The Weekend Drive: Lake Geneva

Travel Date:

Sunday, 29th May 2016

It was almost at the end of Spring, the weather seemed to cooperate, and it was a Memorial day weekend, the best time for an out of town trip. First thing came up to my mind was Lake Geneva in Wisconsin. There were three reasons why I convinced hubby to go to Lake Geneva. One, the destination is just almost 3-hour drive from Chicago. Second, my second time and hubby's first encounter. Lastly, I wanted to see more of Lake Geneva. We left early about 7:00  and enjoyed the early morning ride down to the countryside of Illinois and Wisconsin. Although it was a long drive, we didn't stop at any rest areas because it was manageable to drive all the way.

Our first stop was in Delavan, a neighboring town of Lake Geneva. We explored a little around the city and checked out if we would be able to locate our accommodation. Past 09:00 am, we arrived at Allyn Mansion, a beautiful 1885 Eastlake Victorian home restored and turned into a bed and breakfast. I posted a picture of the house on Facebook and comments were quite amusing because some of my family and friends found it haunted, some said pretty, others looked it as a castle, and someone found it a resemblance to Prue, Piper and Phoebe's house in the "Charmed" TV series. Amazing!

Found the parking lot at the back of the mansion. When I was about to step out from the car, I was so surprised because a mixed lab/husky dog came to me. I patted him on the head and saw his tail wiggling. It was a welcome gesture! Later I reckoned that it was the owner's dog named Darryl, and learned the dog is one of the hosts of Allyn Mansion. At the west side, you can find a patio with a set of table and chairs. It was a brilliant idea that table was a refurbished old sewing machine. The cast iron on that vintage machine was lovely ornate. We stayed for few minutes to rest and dropped our bags then headed our way to the town of Lake Geneva. 

It only took 30 minutes drive from the bed and breakfast to the destination. Parking lots were still empty, and we got to choose a slot that was closer to the Lakeshore path. We started hiking and from the moment, you stepped in you will find humongous dwellings, mostly used as summer vacation homes of the wealthy. We walked through a path which is in between the lake shoreline and backyard of these private properties. Tourists or hikers need to stay along the road, as they are not allowed to wander toward the houses and walk to their pier or touch their yachts. We did not walk further because of the path were too dangerous for my mom to cross. The hiking took about 3 hours, and we were all felt tired and hungry.  Had our lunch at Subway where I got my tuna sandwich. Our next stop was to check-in at Allyn Mansion.