Over on the western side, biking and hiking trails traverse the thickly forested hills of Peninsula State Park (situated between tiny Fish Creek and elegant Mennonite Ephraim , with its resplendent white-clapboard architecture). An observation tower and lighthouse stand on the park's extensive shoreline. Just outside it on Hwy-42 is the anachronistic Skyway Drive-In movie theater (tel 920/854-9938).
Washington Island , off the peninsula's northern tip, offers a different cultural perspective. During Prohibition, the Icelandic community here convinced authorities that (40 percent alcohol) bitters were an ancient cure for rheumatism and dyspepsia. Cases of the stuff were shipped in, and the habit stuck; go into the historic Nelsen's Hall Bitters Pub and Restaurant (tel 920/847-2496), about two miles from the Detroit Harbor dock, and you're likely to find old-timers drinking bitters by the pint. Motel rooms are available on Washington, but there's no such luxury on the primitive neighboring 950-acre Rock Island. Once the private estate of a millionaire, it's dotted with stark, stone buildings; no cars are allowed, so see them by foot or bike.
The islands are served by the Washington Island Ferry from Northport at the tip of the peninsula (daily; $8 round-trip, cars $18, bikes $3; tel 920/847-2546 or 1-800/223-2094) and the Rock Island Ferry out of Jackson Harbor (June to mid-Oct daily; $7.50 round-trip; tel 920/847-2252)
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