Third coast charms
Harbor towns shine in sailing trip from Chicago to Port Washington, Wis. 20,000 roll into Kenosha for bike race
There are two kinds of vacations: the one where you go away, and the one where you stay home.
Going away, you can explore new places, meet new people, do new things. Staying home, you can relax in your own house and catch up on all the projects you've been meaning to get to.
(AP)
WHEN TO GO: In July, the harbor cities along the Third Coast offer all kinds of festivals: Waukegan is great for Fourth of July; Kenosha holds its annual Food Folks and Spokes (July 24), Port Washington has Fish Day (July 18), and Racine and Milwaukee have several events.
GETTING THERE: By car, Waukegan, Kenosha, Racine, Milwaukee and Port Washington are all within a 2½-hour drive north of Chicago.
WHERE TO STAY: If you cruise on a boat, municipal and private marinas are available in every town. While advance reservations are preferred, we secured slips the day before arriving. Hotels and B&Bs are also plentiful.
TIP: Wisconsin harbor towns have terrific biking, beaches, museums, restaurants and outstanding charter fishing boats.
Last summer, my husband, Mark, and I decided to combine the two. We were living year-round on our boat, the 38-foot Marine Trader trawler named Mazurka, and we decided to take our floating home on an eight-day trip up the so-called Third Coast into Wisconsin.
Every harbor we planned to visit was within a two-and-a-half-hour drive by car from Chicago. But aboard Mazurka, whose top speed is 8 mph, our destinations would seem exotic and far away.
In a sea of fog, we left Belmont Harbor for northern ports. Granted, Waukegan Harbor is only 38 nautical miles north. Driving, it would take about an hour. Aboard Mazurka, it took four.
While you might not think of Waukegan as a weekend getaway destination, the home of author Ray Bradbury and comedian Jack Benny has a beautiful harbor and hands down the best Fourth of July fireworks show I've ever seen. Forget the crowds at Navy Pier. Haul yourselves up to Waukegan where a symphony plays on the harbor, followed by a 45-minute fireworks show that explodes right over your head. If you spend the night, have brunch at Hussey's, a biker bar with terrific biscuits, gravy and homemade sausage.
After an overnight stay in Waukegan, we cruised over glass-like water for our next port, Racine.
I've driven past Racine hundreds of times. Not once have I stopped to explore it. Too bad, because it's a beautiful town just 77 miles north of Chicago.
French missionaries who came in the 19th century found a natural harbor created by the tangle of tree roots along the shore where the Root River meets Lake Michigan. They named the town Racine, French for "root." For most of the 20th century, the shoreline was industrial until the late 1980s when the area was rebuilt into a harbor complex.
After a morning spent searching for alternator belts and washing seven loads of laundry, the sky cleared to a beautiful blue. We hopped on our bikes for a tour of the town via the Root River path. We followed signs through neighborhood streets, a gravel path through Colonial Park and paved riverside roads.
As we prepared to leave Racine for Port Washington the next morning for a six-hour cruise, the marine forecast showed winds out of the northeast, 10 to 15 knots and waves of 2 to 4 feet.
"It's going to be rocky," Mark said.
Those 2- to 4-foot waves turned out to be closer to 4 or 5. Gray clouds rolled in from the west. Milwaukee loomed in the distance. As we rode the swells, spray shot over the bow of the boat, soaking us on the fly bridge. The field of white caps in front of us grew larger. We still had three more hours to Port Washington, so we decided to head into Milwaukee. Mark took the helm and I made sure nothing fell overboard as we tilted back and forth at 20-degree angles.
Milwaukee is a fine city -- but it's just that: a city. McKinley Marina and its encompassing park looked far too much like our home in Belmont Harbor. I wanted small, quaint towns.
The next morning, Mark was up early. "It looks calm out there," he said. "Let's make a run for it."
We battened down the hatches, preparing for the worst. And though the weather report was the same, Lake Michigan was different -- calm and soothing, nary a white cap in sight.
"A combination of New England charm and Midwestern friendliness," as the tourism Web site for Port Washington proclaims, is no marketing scam.
We arrived in "the Port," as locals call it, and docked in a transient slip. Ladies at the visitor center heaped menus and maps on us. We bought rare blue orchids at Brown's, Polish sausage at Bernie's, and clothes for Mark at Anchor Men's Store, where the salesman happily tailored Mark's cuffs.
As we wandered back to the boat, I got an eerie feeling.
"This place is too perfect," I told Mark. "It's like some episode of 'The Twilight Zone' -- young couple visits small Midwestern town, never seen again."
We spent two more days here, cycling the crushed limestone trails and back-country highways. On the way home to Chicago, we stopped in Kenosha, where a half-dozen boaters greeted us on the dock and helped us maneuver into the narrow slip. They spotted our bikes and asked if we had come for the international bike race, Food Folks and Spokes, which brings 20,000 people to Kenosha every July.
Sunday morning, we left under overcast skies. Just north of Waukegan, we found ourselves surrounded by fishing boats. I thought about the ancient mariners and the mythology that evolves on the water when you spend days at sea, tasting the wind with your skin.
Something about the water -- so much space and hidden depth -- opens the mind and the imagination and sets the stage for adventure. Even if it's only an hour north of Chicago.
Felicia Schneiderhan is a Duluth, Minn.-based free-lance writer.