Cities suburbs, whereas Door County is a bit farther.
A good friend of mine who also has been a working colleague of mine the past several years, Randy Peterson, is an artist who is invited to be an artist in residence every fall in Bayfield.
Randy is best known for his pointillism art. His favorite subjects are lighthouses and he has done several at Bayfield.
Judy and I took Randy’s advice to try a mini vacation to Bayfield and went there on our 40th wedding anniversary.
Now, the trip has become an annual event with another couple joining us the past two years.
When arriving at Bayfield, one has to pause and think maybe the achieved destination is on the East Coast rather than in western Wisconsin.
Let’s find out some history of Bayfield, Wis..
Go to Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayfield,_Wisconsin
Bayfield is a city in Bayfield County, Wis., United States. The population was 611 at the 2000 census.
The town is named after Henry Bayfield, a British Royal Topographic Engineer who explored the region in 1822-23.
Wisconsin Highway 13 serves as a main arterial route in the community.
It is a former county seat, lumbering town and commercial fishing community, which today is a tourist and resort destination.
There are many restaurants, hotels, bed and breakfasts establishments, specialty shops, and marine services.
Bayfield is considered the main gateway to the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, a world famous freshwater sailing, boating and kayaking destination on Lake Superior.
Madeline Island, the largest of the Apostle Islands and the only one with private residences, is another popular destination near Bayfield.
Judy and I and our friends Dan and Linda went on a three-hour sailing junket with a sailor who is a veteran of the American Coast Guard and is now teaching special education in Bayfield.
The city of Bayfield is known in the Anishinaabe language as Oshki-oodena (“New-town”), opposed to Superior, Wis., which is known as Gete-oodena (“Old-town”), in reference to the Ojibwa migration.
The Bayfield Maritime Museum and Bayfield Heritage Museum are the city’s two museums.
There are several art galleries. Bayfield’s annual Apple Fest draws about 40,000 visitors during the first weekend in October.
Its Race Week Regatta is in early July.
Find more information on this quaint Lake Superior city by going to the Bayfield Chamber of Commerce website at http://bayfield.org/where_to_stay.php
Revel in the bounty of the fall harvest amid the scenic beauty of the Apostle Islands during Bayfield’s annual celebration of everything apples.
The 50th Bayfield Apple Festival will be observed Oct. 7-9.
It is listed among “Top Ten Autumn Festivals in North America” by the Society of American Travel Writers.
Bayfield Apple Festival is also one of Discover Wisconsin’s Top Ten Favorite Small Town Festivals.
To learn more about Door County, go to the Wikipedia site at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Door_County,_Wisconsin
Let’s read: Door County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of 2000, the population was 27,961. Its county seat is Sturgeon Bay.
Door County is a popular vacation and tourist destination, especially for residents of Wisconsin and Illinois.
The county is named after the strait between the Door Peninsula and Washington Island.
The dangerous passage, which is now scattered with shipwrecks, was known to early French explorers and local Native Americans.
Because of the natural hazards of the strait, where the waters of Green Bay meet the open body of Lake Michigan, they gave it the French appellation Porte des Morts Passage, which in English means the “Door to the Way to Death,” or simply, “Death’s Door.”
Although Door County has a year-round population of about 28,000, it experiences a tourist explosion each summer between Memorial Day and Labor Day, as the Lake Michigan spring gives way to a beautiful three month summer.
Most businesses are specifically targeted to visitors, and close during the “off season.”
Throughout the summer, the population of Door County can reach as high as 250,000.
The majority of tourists and summer residents come from the metropolitan areas of Milwaukee, Chicago, Madison and the Twin Cities.
The area is known as “the Cape Cod of the Midwest”.
Door County is home to five of Wisconsin’s state parks: Newport State Park, northeast of Ellison Bay; Peninsula State Park, along more than six miles (10 km) of the Green Bay shoreline; Potawatomi State Park, along Sturgeon Bay; Rock Island State Park, off the tip of the Door Peninsula; and Whitefish Dunes State Park, along Lake Michigan.
These five parks are known as “five jewels in the crown.”
They offer visitors recreational opportunities that include sightseeing, hiking, camping, swimming, fishing and snowmobiling.
Many small businesses surrounding these parks offer moped or bicycle rentals
Door County has 12 lighthouses.
Most were built during the 19th century and are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Planning a trip to Door County is quite easy, as easy as going to the Door County Visitors Bureau website at http://www.doorcounty.com/plan-your-trip/plan-an-itinerary
Through DoorCounty.com, you can create a customized trip plan that will be saved on our website for you.
There, you’ll be able to easily keep a shortlist of any restaurants, attractions, hotels, galleries, stores and tours you’re interested in.
When you come across a place you like on our website, simply click the “Add to my Trip Plan” button, log-in and presto, it’s shortlisted for you.
You’ll have the opportunity to save your trip plans, and every time you come back to our site, your trip plan will be patiently waiting there for you, ready for more action.
Editor’s note: Howard Lestrud is ECM online managing editor.
