Looking for Vacation Info for Port Washington area (Milwaukee, Oshkosh: motel, home)

[Robinwomb]

This is really last minute, but my husband and I will be staying in a motel in Saukville for a week starting in two days. Our main goal is to visit the Horicon marsh and Horicon NWR. We love to bird watch. We are also looking at visiting Harrington beach state park. We have a three year old black lab/golden retriever mix we are bringing with us, so our activities need to be outdoors aside from the motel.

Does anyone have any other suggestions of outdoor sites and places to visit? Parks, outdoor exhibits, landmarks etc? Especially near the Port Washington area? We are fine with traveling up to an hour from there, but prefer to stay away from the big city of Milwaukee! Also, if you know of any good fish markets please share! Thanks!

[timberline742]

Cedarburg Bog State Natural Area
Some great insects, herps, plants and probably birds, though nesting may be over.
Right near you.

[sub]

Not sure if it's open due to Covid, but Port Washington has a neat lighthouse tour. Actually they have a lighthouse out on Lake Michigan that you can walk out to, but the tour is for the light "station" (also has a light) that's back in a neighborhood in town up the hill.

Kohler-Andrae State Park is just outside of Sheboygan. It has a really nice "cord"walk hike through sand dunes and also a trail through a little bit of forest. Usually some good bird watching there. Again, not sure how Covid's affected it, but they did have a early-morning guided bird-watching tour there.
You might look up Mauthe Lake Recreation Area on maps. If you park at that lot and hike or bike that trail from that end (it connects to other areas), there is a Bald Eagle's nest maybe a half mile or so on the left. There's a good chance someone will be stopped looking at it.
There's an incredible amount of recreation in the region.
The downtown's of Port Washington, Cederburg, Plymouth, Sheboygan, and many others in the area are all pretty quaint and well-utilized.

[Robinwomb]

Thanks guys! This is very helpful!

[Empidonax]

Some additional places to consider are:

Riveredge Nature Center (not too far from Cedarburg Bog):
https://www.riveredgenaturecenter.org/
Edit: You probably won't be able to take your pooch into the center, so this may not be an option.

Lion's Den Gorge Nature Preserve (but go on a weekday; it gets busy on the weekends):
https://www.co.ozaukee.wi.us/662/Lio...ature-Preserve
Edit: I believe dogs are allowed on most trails if they are leashed, but you'll want to confirm.

Neither of these places will be super great for birds right now, but you'll see some birds and many butterflies, dragonflies, and other critters. There is a fair bit of prairie habitat at Riveredge, so you'll see lots of wildflowers. Lion's Den has more deciduous woodlands habitat, but also a variety of other features.

For birdwatching, Horicon is definitely great, though activity is still on the low side right now. If you want to try to see shorebirds and marsh birds, this will be your best bet. Edit: I know that dogs are allowed on a leash in some parts of the marsh (parts of the auto tour), but you'll have to investigate to see to what extent.

[Robinwomb]

Just wanted to share that I had a really nice vacation in the Port Washington area! We visited Horicon, both the state and national wildlife areas, and we visited Cedarburg Bog area as well. Though I didn't see as many birds as I had hoped, I did spot an eastern meadowlark, eastern towhee, purple martins, pelicans, and countless other birds I have not yet identified. the area was beautiful! I also enjoyed walking around the port in Port Washington. I really liked the laid back feel of that town. I was surprised at how big the other nearby cities were and the sheer amount of traffic! This is not something I had expected. The pace of life seems faster there than here in Duluth which I was not thrilled about. But the beauty of the land, the very clean and pristine parks and area in general, Lake Michigan and Port Washington all made up for it! Interestingly, we did not go in any buildings the entire week we were there, other than a few gas stations and our motel. We spent all our time outdoors.

Thanks again for all the info!

[sub]

Originally Posted by Robinwomb

Just wanted to share that I had a really nice vacation in the Port Washington area! We visited Horicon, both the state and national wildlife areas, and we visited Cedarburg Bog area as well. Though I didn't see as many birds as I had hoped, I did spot an eastern meadowlark, eastern towhee, purple martins, pelicans, and countless other birds I have not yet identified. the area was beautiful! I also enjoyed walking around the port in Port Washington. I really liked the laid back feel of that town. I was surprised at how big the other nearby cities were and the sheer amount of traffic! This is not something I had expected. The pace of life seems faster there than here in Duluth which I was not thrilled about. But the beauty of the land, the very clean and pristine parks and area in general, Lake Michigan and Port Washington all made up for it! Interestingly, we did not go in any buildings the entire week we were there, other than a few gas stations and our motel. We spent all our time outdoors.

Thanks again for all the info!

Glad you liked it .
Port Washington is an outer suburb of Milwaukee so it and points southward are definitely going to be busier.
Southeast Wisconsin in general is fairly heavily populated. Tourists, especially from Illinois, add to the amount of traffic in the area especially in the summer.
We went on vacation many years ago in Duluth and explored the North Shore. The feeling is mutual. We loved it up there.

[Robinwomb]

Originally Posted by sub

Glad you liked it .
Port Washington is an outer suburb of Milwaukee so it and points southward are definitely going to be busier.
Southeast Wisconsin in general is fairly heavily populated. Tourists, especially from Illinois, add to the amount of traffic in the area especially in the summer.
We went on vacation many years ago in Duluth and explored the North Shore. The feeling is mutual. We loved it up there.

Good to know! I did see a lot of Illinois license plates down there. I figured the proximity to Milwaukee is what made it seem so busy.

ps as a bonus on the way there, I was able to stop in Oshkosh and visit a coworker who lives there. I work as a medical coder and we all work from home now so we are not tied to any building. This coworker and I are friends and she moved to Oshkosh a few years ago. It was a lot of fun to see where she lives!