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Issue 40April 2011
In This Issue
Eat! Stay! Explore! Part 4!
Builders Show!
Door County Happenings


 

Door County - Lookin' Good!    
Pioneer Schoolhouse
Pioneer Schoolhouse, Ephraim
 
April Waters
April Waters


Greening of Door County
Greening of Door County

Horseshoe Island
Horseshoe Island

View from Eagle Tower
View from Eagle Tower, Peninsula State Park

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Some of Our Favorite
Places to Stay In
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Greetings!
 
Spring is here!  We have waited long enough for it!  So start making your plans to come up to Door County!  Here is your first official Spring 2011 Navigator News(tm)!
  
In this issue we continue with our new feature:  Eat, Stay, Explore, which we will run every month this year!  People really seem to like this new feature a lot!

 

In each issue, we will offer information about three Door County sites:

1) a restaurant or food-related place (we think rather creatively, so don't be surprised to read about diners, coffee shops, bakeries and markets as well as restaurants)

 

2) a place to stay or rest (hotel, resort, inn, or campground) and

  

3) a destination to wander (nature-related, shopping-related, arty or event-focused. Again, there are no limits to our imagination, and there are vast places to explore around here). So hang on for a fun year!  And tell your friends to get in on the fun and subscribe - it's free!

 

Missed our past Navigator News(tm) issues?  No problem - visit our archive: archived" copies of Navigator News(tm).  
 
You can learn additional things about Door County through our "Door County Happenings" weekly podcasts.  Here we talk about what's happening in Door County right now and you can listen in under 5 minutes! So listen in and hear about openings, closings, new info and more! 
 
 
In The News! 
  1. We will be switching to our new and improved interface this month!  Register to use our Trip Planner etc. right now at http://www.DoorCountyNavigator.net - let us know what you think!  We will be switching this over to our .com site in a few days!
  2. The April Giveaway is already running . . . have you entered yet?  A wonderful 2-night stay in Sturgeon Bay at the Westwood Shores Waterfront Resort. Fabulous resort!  We have reviewed it and shot video there too! Check it out on our site.  And our March winner was announced and posted!
  3.  "Social Media" is booming! You can now follow DoorCountyNavigator.com on Twitter!  Yes!  Look for DoorCountyInfo or click below and follow our Twitter posts.   Follow us on Twitter!
  4. And join our Door County fan page on Facebook We have almost 4,000 fans - join us! 
  5. Visit our BLOG !
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Please visit our Sponsors' websites!  They make the Navigator News(tm) possible!    And they are some of the best places to stay in Door County  - click on theirThe Shallows Resort Banner banners and see what they have to offer - and tell them you like them supporting Navigator News(tm)
 
Thanks for your readership, and here we go . . .Springtime!

Dan Silvestri
Founder
 

Eat, Stay, Explore!

 (part 4 of a 12-part series)

       
          By Donna Marie Pocius             
Special to DoorCountyNavigator.com

 

Eat in Door County:  Villaggios is a delightful restaurant with a creative d�cor and menu.  It's open year-round "in downtown Juddville" on Hwy. 42. You can't miss the yellow farmhouse repurposed as a two-story restaurant. Park in the gravel lot and use the back door (by the "Italians enter here" sign), or try the front door if you are so inclined. There is seating on two levels for about 50 and additional outdoor seating on the screened-in porch.

 

As to that creative menu, brush up on your Italian (translations are included, of course). Available are pasta dishes such as casearia gnocchi (gnocchi and sundried tomatoes and asparagus in a gorgonzola cream sauce). This writer had the angela di villasenor-angel hair pastaParkwood Lodge 2010 banner with sundried tomatoes and more. My dining partner chose rigatoni cotto with marinara sauce, saut�ed green peppers and onions and meatballs. The Villaggios' ravioli chef's choice was stuffed with crab.  Many other pasta dishes are on the menu. Specials include veal, chicken and tenderloin choices. Villaggios also has la tortas, which are homemade pizzas with original or honey wheat crust.

 

Take in the atmosphere. You feel as though you are seated in a square in Italy. The walls on the lower level are painted with windows and outdoor Italian scenes, while the walls and ceiling upstairs show angels flying around. The tables are decorated in red, green and white cloths, and paper covers them. We liked the neat stack of pasta sauce cans on the window sill and the Italian music.  

 

Many diners have used the provided crayons to draw on the table papers, and you can check out their art in the lobby on your way out; there is a great drawing of Garfield the cat there along with a message, "Villaggios lasagna rocks."  Learn more about Villaggios at www.doorcountynavigator.com.      

 

Stay in Door County: Chanticleer Guest House, 4025 Cherry Rd., Sturgeon Bay, is a country rural inn welcoming vacationers year-round.  Here, a red dairy barn has been repurposed as a breathtaking inn.  Inside the renovated and restored building are four spacious suites-one with an exposed original 1915 wood ceiling and a hanging hay hook.

 

Guests relish amenities like king-size beds and 500-thread-count sheets and whirlpool tubs, fireplaces and satellite TV. 

 

Chanticleer also accommodates guests in four suites in the farmhouse (circa 1916) and in four recently constructed cabins. 

 

The outdoors is a feast for the senses. The innkeepers, Darrin Day and Bryon Groeschl, planted hundreds of trees, dug two fish ponds and created and nurtured fragrant and colorful gardens. Included are sequentially bloomingBridgeport Waterfront Resort perennials, shade-tolerant hostas, natural wildflower fields, roses, vegetables and more. Lavender stretches across the front of the barn's porch, which affords a spectacular view of a sheep farm. Learn more about Chanticleer Guest House at www.doorcountynavigator.com .  Fabulous place - tell them we sent you, please!

 

Explore in Door County: Wendy's Carpenter's fiber art-of various sizes, colors and materials-is created and displayed at Interfibers Design Gallery, Cty. Rd. F two miles east of Hwy 42, Fish Creek.

 

The gallery also has Carpenter's jewelry designs as well as paintings, furnishings and other pieces by additional artists. It's a light and bright gallery with high ceilings, Carpenter's pretty loom tucked in a corner and her loft studio high above.

 

Carpenter celebrates 30 years of creating her art in Door County this year. Her vast skills include weaving, dyeing, papermaking, jewelry design and basketry.  Her hand-woven fiber wall hangings often integrate fabric, particularly wool, with found objects like twigs.

 

Don't miss Carpenter's anniversary exhibition at Interfibers, "30 Years of Creating Art." It starts June 25 and will unveil her new jewelry designs using Door County geodes. Also on display will be fiber pieces Carpenter recently competed on commission for customers as well as her other fiber art.

 

Builders Show Off

Craftsmanship During May Showcase of Homes

  

By Donna Marie Pocius

Special to DoorCountyNavigator.com

    

Local home builders are opening up newly constructed homes for the public to view during the Showcase of Homes May 6 and 7 and May 13, 14 and 15.

 

The ninth annual showcase event, sponsored by the Door County Home Builders Association (DCHBA), presents 10 newly constructed homes and one remodeled home in Door County.  The houses, of various sizes and architectural styles, were constructed by seven different builders. 

 

Also, cabinetry, flooring, finishes, decorating and other details are being presented by other local Door County home and remodeling companies.

 

"The Showcase of Homes is a way to check out the quality, workmanship and creativity of area builders and other companies. You can tour and explore at your own pace, ask questions of experts and come away with aScandinavian Lodge Banner better understanding of choices and opportunities available in the exciting home industry," said Jack Gigstead of PortSide Builders, Inc. and president of DCHBA.  

 

The builders represented this year are: Bay Lakes Builders, Countrywide Construction, A.J. Deuchert Construction, PortSide Builders, Inc., Tielens Construction, Van's Lumber & Custom Builders and WE Builders, Inc. 

 

The homes are located in a variety of areas of Sturgeon Bay and Egg Harbor. Included is a brand new home on a bluff in Egg Harbor. It has spectacular views of Green Bay waters and was built by PortSide Builders.  Countrywide Construction presents a remodeled home in Sturgeon Bay.    

 

The Showcase cost of $10 includes admission to all homes on the tour. They are on sale at area businesses including Lamperts, banks and the Door County Visitors Bureau andEgg Harbor Lodge Banner at homes on Showcase days.  Hours of the event are 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Fridays and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sunday, May 15.   More information is online at dchba.org.

  

The DCHBA is a not-for-profit membership organization of local builders and related companies in the housing industry. 

Door County Happenings

  

By Donna Marie Pocius

Special to DoorCountyNavigator.com


 

Check out these recent Door County happenings, and find more local happenings each week online at www.doorcountynavigator.com.  Also, we will launch our new and improved interface this month with new features like a Trip Planner, Advanced Search, lots of new categories and more!   

 

Leathem Smith reopens

Leathem Smith will reopen in May with a new name, the Lodge by Leathem Smith.  The owner is Paul Meleen. The Lodge, at 1640 Memorial Drive, Sturgeon Bay, will have rooms for guests as well as space for banquets, weddings, receptions, corporate events and boat slips.  The lobby is being renovated, and the gift shop is being converted to an exercise room. The golf course will remain closed, and a tennis court will be removed.

 

Viking Grill and Lounge reopened Friday, April 1st!  Awesome!

After a Sept. 1 fire, the Viking Grill and Lounge in Ellison Bay reopened Friday, April 1.  The fire damaged the kitchen, and smoke harmed the dining area and bar. The Viking is featured in "Feed the Fish," a 2009 film starring Tony Shalhoub that was photographed in Door County.

 

Take a class at The Clearing

Art appreciation, being taught by Ram Rojas, a painter and one of our favorite Door County-based artists, is one of many fine classes being offered this summer at The Clearing in Ellison Bay. Ram's class will take place in August.

 

Peninsula Players announce 2011 playbill

Peninsula Players in Fish Creek has a wide variety of plays planned for this summer and fall.  This is the 76th season for the theatre. On the playbill this year are: "Making GodNewport Resort Banner Laugh" June 14 through July 3; "The Importance of Being Earnest" from July 6 to 24; "A Few Good Men," running July 27 through Aug. 14; "The Fox on the Fairway," a comedy on stage Aug. 17 through Sept. 4; and "God of Carnage" Sept. 7 through Oct. 16.

 

Yoga classes at Saguaro Day Spa

Yoga classes are offered at Saguaro Day Spa in Sturgeon Bay. Lori Rasmussen moved her Flow of Yoga classes from another location to the spa earlier this year. Classes meet weekday evenings in Saguaro's lower level lounge and suit people of all levels. Also, talk with Kathy Navis at Greens n Grains in Egg Harbor.  She conducts yoga classes as well.

 

Signs of spring

The snow is melting, robins are flying and the ice is breaking apart with Green Bay waters peeking through. It's a great time to plan your Door County getaway.  Find places to stay and eat as well as things to do and see at www.doorcountynavigator.com