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.
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