Girlfriends Unite . . . and Travel!

Door County offers Diverse Experiences for Traveling Girlfriends

By Donna Marie Pocius
Special to DoorCountyNavigator.com

 

When girlfriends travel together, good times and great memories just seem to follow.

With its quaint coastal towns and charming boutiques and galleries inside vintage buildings, Door County draws groups of girlfriends. They come to the northeast Wisconsin peninsula to shop as well as indulge in local delicacies like cherry pie and enjoy nature.

But most important to them is taking time to connect with each other.

Two upcoming events give girlfriends a chance to renew their friendships, meet others and explore Door County. The Sturgeon Bay Visitor Center, together with Bridgeport Resort and Stone Harbor Resort, is hosting Groovin’ Sisterhood weekend April 26 to 29. And the Egg Harbor Visitor Center is coordinating, in partnership with various hotels and resorts, Girlfriends Great Eggescape May 17 to 20.

This year’s event in Sturgeon Bay has an “80s are back” theme. Highlights include a welcome party, area walking and trolley tours and a luncheon and fashion show. Participants will also have an opportunity to choose from a variety of educational sessions on topics such as floral design, healthy cooking, zumba dancing, vitality diets, accessorizing, yoga, wine/chocolate pairing and mixology.

In Egg Harbor, workshops and entertainment are also planned on Thursday through Saturday with a Sunday brunch closing the affair.

But if you can’t make one of these events, shape your own Door County girlfriend getaway itinerary.

Girlfriends have told DoorCountyNavigator.com that they put on their list restaurants including the Cookery, Gibraltar Grill and Blue Horse Bistro in Fish Creek.

As for shopping, Dovetail Gallery & Studio and Door County Interiors & Design—both in Egg Harbor--appeal to the ladies. Door County Interiors & Design is currently running a sale on accessories, carpeting and window treatments.

Another home accessory store drawing women is City Farmer, which is housed in a repurposed 1886 dairy barn in Ephraim. Original wood shiplap-style walls exposed ceiling beans and painted concrete floors provide a backdrop to the store’s vast offerings: pottery, wall art, table linens, rugs, garden art, soaps and much more.

“Door County is such a great getaway for girlfriends. They come here and add to things they have already found here,” said Celeste Wegman, co-owner of City Farmer and an interior designer.

“After their trips, we get phone orders to mail things. They say, ‘I should have listened to my friends; do you still have it?”

Further north, many shops and galleries in downtown Ellison Bay are within walking distance of each other, making a shopping excursion here a wonderful choice for a day-long girlfriend getaway.

Included is Linden Gallery featuring Asian art and antiques, Newport Gallery and the Savory Spoon Cooking School and Marketplace (girlfriends can also check out this popular place’s class schedule and take a cooking class together).

Oh, and don’t miss Turtle Ridge Gallery, a short distance away from the town center. Here, Mary Ellen Sisulak shows handcrafted leather handbags which are embossed and painted with her nature-inspired designs of trees, leaves, turtles, flowers and more.

“Women love to come up here and see what we have,” Mary Ellen said. “It is fun to find something different. They like the discovery of it.”