Getaways With Holiday Spirit

When the weather outside is frightful, it’s time for a change of scenery. But you don’t have to go very far to feel a world away.

Worth the Drive

At the Grand Geneva in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, less than two hours from the city, decking the halls means months of planning to create the annual, spectacular “Christmas in the Country” celebration—and it’s a total charm-fest. Trees and tinsel galore fill every floor of the Playboy Club-turned-resort and spa, while a display of animated lights lines the drive in. Bring your bundle-up gear for skiing and snowboarding on the resort’s 18 downhill slopes; ice skating; snowshoeing; and sledding. Through Dec. 23, you can take advantage of The Christmas in the Country Holiday Package that includes an overnight stay in a deluxe guestroom; two tickets for the “Hooray for Holidays!” musical; lunch or dinner before the show; a trolley tour through the resort; and admission to the Festival of Trees display and the Quilts of Christmas display. Rates start at $199. Or, starting at $262 per night, stay at the adjacent Timber Ridge Lodge & Waterpark with a package that includes four waterpark passes. If you can squeeze it in, the Well Spa is well worth it. Grand Geneva: (262) 248-8811, www.grandgeneva.com. Timber Ridge: (866) 636-4502, www.timberridgeresort.com.

Stay Close

Make your shopping trip a mini vaca with the beautiful Elysian Hotel’s Miracle on Walton Package through Dec. 30. The $465/night deal gets you in-room custom hot chocolate, in-room holiday-themed movies; and breakfast for two. And if you’re thinking the price is steep, remember, this classy stay was recently rated the No. 1 hotel by Conde Nast Traveler’s Reader Choice Awards. Just 10 guestrooms on each hotel floor insure intimacy and a welcoming sense that you’re definitely VIP. Spacious rooms feature mirrors that double as TVs, fireplaces, and 460-thread count Italian linens. And when you do hit the stores, leave your car and opt for a ride in a luxury Lexus.

The new JW Marriott’s Holiday Shopping Package makes shopping sweeter with its $100 Macy’s Gift Card, which you can also spend on lunch at the Walnut Room. The JW is a quick walk to Christkindlmarket, Millennium Park ice skating, and all of the State Street shopping. Packages range from $254 to $604 and are available through Jan. 31.

Just for a Day

Schaumburg. Yes, that’s right. Get over the fact that it’s Schaumburg and get out there for some major mall shopping. Check out www.shopwoodfield.com/shopping/sales_offer to find out who’s offering what sales. And if you need to put down the packages for some kid fun, make tracks to the Legoland Discovery Center for its Holly Jolly Holidays activities, including photos with a life-sized Lego Santa and snowman; Lego-tree trimming; the chance to help build and decorate a 10-foot Lego holiday tree; and make-your-own Lego ornaments (for a fee). On New Year’s Eve, they’re hosting a kid-friendly countdown. www.legolanddiscoverycenter.com. Family-friendly dinner deal: At the Rainforest Café, kids’ meals are $2.99 on Wednesdays after 5 pm.

Sorry to break the news, but the Wisconsin Cheese Originals Festival is sold out. So, make like a mouse and go sniff out your own wedges at these two favorite spots:

Babcock Hall Dairy Store and Plant. 1605 Linden Dr.; (608) 262-3045, (608) 265-4039. I scream, you scream, UW students all scream for Babcock ice cream. Here’s the scoop: This campus institution was built in 1951 as part of the university’s Department of Food Science and is considered the oldest university dairy plant building in the country. Besides ice cream flavors like the Union Utopia (vanilla with peanut butter, caramel and fudge) and the Badger Blast, a chocolate-lover’s dream, the plant also gets kudos for its cheese, including award-winning aged gouda.

Dane County Farmers Market. Locations change seasonally: Early January through mid April: at the Madison Senior Center, 330 W. Mifflin St.; mid April through early November: at Capitol Square; mid-November through mid-December: at Monona Terrace, 1 John Nolan Dr.; (608) 455-1999; www.dcfm.org. Ask any local what the best things about Madison are, and this farmers market inevitably tops the list. The friendly folks from Hook’s, Farmer John’s Cheese, Chula Vista, Bleu Mont Dairy and other vendors will happily satisfy your cheese cravings.

For more about Madison and more than 45 other cities within about three hours of Chicago, check out Day Trips from Chicago

Getaway Ideas for the Local Traveler

As if it weren’t luxurious enough, Kohler, Wisconsin, hosts a Food & Wine Experience, and it’s just around the corner. It presents a weekend of fancy fare from local and international chefs alike; cookbook signings; food and wine tastings; demos and seminars. Past celebrity chefs have included Graham Elliot, Sara Moulton, and Bryan & Michael Voltaggio. (866) 847-4856.

After indulging in your just desserts, chillax at the Kohler Water Spa where you’re pampered in the latest and most soothing of Kohler baths and showers. Of course, there’s a full menu of stress-reducing massages, manis and pedis, and get-in-tune-with-your-inner-self services. Just know that the best pool is communal, so be sure to pack more than your birthday suit.

Find out more about Kohler and more than 25 other quick-drive getaways in Day Trips from Chicago

In a sidebar to my chapter “shops, drops & danish rolls,” which covers Gurnee, Illinois; and Kenosha and Racine, Wisconsin, I also include a sidebar about Long Grove, tucked in among McMansions and suburban sprawl, and one of my favorite Chicagoland destinations. Not particularly grand or influential, Long Grove, Illinois, began as the crossroads of two Native American paths and developed in the early 1800s as a German farming town. Long ago, Long Grove residents decided to preserve their historic buildings, their cobblestone walks, and their old-fashioned sensibilities. Today, dozens of independently owned boutiques and restaurants make their homes in restored structures, plaques mark the many landmarks, and the village practically overflows with charm, especially during its annual festivals, like the upcoming Long Grove Apple Festival. The apple doughnuts taste as good as they smell.

Blueberry picking in South Haven

Our sixth year in South Haven has come and gone. Shorter than desired for the Drake family thanks to the  “track E” school  Haley attends now. But we made the most of the 3-1/2 days we spent, ticking off traditions that have grown each year—our annual, made-up “ukie” day that’s all about satisfying our sweet tooth; our beachfront cookout; and bowling. One year when it rained for three days straight, we found a bowling alley and went there twice. Now my nephew actually hopes it’ll rain so we can go; it usually does. This year, I’m proud to report that I scored higher than the 5-year-olds (last year, I did not). Of course, the bumpers help them, but what helped me this year was a review of last year’s footage! I just happened to be browsing back at old photos and saw one of myself in bowling position. My arm was launched across my chest instead of straight. No wonder I got gutters nearly every time! This time? Two spares! I sympathized with my sister, though, because it was her year of gutters.

I think my favorite South Haven must-do is blueberry picking. On a beautiful sunny morning, we headed to DeGrandchamp Farms U-Pick, rubbed on the sunscreen, strapped our plastic bag-lined buckets around our waists and set to work. The staff pointed to two rows of bushes that were available for picking and my first thought was, “Just two?” In the past, it seemed like the entire orchard was up for grabs. I wondered if there’d be enough for everyone and suddenly felt a flutter of competition with the other pickers. It didn’t take long to realize there were plenty of berries to go around. So many that just touching a branch would send several pitter-pattering to the ground. Still, when I saw one woman with two buckets filled to the brim and looked down at mine half-full, I thought she might have found the motherlode and hung around her for a minute picking berries from the bush she seemed to be coveting. The kids all had buckets too, though for every one in the bucket, two wound up in their mouths. But that’s part of the beauty of it. And the feeling of getting just slightly lost from the rest of your group as you wander down the row seeking out the plumpest and bluest of berries. The feeling of simply getting lost in the delicious task. When we combined bounties—four kids and five adults—we had more than 10 pounds of blueberries in varying shades and all sizes. The last of my take went into a scrumptious recipe for blueberry crumb bars. A little vanilla ice cream and it’s perfect.

Our trips are captured and commemorated each year on camera, with one wrap-up photo of all of us. We’ll add another next year.

You can find out more places to go, eat and stay in the book I wrote that includes 25 “Day Trips from Chicago.” This link takes you to Amazon, but if you order a copy from me, it’s just $10 and free shipping.

Amish Acres is hosting its annual Arts and Crafts Festival; catch the tail end this weekend. And while you’re there, check out what else you can check out on this “Day Trip from Chicago”: [Note: the link will take you to Amazon, but I can sell it to you for less--see below!]

* Bonneyville Mill, Indiana’s oldest continuously operating grist mill

* Heritage Trail Driving Tour, a self-guided 90-mile loop through Amish Country

* Countryside Shingle Shoppes Tour, a map of mom-and-pop shops that dot the Amish countryside

* Das Dutchman Essenhaus, a dining experience of the home-cooked all-you-can-eat kind

* Mullet’s Dining, an intimate meal cooked personally by the Mullet family (leave a message at the community phone and they’ll let you know if there’s room at the table): 574-773-2140

Thanks to my Northwestern University network, I was asked to appear on WTTW’s show with Phil Ponce “Chicago Tonight” to talk about my book! I was nervous and excited and I think it went all right. Phil stumped me with a question about the oddest place I’d written about for the book and thought of several after the fact, of course (ummm….House on the Rock…duh!). Here’s a link to WTTW’s online component for the segment, including a tape of the 7-1/2-minute inteview:

Day Trips from Chicago: More on the Story

“Day Trips from Chicago” sells for $14.95 in bookstores. While Amazon does sell it for less, you can buy it directly from me for $10 (no shipping fees) while supplies last. You’ll be supporting me directly, and I will be grateful for it.

1) Click here to buy it through PayPal

2) Email me your address at drake.elisa@yahoo.com

Thank you, and many happy adventures.

280 shows in 10 days: It’s the totally independent and wholly affordable IndyFringe Festival, happening Aug. 19-28. What else is there to do Indy between innovative performances? Here are a few excerpted from “Day Trips from Chicago”

Crown Hill Cemetery. 700 W. 38th St.; (317) 920-2644; Indy’s 555-acre cemetery ranks as the third largest in the country and is the final resting place of more than 200,000 people. It comes alive on more than a dozen 1.5- to 2-hour tours that focus on topics such as Civil War Women, Skeletons in the Closet, Art & Architecture, Tombstones and Trees, and Dillinger & Other Notables—yes, that would be notorious bank robber John Dillinger who is, in fact, buried here.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Hall of Fame Museum. 4790 W. 16th St.; (317) 481-8500. On event days, you can simply follow the crowds or the roaring engines to find this world-renowned speedway. Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the first Indy 500 in 2011, it’s the world’s largest spectator sporting facility. Also on deck: the 18-hole Brickyard Crossing Golf Course that plays four holes right inside the track’s 2.5-mile oval, and the Hall of Fame Museum featuring nearly 75 cars including the Marmon “Wasp,” which won the first Indy 500 in 1911.

Indianapolis Museum of Art. 4000 Michigan Rd.; (317) 923-1331; www.imamuseum.org. From ancient art of the Americas and Mediterranean to Impressionist works by Monet, from contemporary LED signs of Jenny Holzer to the attention-grabbing 60-foot-by-60-foot neon tube light sculpture by Robert Irwin, this world-class museum’s 54,000-piece collection covers a little of a lot of things—and it’s all free, no less. Adjacent to the museum is 100 Acres, an outdoor art and nature park of site-specific installations and natural beauty.

Indianapolis Zoo. White River State Park, 1200 W. Washington St.; (317) 630-2001. You could swim with the dolphins here for an added adventure (and price), but you don’t really have to, because this zoo boasts the world’s only underwater dolphin viewing dome: Just stand under the glass dome and gaze up at the dolphins playfully swishing by right above you.

Rhythm! Discovery Center. 110 W. Washington St., lower level; (317) 275-9030. You can bang on the drum all day at this percussion museum. It’s a dream come true for little kids who love to bang (I know, I’ve got two of them).

The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. 3000 N. Meridian St.; (317) 334-3322. Almost as fun without kids as with, this enormous museum features the immensely popular Dinosphere where kids who dig dinos can dig for faux fossils and then check out a whole family of real ones. Plus, there are exhibits to visit a simulated open-air market in Egypt; pretend to be earthworms; scale a climbing wall; and take a spin on a carousel. A highly anticipated, brand-new archeology exhibit in partnership with National Geographic too

where to shop

Broad Ripple. Broad Ripple Village Association, 6311 Westfield Blvd., Suite 1; (317) 251-2782. About 6 miles north of downtown, this historic neighborhood, established in 1837, is the Bucktown/Wicker Park of Indianapolis.

where to eat

Bazbeaux Pizza. 811 E. Westfield Blvd.; (317) 255-5711 and 334 Massachusetts Ave.; (317) 636-7662. Open daily for lunch and dinner. $

Cafe Patachou. Multiple locations including 4901 N. Pennsylvania St.; (317) 925-2823. On Bon Appetit magazine’s 2002 list of “Ten Favorite Places for Breakfast in the Nation.”

Yats. 5363 N. College Ave.; (317) 253-8817, 659 Massachusetts Ave.; (317) 686-6380. Spiced beyond comprehension, the jambalaya, gumbo and etouffee and even simple red beans and rice and vegan white chili are taste sensations.

where to stay

Canterbury Hotel. 123 S. Illinois St.; (800) 538-8186, (317) 634-3000. This elegant downtown boutique hotel has roots that date back to 1858.

Stone Soup Inn. 1304 N. Central Ave.; (866) 639-9550. With a feeling like you’re away from it all, and yet right near downtown attractions.

Read more in “Day Trips from Chicago,”

Get out of town! From big cities to beach villages, you’ll find a trip made for you.

25 getaways for the local traveler, published by Globe Pequot Press, written by Elisa Drake, available on Amazon.

fond du lac

For an ice cream fiend like myself, Fond du Lac’s Kelley Country Creamery beckoned first—and then again. Chicago’s urban setting just can’t compare to the fresh-churned goodness that comes from milking cows who wander practically at the doorstep. It’s this kind of connection with the land and, of course, the water, that makes this mid-sized city so lovely.

where to go

Fond du Lac Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. 171 S. Pioneer Rd.; (920) 923-3010, (800) 937-9123; www.fdl.com. Pick up maps, brochures, event calendars, coupons and more. Open Mon through Fri.

Kelley Country Creamery. W5215 Country Road B; (920) 923-1715; www.kelleycountrycreamery.com. When the ice cream is made with milk produced by cows you see grazing the green pastures that surround the shop’s 200-acre farm, you better believe this is going to something special. Karen and Tim Kelley turned their typical dairy farm, in the family since 1861, into an ice cream social in 2010, and it’s been a bonanza ever since. It’s worth the frequent wait for one of the 16 daily flavors—they’ve concocted more than 60 including Chew Your Cud (bubble gum-flavored ice cream with bubble gum pieces), Country Bumpkin Pumpkin, Cow Jumped Over the Moon (blue moon-flavored with pop rocks) and Maple Bacon. Generally open daily during summer and Wed through Sun the rest of the year; call ahead to confirm. Call for creamery and farm tour information.

where to eat

Schreiner’s Restaurant. 168 N. Pioneer Rd.; (920) 922-0590; www.fdlchowder.com. Five moves and more than 70 years later, this legendary establishment is still one of Fond du Lac’s busiest. Now run by Paul Cunningham, who began working here as a busboy in 1969 when he was 15, Schreiner’s serves more than 1,500 diners on average each day. Most of them order Grandma Regina Schreiner’s famous New England-style clam chowder and homemade country-style dessert of the day (think rhubarb pie and mince pie with rum sauce). Other specials include the deep-fried haddock, fried chicken and broiled ground sirloin steak, plus burgers, sandwiches and salads. Open daily for breakfast, lunch and early dinner. $

Read more in “Day Trips from Chicago,”

Get out of town! From big cities to beach villages, you’ll find a trip made for you.

25 getaways for the local traveler, published by Globe Pequot Press, written by Elisa Drake, available on Amazon.