As many of my regular readers may already know, my husband and I do enjoy traveling. We only travel in the United States (hubby's wishes, not mine) via road trips, but we take lots of local trips as well. This year, we have committed to "getting away" overnight for a day or two at least once a month. In January, we attended a World Snow Sculpture Festival in Stillwater, Minnesota. Then in February we went on a Candlelight Hike in La Crosse Wisconsin. In March we spent two nights in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
Lake Geneva is located on the border of Wisconsin and Illinois. It is a resort city centered around the Lake Geneva. There is a 26 mile lake shore path that goes all around the lake and is dotted with mansions from the Gilded Age built by wealthy Chicagoans. Today, it is still frequented mostly by Illinois residents and is considered a place for "foodies", golf, boating, spas, wineries, and lots of high-end shopping.
Normally, my husband and I are not ones for high-end hotels, but because we were in Lake Geneva in spring (which could mean winter in Wisconsin) I chose The Geneva Inn which in my opinion is one of the best hotels in Lake Geneva because it is located right on the lake but still fairly close to town. Many other resorts are a bit of a drive from downtown Lake Geneva. I chose this hotel because I wasn't sure there was that much for us in Lake Geneva this time of year, so I wanted a room with an incredible view and I wanted to be close to the shopping/restaurants in downtown Lake Geneva.
The hotel did not disappoint. The lobby was gorgeous with a central atrium and fireplace. There is a restaurant in the hotel which is also gorgeous and has an incredible view but we did not eat there because we weren't interested in anything they had on the menu.
We couldn't have been more pleased with our room. It was so large and spacious and the lake view was incredible. I loved the light colors and the decor.
The only thing missing was chairs on the porch, but maybe those are added in the summer. When we were there, it definitely was warm enough to sit out on the deck.
The restaurant was located right next to our deck (see the windows on the right?), so you can just imagine the view it had.
Looking into our room from outside on the deck. The tub was to die for! It was the largest tub I ever experienced in a hotel room.
We live about four hours away from Lake Geneva, so hubby took off of work at noon and we arrived around 5:00 pm. It was a pleasant drive, with not much time spent on the freeway as we got off the freeway after we left the Madison area and we were able to enjoy beautiful country roads after that.
We went to dinner at Oakfire Pizza, which I do not recommend as we thought their pizza was awful. It has a beautiful view right on the lake and all their pizzas are gourmet style, which I usually love, but not this time. 😆. We ordered the Bosco and it just seemed completely tasteless to me; I felt it needed more sauce or anything to give it more flavor. It was quite expensive too for such a small pizza. I guess it's a good thing we didn't like it or we would have wanted more. As it turned out, we only ate a slice or two each. The on-line reviews of the pizza were great...maybe we ordered the wrong pizza? IDK. The crust however, was fabulous!
The next morning, after breakfast, we decided to walk part of the Lake Shore Path. It was cold, especially with the wind coming off the lake, but it warm up to the 70's by the end of the day. We started the path on the paved sidewalk near the beach.
They say the Lakeshore Path is not stroller friendly because the pavement constantly changes wherever you are and it can be very narrow in spots. We soon discovered leaving the sidewalk and walking on a narrow strip of gravel.
The unique aspect of the Lake Shore Path is that it walks behind the lake shore homes. So on one side you have a view of the lake, and on the other side you have a view of an incredible home. Every house decides what it wants to have on their path...some choose gravel, some choose, brick, some choose nothing, and some choose unique paths like the wood one pictured below.
Here are the back sides of some of the lake shore homes. These homes cost millions of dollars, and most of them are just second homes for the owners.
Occasionally, the path has to divert you away from the lakeshore as there isn't enough shore line to walk through. But they always have signs pointing the way to go.
This path took us behind a home that overlooks the lake. I don't know what I enjoyed more on this hike: looking at the gorgeous lake views or sneaking a peek into the lives of the rich.
Here's an example of a stone path way leading back to the Lake Shore Path.
When we were ready to turn around, hubby thought it would be shorter to go back through a neighborhood. It was not, because there wasn't a close enough exit to the main road, so we ended up going back to the Lake Shore Path.
A far away view looking back at the town of Lake Geneva.
And very soon we were back to where we started; the public beach area. Why does it always seem that when hiking the return trip is faster than the outgoing trip?
We walked out on some of the piers and took photos. This is also the spot where the boats pick you up during the busy tourist season for their lake and mansion tours through The Lake Geneva Cruise Line.
A view from the pier looking back at the beach.
By now it was mid-morning and the shops were opening up so we spent the rest of the day shopping.
There were so many high-priced women's clothing shops. I went in all of them, but didn't buy anything as it was all out of my price range. I did see a lot of women purchasing, but they seemed to buying things for their young daughters, not themselves. That's mother's for you! We buy them the expensive name brand stuff while we aren't so picky for ourselves. 😁
There were at least three candy shops in Lake Geneva, but my favorite was the one pictured below. I bought some delicious dark chocolate sea salt bark from them.
This Baptist Church is pretty popular as a brewery now. I thought it was sad but neat to see this old church re-purposed this way. We were going to go inside to check it out, thinking it was a restaurant, but we quickly discovered it only sold beer. We don't drink, so we skipped it, but it sure seemed popular!
Many of the old homes in Lake Geneva have been re-purposed into stores. This house below is now an antique store. I actually enjoyed going into these homes to see the house and not the items for sale. I just love old homes. It makes me sad to think they are not used as homes anymore though. I'd live in just about any of them!
This place was like a mini-mall filled with lots of different stores inside.
Even though I love to go shopping when we travel to small touristy towns, I rarely buy much. The women's clothing, although beautiful, was out of my price range; but I did buy a few Lake Geneva t-shirts, some loose leaf tea at a tea/coffee specialty shop, a necklace, and of course, some chocolate.
When we were done shopping, we still had some time before dinner so we decided to check out the Kishwauketoe Nature Conservancy.
The conservancy is 231 acres with 4 miles of trails, some of which have board walks like pictured below. It is only a 13 minute drive from Lake Geneva.
I was really hoping to see birds at this conservancy but I did not see a single one, which I thought was odd as it is their migratory season. We hiked to their tower and climbed to the top, but still didn't see any. I could hear cranes hooting in the distance though, so I knew they were around.
The funny thing is we live in an area where there are so many birds I wonder why it is not designated a conservancy for I see more birds in my backyard than I ever do at any conservancy 😃. Just driving to church the other morning, we saw cranes, and swans flying in the air, lots of ducks, geese, eagles...I think if people really want to see birds, they just need to come to my house.
I spotted these beautiful Tundra Swans about 1 1/2 down my road.
By now it was time for dinner and then back to enjoy our room for the night. We had a simple dinner of gyro sandwiches at a Greek diner on Main Street. Nothing fancy. For breakfast, we went back to the Greek diner which was supposed to be open at 7:30 but to our surprise was not. So we went down the street to the Egg Harbor Cafe, which was absolutely AMAZING, and so far my favorite place to eat in Lake Geneva.
Here are the brick walls where you are allowed to color. I think it looks really cool.
And here's what we had for breakfast. I ordered the Caprese Avocado Toast and hubby ordered the Scrambler. Both were incredible and I highly recommend this restaurant for breakfast!
Have A Great Day! Amy
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