So I realized that after last year’s trip to Door County, I did not pay nearly enough attention (on the blog that is) to the joys of shopping and taste tasting at all the local markets! One of the benefits of staying in Fish Creek this summer was all of the shopping opportunities within walking distance.
There were two fun and colorful shops right across the street from our hotel.
That had some unique lawn decorations.
And there is always Nan and Jerry’s bait shop a few blocks from down town.
My two favorite stores in Fish Creek are Hey Daisy and Brilliant Stranger (which is located in the Luna Coffee Shop). They have unique and cute clothes, plus tons of great gifts!
All of the towns have awesome stores, and the main roads are lined with antique and art stores. There are also an abundance of fudge, chocolate, and ice cream shops that are worth checking out.
I recommend going to all of them and getting samples! Have you ever tried a homemade peanut butter cup? They are delish!
But my favorite kind of shopping in Door County (rooting back to my first trips here ~10 years ago) include visiting ALL of the local markets, sampling their homemade foods, and stocking up on a years worth of jelly! There are tons scattered throughout the peninsula, but here are a few of my favorites…
The samples are the BEST part of market shopping!
One of my favorite markets is Koepsel’s in Bailey’s Harbor.
They have the largest assortment of jellys and jams, and many of them are sugar free. But their sweet potato butter is addicting! I might have had taken two samples of that one.
Not surprisingly, the BOY was a huge fan of the meat and cheese section.
But it was the random goats chilling by the side of the road that had us laughing hysterically!
We like to save a few stops for our last day on our the way out of town, including Wood Orchard Market for garlic bread, cherry and raspberry salsa, BBQ sauce, and of course dark chocolate covered cherries.
And of course Sweetie Pies for cherry and pecan Pie ToGo.
I wanted to get a picture to show you all the people making the pies in the kitchen, but didn’t want to be a total stalker. Our pie was fresh out of the oven and still warm when we put it in the car!
Our car smelled like pie the entire way home!
I LOVE all of our Door County foods, so I always pick up some extras to enjoy throughout the year. The dried cherries show up in many of my baked goods. I think I went a little overboard this year getting jams and salsas for EVERYONE. Can you guess what you’ll be getting for the holidays this winter???
Note: We also love Charlie’s Smokehouse for whitefish and Bea’s Ho-made for jams and pies, but didn’t go that far up north this year.
Do you like to buy food when you travel?
Where is your favorite place to shop in Door County?
OH MY GOSH–YES YES YES to everything in this post! You’ve got me missing DC so badly right now–wishing we could take a spur-of-the-moment weekend trip.
Alas, I will live vicariously through your posts and recaps this weekend!
Ha ha! I’m just about done with the DC recaps, but I’m glad that you’ve enjoyed them and know exactly what I am talking about with the fudge and markets. My mom and I actually just booked a fall trip back up there. She hasn’t been in many years, and we are hoping to get in some more hiking, biking, eating, shopping, and pies! Plus, I’ve never been in fall (my favorite season) so I am excited!
We almost went to Door County about a month ago for a camping trip. Looks like you guys had a great time! 🙂
We did! I saw a lot of people camping in Peninsula state park when I would ride through in the morning. It is such a gorgeous place to camp. I hope you get there sometime soon!
I’ve never seen sweet potato butter before. I bet that would be so good! I’ll have to be on the lookout for some- so curious to try it.
It is like pumpkin butter, only better!!! And the old skool animal crackers make it amazing. I may even try to make my own version this fall. I have a feeling the crockpot can help me out with that. Although I have been saying I would make pumpkin butter for ages and am yet to attempt it : )
Fabulous photos! And that jam store looks INSANE.
It is seriously the BEST! I’ve never seen anything like it before!
Aw, I used to live in Wisconsin and this makes me miss it! And OH, those peanut butter cups–yum!
I would bet that all of the Wisconsin goodness packed into these posts could make you home sick : ) Thanks for stopping by!
I love the picture with all the pie birds in the window. I use pie birds for fruit pies. Thanks for sharing.