We spent Sunday afternoon and Monday in Door County - the part of Wisconsin my Chicago friends who summer there tell me is most like Maine (yeah, maybe the same way Tombstone Pizza is like Ian's).

On the way up to Penninsula State Park where we camped, we stopped in lovely Manitowoc, which is not in Door County, but on the way. Several WWII subs were built in the town and they now have a retired vessel there at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum.


Jason expected that I would feel right at home in Manitowoc but not so much. The waterfront, and I use the term loosely because most of the town ignores the waterfront, was completely dead. In fact the whole trip got me wondering about coastal Wisconsin. What does Wisconsin have in the way of working waterfront? What about the Great Lakes fisheries? Where are the fish markets? How is most of the fishing in the Great Lakes done? Large vessels, hook and line? Where is the fishing done? How much use do the lakes get aside from recreational boating? I want to know.