Door county WI

[dodge_guy]

Ok. So the school district in our town rescheduled my daughters graduation. So I had to shorten our gulf coast trip for July. We are now going for a week in mid July.

So we are going to do Door County WI in in October. Will do the circle trip and stay in MI and go up and around the lake to Door county. Will be there mid week. I would think the shops and places like that are open then? Checked Door County’s website and they show the weekend activities, but nothing during the week. Anyone know if they have things going during the week? Will be staying in the Rowleys Bay Area!

[steveh27]

I used to go to Bailey's Harbor over the 4th of July for fishing. It was great. Once we stayed at a CG. Once a cabin. Twice in my Class B at the Yacht club where we docked my trailerable boat. Go to a community fish boil if they have them then.

[tjfogelberg]

Recommend Tranquil Timbers 3 m from downtown Sturgeon Bay. Checked in on a Sunday and checkout tomorrow (Friday). Wonderfully laid back - things are slowly opening up. Wear a mask. Good biking from this park into town or into Potawatomi State park which adjoins the private campground Tranquil Timbers. Weekends are definitely going to be busier here that's why we do the Sun-Fri thing.

[dodge_guy]

Well we changed our plans. We will be leaving on Monday (Columbus Day) and drive up to Lake Leelanau MI (Wild Cherry RV Resort) for a couple of days and do some wine tasting and sight seeing. Then drive up and around the lake to Door county. Will be there's from Thursday-Sunday. This seems to be possibly the last weekend and they have several festivals going on! I'll call tomorrow and see what's going on.

As far as college kids working in Door a County, I doubt there will be no one to work because it geared to the older crowd so they aren't going to close down like the Wis Dells do after Labor Day weekend. From my memory ere are older people working the shops, kind of like work camping.

[JesLookin]

Thing about Door County is that being a tourist area it is dependent on college age kids to work. Nobody to work = not much to do during the week.

[Campfire_Time]

We go to Door County 3-4 times per year. There is never anything going on mid week except maybe in July or August. Shops and restaurants are still all open in mid October, but some are already switching to off season hours and may be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Most of the private CGs last weekends are mid month and many of the shops will close by the end of the month.

Mid week is a great time to be there as nothing is busy. You can get seats and restaurants and bar seats at the brew pubs and tap rooms without fighting your way in. Weekends are insane up there in Oct. Everyone is there for festivals and to see the colors.

Weather can be all over the board. Most years it is cold and wet up there in Oct. but sometimes you can hit some good weather.

Dick_B wrote:
There is some talk lately about keeping the tourists out of Door County due to the virus. Their medical facilities are in Sturgeon Bay and not equipped to handle a bunch of virus patients. I think they have 10 ICU beds.
We have plans for two weeks in August and we are considering cancelling our annual trip. I suspect we will still be practicing social distancing and maybe even wearing masks in public.

I would not cancel yet. Far too early to decide. The Door County Health Dept (or what ever it is called) has closed private CGs through May 26th but I would not be surprised if that gets lifted with some specific requirements. The rules are literally changing daily here as in most states. Door County is heavy on tourism dependency and is mostly small business. We have reservations in mid may and though CGs are supposed to be closed, we'll wait for official word from the CG.

[dodge_guy]

Mike, i too like the trails and parks. But my wife like to be the definition of tourist. LOL
Yes it will be cool, but will be enjoyable. We have our annual Columbus Day weekend so we would head back down to IL on that Friday.

[Busdriver]

We were there last September had to wear a jacket most days,

[Dick_B]

There is some talk lately about keeping the tourists out of Door County due to the virus. Their medical facilities are in Sturgeon Bay and not equipped to handle a bunch of virus patients. I think they have 10 ICU beds.
We have plans for two weeks in August and we are considering cancelling our annual trip. I suspect we will still be practicing social distancing and maybe even wearing masks in public.

[rexlion]

To me it sounds like a great time to go to Door County. Good leaf peeping and not many tourists (no crowds). But then I would go for the scenery and state park trails and such; I have no interest in shops or tourist traps.

But no trip for me, for (I sincerely hope) I will be back to work in October.

[dodge_guy]

Thanks. Yes I realiz it's late in the year, but it is prime time for the leaves to change and it does get busy up there. I was hoping there would maybe be some stuff open. I'll have to keep doing some research. We've been there before for Memorial Day. But we went and rode through the state park.

[BarabooBob]

That time of year about the only things going on all take place on the weekends. During the week you will need to entertain yourself. The Sister Bay Apple Festival is the weekend of Oct 16. The fall colors are great and orchard tours are open during the week. If you like wine, there are many wineries and a few distilleries.

[craig7h]

Not being from Door County but have been there a few times, I would think that your time frame (mid October) is getting really late for much of Door County to be open. Its such a great part of Wisconsin it would be ashamed to miss most of the things there.