Door County's closest commercial airports are Green Bay and Milwaukee, but most visitors drive. From southwest Pennsylvania it's a 700-mile trek around the southern end of Lake Michigan and through Chicago, which can add time to the otherwise 11-hour journey.

On our return trip, we opted to take a short cut -- across Lake Michigan.

From May 28 to Oct. 3, the SS Badger, a 410-foot-long "car ferry," sails daily between Manitowac, Wis., and Ludington, Mich. The approximate five-hour, 90-mile crossing pares 200 miles from the drive and is worth the experience.

Launched in 1952, the venerable vessel is North America's last coal-burning steamer and is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. It was built primarily to transport railroad freight cars across Lake Michigan, but as such ferries became obsolete in the 1970s, the SS Badger was refitted to accommodate smaller vehicles and relaunched in May 1992 to provide seasonal service.

The one-way fare for two passengers and a car is as low as $199 with advance purchase. Crossing time is four hours. There are two back and forth trips per day in the summer (June 11-Aug. 29; one trip per day in spring and fall (May 28-June 10, Aug. 30-Oct. 3).

The Door County Visitors Center provides coupons good for a 20 percent discount. For information: www.ssbadger.com.

Door County Visitor Bureau: www.doorcounty.com. Check out the "Explore the Door" series of more than 50 video podcasts hosted by Jon Jorash, which offer engaging glimpses of just about everything there is to see and do.

Pottawatomie Lighthouse: http://uniontel.net/~cmarlspc/.

Peninsula Players: www.peninsulaplayers.com.

American Folklore Theatre: www.folkloretheatre.com.

Door Shakespeare: www.doorshakespeare.com.

During our visit, we enjoyed two historic hostelries.

The Evergreen Beach Hotel in the village of Ephraim, one of the peninsula's first inns, has been accommodating summer guests since 1897 (www.evergreenbeach.com).

The Black Walnut, a charming four-guest room B&B in a beautifully restored and immaculately maintained 1899 gabled house on a quiet street in Sturgeon Bay, felt like a home away from home (www.blackwalnut-gh.com).

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