A Winter Festival at Lake Geneva

Angie and I went to Lake Geneva for a quick trip on our day off. We visited the museum, slipped along the slushy sidewalks outside the shops, viewed the giant snow carvings at the winter festival, inspected the smaller blocks available for the public to try their hand at sculpting, and then drove through the neighborhoods admiring the houses in that quaint little town.

At the Geneva Lake Museum, visitors walked through a timeline of replica buildings full of household implements and curios. Nearly everything was hands-on. Yippee! It was fascinating to learn how we in our little town fit into the grand history of the world.

One of the homes on the lake had been built with materials from a Chicago World Fair Exhibition. Parts of it were displayed in the museum. Another neat attraction was the 1880/1920 kitchens built side by side for comparison.

Outside although the streets were slushy, folks were making their way up and down, sipping their Starbucks to stay warm. Angie and I spied the bookstore at the same moment and popped in for a look. We didn't find Waldo though. Angie's hoping to find the book sometime.

Just a block or two from the museum, on the frozen lake was the winter festival--helicopter rides, four-wheelers, and the amazing 10-foot snow sculptures in front of the Riviera. After viewing the variety of lions, eagles, and fairy-tale characters, we saw a shop advertising Blackhawks paraphernalia across the street. Angie and I decided to browse. Go team!

We hurried quickly back to the car when we couldn't feel our toes anymore, then drove around a little to see the beautiful homes. Not a row of cookie-cutter monstrosities, each one was uniquely shaped with porches, windows, and ornaments and seemed to come from a different era. But mingled with the other houses, they blended to create a pleasant vacation-town array.

Summer or Winter, Lake Geneva is an attractive spot to enjoy a day off.
Click here to see the pics at Angie's blog.