Traveling Green in Door County
By Donna Marie Pocius
Special to Door CountyNavigator.com
Make a trip to the Door Peninsula eco-friendly when you stay overnight in hotels and inns that are certified green by Travel Green Wisconsin.
You can see the leafy Travel Green Wisconsin logo on the Door County businesses' Web sites, front doors and brochures. But what does it mean?
"People are going to understand the place they are visiting is so special that they want to keep it that way," said Will Christianson, outreach coordinator at the
Wisconsin Department of Tourism, which formed Travel Green Wisconsin in partnership with the Wisconsin Environmental Initiative.
Here's what makes a few of the inns special and green.
Door Peninsula inns certified green, at this writing, are the Journey's End Motel & Cabins, White Pines Victorian Lodge//B&B and the Blacksmith Inn on the Shore.
At Journey's End in Baileys Harbor, guests stay in one of three log cabins or 10 motel rooms on a lovingly nurtured four-acre greenspace. Here, landscaping with native plants reduces the amount of water necessary, according to Sue Becker, innkeeper.
"As a Travel Green inn, we are making an effort to protect the environment so that a traveler can enjoy the area today and also in the future," she said.
Instead of being changed daily, towels and linens are replaced at guests' requests. The accommodations are outfitted with energy-efficient appliances, which are regularly maintained. A recycling program is in place for guests and employees.
Journey's End also buys local food products, featuring them in continental breakfast and gift baskets.
In Sturgeon Bay, the White Pines Victorian Lodge/B&B had a restoration involving green building techniques, according to Sheri Gibbs, the owner and innkeeper. As part of the restoration, which commenced in 2001, areas behind walls were cleaned, wood floors were preserved, and windows (which were painted shut) have been replaced with energy-efficient styles consistent with the 135-year-old architecture.
"We have done everything we can to make a real healthy indoor environment here," Gibbs said.
"Everything is cleaned with white vinegar, baking soda and hydrogen peroxide. And there are no smells from fabric softeners, laundry detergents and perfumes," she added.
Also certified as green are The Bridge and Door 
County Kayak Tours, both in Egg Harbor, and the Cookery and Peninsula State Park, both in Fish Creek.
More information is online at www.travelgreenwisconsin.com.
