This summer, we took an amazing road trip through Wisconsin so we could explore the beautiful area of Door County with our kids. I was so excited to see the beautiful stones at Schoolhouse beach, to visit a real lighthouse, and dip our toes into the cold water of Lake Michigan! It was a fantastic destination to take young kids to, and we found everywhere we visited to be very family friendly. While we were only there for 3 days, we could have easily spent 3 more exploring the other towns and all they have to offer. I highly recommend visiting Door County with kids if you are looking for a great summer getaway that is family friendly!
Our first morning in Sister Bay, we really wanted to eat at Al Johnson’s for breakfast. They specialize in Swedish cuisine, and they are known for the goats that graze on the roof of the restaurant during the spring and summer months! I read that it is a super popular restaurant, so we tried to get up early and beat the crowd. Well, even checking in at 8am, there was over an hour wait, so we stopped at a coffee shop on main street for muffins and cappuccinos instead. All parents know that waiting an hour just to be seated with 3 kids 6 and under is not a good idea, especially first thing in the morning when everyone is full of energy.
After breakfast, we walked back to our house to change into beachwear and grab our sand toys. We headed back to Sister Bay beach for a day in the sand. This beach is fantastic for kids, and there was hardly anyone else there when we arrived around 9am. My kids loved playing in the sand and splashing in the water. Beware, the water is COLD. But they didn’t seem to mind, and there were lots of other people swimming in the crystal clear lake. There is a long dock you can walk out on, kayak rentals, and you are right next to the marina. We loved watching the big sailboats and yachts come in and out. By the time we headed back to our house for lunch, the crowds had picked up. But it’s a big beach and never felt overly crowded.
We had picked up some easy lunch staples at the local grocery store on our way into town, and ate sandwiches, chips and fruit for lunch at our house. We let the kids have a little downtime, and changed out of our swimwear into regular clothes.
After lunch, we drove to the Cana Island lighthouse. It is a historic old lighthouse that was built in the 1800’s, but has been completely restored, and is fully accessible to climb up. When we arrived, we took a tractor ride from the parking lot over to the island. My kids loved this! Depending on the water level when you are visiting, it is possible to walk across the causeway. The lighthouse itself is not huge, and doesn’t take much time to climb up and explore. It has been beautifully restored, and it is really neat to see the home where the keeper and his family once lived. There are other buildings and trails to explore on the island, and my kids loved tossing rocks and shells into the splashing waves. The cost to enter was $37 for my family, as my youngest two boys were both free. We spent about an hour and a half exploring the island, then we headed back into Sister Bay for dinner.
We decided to order takeout from Husby’s for dinner, and ate it at our house. I had the buffalo chicken wrap and it was delicious! After dinner, we walked back to the main street and stopped for gelato at Door County Creamery (YUM!). Then we headed back to the Sister Bay beach to play in the sand and watch the sunset. They have a great seating area where you could sit and enjoy a glass of beer from Al Johnson’s biergarten across the street. It was neat to watch all the boats come into the marina as the sun was setting. Such a beautiful view from the beach- definitely check out the sunset at least one evening!
On our next day in Door County, we headed up north to Washington Island for the day. We knew there were some impending thunderstorms later in the day, so we got up really early in hopes we would get some time on the island before they hit.
After a quick breakfast at home, we drove to the northern tip of the Door County peninsula and got in line for the Washington Island ferry. The ferry takes you and your vehicle across Lake Michigan to the small Washington Island. The ride is a little over a half hour each way, and we loved standing up on the top deck of the boat and watching the waves during the ride. Once we got off the ferry, we headed straight to Schoolhouse beach.
This breathtaking beach has no sand, but instead is covered in smooth, limestone rocks. It looks to be straight out of a magazine. In order to preserve its beauty, you are not allowed to remove the stones from the beach (this includes throwing them in the water, as we were kindly reminded by some friendly locals) or you could face a hefty fine.
We brought our beach blanket and chairs (there are lots of spiders crawling in the rocks) and enjoyed the beautiful beach while the storms rolled in. I packed some watercolor paints and some paint brushes in our beach bag, and my kids had so much fun painting the beautiful stones and then washing them clean in the water.
There were beautiful yachts and sailboats anchored out in the bay that were fun to watch, and there were several people snorkeling. We really wanted to rent a paddleboard and go out in the bay; there is a shipwreck about 100 yards from the beach that you can paddle out and see. But we didn’t feel confident enough in the weather, so we skipped it. We spent a couple of hours at this beach before the storm hit, but I would have loved to spend a couple more!
When the rain started, we packed up our stuff and took shelter in our car. Once we realized the storm wasn’t going to pass quickly, we loaded back into the car and drove around the small town to check it out. We ended up stopping at a small souvenir shop and wandered around, and by the time we were done the rain had let up. We didn’t feel confident enough in the weather to head back to the beach (you get zero cell service on the island by the way), so we drove around the island and enjoyed the scenery. We stopped at the Mountain Park Lookout tower. Even though everything was very wet from the rain, there were sturdy handrails and the stairs were in good condition, so we felt safe climbing to the top. What a beautiful view!
We could see more storm clouds rolling in, so we decided it was best to head back to the ferry before the weather got bad again. We ate our packed lunch on the ferry ride back. When we got back into Sister Bay, we stopped at the Door County Ice Cream Factory. This is an absolute must do- they had the most amazing homemade waffle cone that I have ever tasted! I was seriously sad that we didn’t have time to squeeze in another visit before we left town!
Since the rain was quite persistent, we had a lazy afternoon and watched a movie at our house. We let our big kids watch a movie while our 2-year-old napped. My mother-in-law, who had joined us on our trip, stayed at the house with the kids while my husband and I braved the rain to find an adult beverage and some alone time. We made our way to the Al Johnson biergarten, which was fully enclosed with pull down walls to keep everyone dry. They had some really great local beers and ciders on tap. I tried a local cherry flavored cider, since cherries are their thing in Door County. There were lots of other unique flavors to try!
The storms finally let up by evening time, and after a quick dinner at home, we headed back to the beach for some time in the sand and another gorgeous sunset.
On our last day in Door County, we headed to Cave Point County Park to explore the cliffs that jut out over Lake Michigan. While they are stunning to experience in person, it was definitely nerve wracking being out on them with small children, as they are very uneven and there are no guardrails. I wore my 2-year-old in our Tula, and kept an extremely close eye (and hand) on our older kids the whole time.
The trails weren’t too difficult, but did have lots of step downs and uneven spots, and even some spots that have holes leading all the way down to the water. We didn’t spend a ton of time here, but I was glad we had it on our itinerary. It’s beautiful, and definitely worth a stop if you are visiting Door County with kids.
After we finished at Cavepoint, we drove right next door to the Whitefish Dunes State Park. The Whitefish Dunes State Park is right next to the Cavepoint County Park, and you actually can enter it from the trails. However, I would not recommend it with kids because the hike is quite long. It costs $10 to park, and there is access to bathrooms close to the parking lot to change. The walkway to the beach is a bit of a trek, especially when you’re carrying all the beach gear, plus a cooler, and a toddler who all of a sudden has legs that don’t work. But this beach felt the most “beachy” to us out of all the ones we went to. This was also the coldest of all the water we got into, and I couldn’t even hardly put my toes in it because it made them hurt. But my kids didn’t seem to mind- they played for hours.
It was a rather busy beach, and there were several kayak guides taking tours out over to explore the caves that took up a significant amount of space on the beach. But it is nice and big, and never felt overly crowded. We brought all of our beach toys, and my kids dug in the sand and played in the water for hours. We ate our packed lunch right there on the beach. I am pretty sure there are hiking trails in the areas behind the beach, but my kids had no interest in leaving their sandcastles, so we didn’t explore those.
After we were all beached out, we walked back up to the bathrooms and cleaned the sand off and changed back into our clothes. We stopped at McDonald’s on our way out of town for a quick dinner, then headed south to Madison for the night.
We absolutely loved our time in Door County with our kids; it is such an amazing little spot to explore! There are so many great little towns that I wish we had more time to visit, but Sister Bay is a great central location and has the absolute cutest downtown area. I highly recommend this as a summer vacation destination if you are looking to travel with your littles!