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Like Chicago, Milwaukee's more famous neighbor 90 miles to the south, this manufacturing and brewing center grew up on a swampy Lake Michigan marshland. Pabst, Blatz, Schiltz and Miller were the beers that "made Milwaukee famous." This tradition took such strong root in the city that even the local baseball team came to be called The Brewers. The city's spectacular Lake Michigan shoreline hosts a long schedule of festivals, the most popular being Summerfest, a 11-day culinary and musical extravaganza that takes place in late June and early July.
Stretching like the spout of a teapot, between Green Bay and Lake Michigan, the Door Peninsula is a rugged New England-like expanse of rolling hills, lakeside cliffs, and pretty port villages. The county comprises the northern two-thirds of the peninsula and derives its name from the French-Canadian voyageurs' sobriquet for the treacherous channel of the peninsula's northern point - Porte des Morts, or "Death's Door." The area's fishing and shipping heritage is on display at the Door County Maritime Museum, in downtown Sturgeon Bay, the county's largest port and southernmost city. A few miles north is The Farm, a traditional Wisconsin dairy farm and petting zoo, replete with an array of animals - cows, goats, pigs, chickens, horses and barn cats.
Of the state's northeastern Lake Superior coast lie a group of 22 islands, the remains of retreating glaciers from the last Ice Age. They were named Apostle Islands by 17th century French missionaries, who incorrectly assumed that the archipelago included 12 islands. Today, 21 islands form part of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. The old-growth forests here provide the habitat for resident bald eagles and black bears, while vast stretches of sand beaches with sea caves, carved by the wind and lake into craggy, brownstone cliffs, make the Apostle Islands a popular destination for those interested in eco-tourism.
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