Here’s something you often hear from residents in small towns. “There’s nothing to do here”, “It’s boring here”, “My fingers hurt”, etc. Blah, blah, blah. As if there’s so much to do in the suburbs. So I can’t go to a movie theater with 18 screens, and I can’t go have a lovely dinner at the Olive Garden before the show. Who says I need 18 screens, and I’d rather go to Brissago than the Olive Garden any day. Truth is, there’s plenty to do in small towns, particularly when your small town is the reigning king of small towns, Lake Geneva. In honor of the pesky emails I get from Crain’s on Thursdays, here they are….
Top 5 Things To Do In Lake Geneva This Weekend
1. It’s snowing. A lot. Lake Geneva is beautiful with a fresh blanket of snow, and there’s no better way to enjoy that snow than at the Mountain Top. The ski hill is open this weekend, as it is pretty much every weekend from 12/1 to 3/15, and they’re boasting about a 48″ base. I think I’m going to take my boy Thomas out over the weekend, so maybe I’ll see you there. I’ll be the guy in the chalet by the fire with the hot chocolate.
2. Finish up some Christmas shopping. Shopping in Lake Geneva used to start and end with the purchase of kitschy tourist t-shirts. Not anymore. Estreet Denim, The Bootery, and Clearwater Outdoor, feature some high end items that would make any guy’s special lady happy on Christmas morning.
3. See how far you can walk onto the ice without falling through. Tip toe and you’ll get farther. This is a joke. Do not walk onto the ice. Give it a few more weeks and we’ll go out there to snowmobile, cross country ski, ice skate, ice fish, and ice boat. Wait till you see my post about cisco fishing on Geneva. That’ll be a post that other “blogs” can’t copy to be sure. Anyway, we’ll do those things in January on the lake. For now you could go down to Clearwater Outdoor in Lake Geneva, rent some cross country skis, and head over to Big Foot Beach State Park, or one of the other picture perfect locations in Walworth County, for a little low cost exercise in a beautiful setting. Maybe after, if you’re not busy, we could get together and look at a few houses? I’ll get a haircut if you want to go out.
4. Go see a show. As I wrote several weeks ago, the Lake Geneva Theatre Company is running a special showing of Christmas With a Twist. There’s a show Saturday night at 8 pm at the Abbey, and a matinee Sunday a 2 pm. Tickets are $25 each. Enjoy a nice evening while someone else sweats under the lights.
5. Finish off a snow filled day with a quiet dinner at the new Nicoise Restaurant located inside Golden Oaks Mansion in Lake Geneva. This restaurant is quite new, so I’ll bet you’ve never been there. You might not have even heard of it before now. Whatever the case, it’d be a great way to cap off a Lake Geneva weekend. They have a jazz trio playing Saturday night from 7-11 pm.
I’m annoyed at how much this post sounds like an advertisement. I don’t like that at all. The problem is, these businesses that I promote are companies that offer things that I actually like. The activities I describe in this post are exactly the sort of things that I’ll be doing this weekend. Alright, so I lied. I won’t be going to the theater thing. It’s not my cup of tea. The other four are absolutely things I’d do, and things that I have done. Including walking on way too thin ice. Literally, not figuratively. I’ve done it. Don’t do it. Enjoy your weekend at the lake. The clear one in Wisconsin, not the green one in Michigan.