A visitor for more than 40 years

Door County has been part of our family story since the summer of 1985. We have returned almost every year since, watching familiar places change while discovering new reasons to come back.

This site grew from that long affection for the peninsula. It is not meant to pretend we are locals. It is a visitor-built resource shaped by decades of visits, photographs, meals, stays, friendships and curiosity about what came before.

The people who made it special

Some of the strongest Door County memories are tied to people. This project remembers our late friend Gary Straub, longtime owner of Azure Menswear in Sister Bay, whose welcome became part of our visits. It also celebrates our longtime friend and Door County native Rob Van Gemert, whose stories and local perspective added another layer to places we already thought we knew.

Knowing where something is can help you find it. Knowing its story can help you appreciate it.

That is the idea behind Eat & Stay, Explore, and Then & Now: practical information for today, with room for the memories and history that make Door County more than a collection of pins on a map.