Never been there before, can't go for the boat show but will make a 325mile trek there from our summer cottage today, spend the night, ride the mail boat ride at Gage Boat Tours to take in the beauty of the lake tomorrow morning. We will take some pictures. We do plan to attend the Les Cheneaux Boat Show in Hessel MI Saturday. We went last year for the first time but it was raining.

Best to all

Dave

Glenn, you simply MUST do these things while you are at Lake Geneva! You can thank me later.


The Abby Resort on the West side of the lake is where most all of the boat shows happen. It is a very large full service resort, complete with fitness center pool(s) lots of launching ramp room, etc. And of course the boat shows are a lot of fun, HOWEVER.......drumroll please............one of the best kept secrets of Lake Geneva is the walking tour, and although you can walk for many many miles along the public walk-ways maintained around the perimeter of the lake, just a short walk will put you into wonderland. Using The Abby as a reference point, if you are standing right on their boat launching ramp look to the right and follow that shoreline around. Keep going all the way until you reach the highway....that is where the real magic begins.

It may not LOOK like it is there.........but there is a secret passageway under that highway bridge (you can take your chances and cross the highway up top but under is better). Walk close to the fenced in parking lot and look closely for the footpath taking you under that bridge. FROM THERE you will be treated with an architectural parade of homes unlike anything you will see anywhere else. It is really quite amazing, being able to walk that public pathway in front of those multi-million-dollar estates!!

Here is what was sitting in the fenced in parking lot, the walkway you want to be on is between that fence and the highway, next to the landscaping timbers in the photo, and it takes you under the highway bridge.


As soon as you go under the highway bridge this is what you will start to see, and it is just one after another as far as you can walk. We walked a way down the shoreline and then back, but we could have gone all the way to the LGYC and cabbed back. The houses are cool, but the boat houses will have you totally captivated.






This video was taken along the walk, check it out. That is the Abby Resort back in the distance.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/P910DgSLgZc?rel=0





Okay that is the first tip........... Now here is the second one and you MUST do this for lunch one day. If you are at The Abby Resort, take the southern route around the lake and head to the East side of the lake to the GENEVA INN, and go to their GRANDVIEW RESTAURANT, and fight for that corner table overlooing the water. Pay or bribe anyone for that table, you won't regret it, and while you are waiting for your menu, just ask for a bottle of champagne to start with. Afterwards if you want to walk a little ways, believe it or not there is a pathway down to their docks that also leads down in front of one mansion after another, and there are tons of classic boats hanging in boat houses everywhere.





While the boat shows, Gauge Marine, Streblow, etc., are big attractions, Janet and I both agreed we want to go back just to experience those fabulous walks along the shoreline and GRANDVIEW RESTAURANT again.

Regards,

Paul

You will see Chris Crafts, Hackers, Streblows, Lymans (lots of them) and Van Damm boats all in their own slips, and doing what they were designed to do. A very cool place. A friend of mine had a contest to see who could spot the most Lancers in our 6 mile hike. I think we counted 12 of them. The Lake can get a bit choppy and they are prized up there.
Eric

We made the short drive from our summer home in Garden, MI down past Green Bay to Lake Geneva, WI umm, oh, only 375 miles, one-way... We were on a time and money budget so rather than making an extended stay we booked a one night room at The Bayshore Inn in downtown Lake Geneva and right across the street from the lakeshore. We also booked 2 seats for a Gage Marine mailboat tour of Lake Geneva on the Walworth, a modern 85 ft double deck excursion boat powered by a couple of Cummin's diesels.

Gage Marine delivers mail to about 75 residences around the perimeter of the 7 mile long 2 mile wide lake. The skipper maneuvers the boat into places that would make me nervous to go with my skiff while giving a very detailed guided tour of the scenery and mansions of the lake over the boat's PA system. They also employ 2 young mailboys who must learn to jump off the bow of the boat as it approaches private docks, stuff mail and newspapers into mailboxes and jump back on the boat as the stern passes the dock. The boat never stops because it can't be steered around numerous obstacles if it stops. One of the mailboy's grandmother lives on the lake. She was sitting on the dock waiting for the mail when the Walworth made it's stop and her grandson delivered the mail and had just enough time to give her a kiss without missing the boat.

Settlement of Lake Geneva started just after the great Chicago fire in 1871. A rail line was already in operation between Chicago and the lake and many wealthy entrepreneurs including the Wrigleys, Ryersons, Swifts and Schwinns just to name a few fled Chicago for a time. Seeing the beauty of the lake and it's great potential as a summer retreat the mansions started going up practically before the Chicago fire went cold. Today there are a smattering of the old mansions mixed together with replacements for some which were destroyed by fire over the years or simply torn down and replaced with modern structures due to the dearth of prime real estate around the lake. Eric was right that there are a ton of classic boats on the lake. The homes are breathtaking and we will likely travel back to Lake Geneva at some point to walk the lakeshore path pictured in Paul's post. Here then are some pictures of what we say by water on our ride on the Walworth.

We stayed at the Bayshore Inn, pretty reasonable rates, good restaurant, right across from the beach and next to the Baker House, an 1800's inn now in service as a bed and breakfast.


The view across the street. Seems like a nice place for a boat, wonder if that idea would catch on...






Gage Marine has several excursion and charter boats in their fleet.




The Walworth being readied for the morning mail run. For 30 bucks each we got a nice 2-/12 hour guided tour of the lake.


Once under way the mansions are beautiful.






The Walworth gets really close to numerous obstacles as the skipper maneuvers the boat up to private docks to deliver the mail.






Lots of classic wood boats are hanging in the boat houses. There are also a few reproductions of the old water taxis used to transport the wealthy to their residences from the rail head before roads were built around the lake.


















Another attraction visible on the shorline ridge overlooking Williams Bay and open to the public is University of Chicago's Yerkes Observatory, the largest reflector telescope in the world. At over 100 yrears old it is still used for some research. It was where Pluto was discovered. Albert Einstein and Hubbell visited this facility.




Pier 290 is a mail stop and Gage Marine's full service marina.

Enjoyed the pictures and the story. Thanks for posting that.

ej

Good going Dave!

By the way, that steam launch is owned by Larry Larkin, I believe. It has been a fixture of the Larkin family on Lake Geneva for generations.


The pathway I mentioned can be seen between the water edge and the houses/cottages. Seeing the lake from a tour boat sounds like a wonderful idea too. It's a lot bigger lake than a lot of people think. I imagine it can blow up a very nasty character in a storm too.

Thanks for sharing the photos, hope all is well with you and yours.

best,

Paul