4204. Take a mail boat tour in Lake Geneva

When mom mentioned taking the Mail Boat tour in Lake Geneva a few years back, it sounded like fun but I couldn’t get the time off of work to join mom, dad, and my cousins in Lake Geneva. Stacy said she wanted to do it, I was like I’m game but it didn’t work out last year because of when we went to Lake Geneva. So this year, we planned on a Girl’s Weekend centered around the mail boat tour in Lake Geneva.

Because of unforeseen circumstances, the original weekend had to be cancelled. Lake Geneva Cruise Line luckily let us cancel our original boat trip. We then rescheduled for a week later. I drove down to Stacy’s bright and early Saturday morning and she drove the rest of the way. We found really close street parking and paid $5 to park for 5 hours which I thought was really reasonable.

After picking up our tickets, I nearly dropped mine in the lake. Thanks to my cat like reflexes, I managed to avoid having to go swimming for my ticket. As we stood in line, inching our way to the front to board, the captain told us the best spot to sit was downstairs so we could really see the mail jumpers. Of course he failed to mention to sit on the right side of the boat so you can get better pictures.  So of course I would have to take pictures across an entire side of people… One year I will remember to sit on the right side of the boat.

Our mail jumper

Even Santa hangs out in Lake Geneva

The mail boat tour is a 2.5 hour boat tour around Lake Geneva. While the captain is taking us around the lake, a mail jumper periodically will jump off the front of the boat, run to the mailbox on the dock, deliver mail, packages, or the newspaper, and hop on the back of the boat before it reaches the end of the dock. At one point the lake was too shallow so the mail jumper, jumped off the boat, ran along the shore to all the houses, and met us about a ¼ mile down the lake where he jumped back on the boat.

Back when Lake Geneva started to become the Newport of the West mail, milk, and newspapers were all delivered by boat. There was no road around the lake. As time progressed a road was built and people could pick up their own mail, making the mail boat a little more than an obsolete service. Nowadays, it is a service that the lake residents can enjoy if they chose so. We probably didn’t have more than 50 stops out of the 900+ homes on the lake but it was still neat to see.

Besides jumping off to deliver the mail, the mail jumper (or the captain) would tell us about the mansions on the lake. Lake Geneva was known as the Newport of the West because of all the mansions built along the lake. Many mansions were built by Chicago businessmen in the late 1800s as summer homes. Some of the original lots were subdivided and mansions torn down. The Wriggly Family owned a large piece of property with several mansions on it. I don’t remember how much of the original land is still in the Wriggly family today. It is always interesting to hear about the various families that once resided on the shores Geneva Lake.

After we were done with our boat tour, Stacy and I grabbed lunch at Popeye’s. I forget that Lake Geneva is a tourist town so we have to pay tourist prices for food…. Like $11 for a Bloody Mary or Hurricane. If I’m paying that kind of money I better be keeping the glass and I don’t mean the plastic beer cup it comes in either. However, the food was good. My hurricane was almost as much as burger. Our bill for the 2 of us came to over $50 for sandwiches and drinks. I would visit again but I will definitely stick to water.

My $11 Hurricane

Since we had some time before our 5 hours of parking was up, we decided to walk the Lake Path. The Lake Path is a 21 miles path along the shores of Geneva Lake. It literally goes through people's backyard. It gets you up close and personal (or as up close and personal as they want you to get) to the mansions along the lake. We walked probably about 2 or 3 miles in total. We walked for about 20 minutes or so before turning around and heading back. We didn't see the BIG mansions but it was still very cool. One entrepreneur decided to take advantage of all the walkers and offered water, lemonade, and cookies for sale. We bought 3 cookies on the way back. Although we were past our 5 hours of parking by a few minutes, Lake Geneva must not have parking Nazis as we didn't have ticket when we returned.

It was a fun morning in Lake Geneva. Our day was far from over and we had other places to see in the area. I'm sure we will be back. There are still things Stacy and I want to do in Lake Geneva including the Black Point Estate Tour. 

#894 Go to Lake Geneva

. When we initially decided to go to Chocolate Fest in Burlington, I google-mapped Burlington and discovered that Lake Geneva was only about a half hour from Burlington. I figured that was doable and when Stacy asked what else I wanted to do, I said Lake Geneva among other things.

The plans for Lake Geneva evolved from a 2 hour boat tour to walking the Lake Path due to scheduling conflicts. Lake Geneva is a summer haven for millionaires and billionaires and has been since the late 1800s. It is a resort town and thrives on the tourists that come to gawk at the mansions along the shore of Lake Geneva. One can actually walk the around the lake all 20.1 or so miles due to an old law on the books that require the city keep up the Lake Path which literally winds through the backyards of these mansions. Stacy and I planned on walking part of this path but we actually were able to take a boat tour instead.

Lake Geneva Cruise Lines offer a variety of cruises of varying lengths around the lake. We initially were going to take the Full Lake Tour. Other tours we tossed around were the Black Point Estate Tour and the Expanded Bay Tour. There is also a mail boat tour where mail is deliver to the mansions around the lake by a mail person jumping off the front of the boat onto to the dock, delivering the mail, and jumping back on the back of the boat. My parents and cousins took this tour last year and really enjoyed it. We wanted to do this but it doesn't start until Mid-June. Later I discovered that they was a special mail boat tour on Sunday. Stacy and I ended up taking the Ice Cream Social Tour.

As we cruised around the bay and learned about some of the more famous mansions, we enjoyed a sundae for lunch. Personally I was a bit disappointed in my sundae.

This is what the picture online promised me:

This is what I got

Hershey syrup, whipped cream, a cookie, nuts if you wanted, and 1 scoop of vanilla ice cream. The website says "be served a sumptuous Breyer's ice cream sundae prepared just the way you like it." That is not how I like my sundae. I like both hot fudge and caramel, chocolate ice cream, sprinkles, whipped cream, and a cherry. Despite not being "just the way I like it", it was still good and made a very good lunch.

After our boat tour, it was still raining. We decided to save the 3 or so block downtown shopping district for another trip and continue on with our day since we had agreed to meet Stacy's husband and in-laws for dinner at 6.

 It is a nice like tourist area but they do have a parking problem. If it wasn't raining we probably would have had to walk a lot farther than we did. It is all metered parking but they do have pay boxes instead of having to feed meters. Mainly it is street parking. I only saw 1 small parking lot near the boat docks. Even Fish Creek has more parking. 

I can now say I have been to Lake Geneva. There are still a few things I'd like to do in the area and probably will make another trip down that way. If you haven't been to Lake Geneva, I would suggest to take a trip there even if it is just to gawk at the mansions.

Just some of the mansions. I was on the wrong side of the boat.