My annual trips to Green Lake, Wisconsin tend to occur in the autumn. Last year, my journey was so late the leaves were already off the trees and the docks had been taken down for the winter. But this year my annual pilgrimage to Green Lake occurred earlier than ever before and marked another sweet opportunity to enjoy great food and fellowship as well as plenty of time on the water.
Green Lake 2024 – Spring Over Harvest
Since 2012, thus for 13 years in a row, I have traveled to Green Lake, Wisconsin to meet up with friends I once worked with at Star Alliance in Frankfurt, Germany. Always a highlight of the year, the gathering is marked by a lot of food and some downtime in a personal schedule that often is bursting at the seams.
This year I could only manage a tad over two days, flying into Chicago early on a Monday morning, driving up via Kenosha, then returning Wednesday evening to O’Hare to fly home.
May is a beautiful time of year in Green Lake and the water was tranquil, the weather cool in the mornings and pleasant in the afternoon, and the leaves green.
Quite candidly, I cannot think of many things that are more fun than going out on the lake in a sea-doo and ripping open the throttle. One day I hope to take my whole family up here.
The trip itslef is not only traditional, but marked by many traditions including Moscow Mules and sausage pizzas from Lou Malnati’s the first evening. I try not to look at the calories, but wow…each pizza has 1,980 calories and I had one and a half…
Speaking of indulgences, Chicago-style hot dogs for lunch the next day were as amazing as ever…I had six.
And that was after a hearty breakfast…
I also made Negronis for the boys.
Staying on the food and drink theme, since the visit was Monday – Wednesday this year, many restaurants were closed. I had intended to try both Murphy’s On Green (Mexican) and J’s BBQ, but both were closed on Monday and Tuesday and J’s BBQ (which has locations in both Ripon and Green Lake) were closed on Wednesday too.
Next year…
Instead, we returned to familiar stomping grounds like Mug’s Coffeehouse in Ripon, which was quite busy in the morning:
and Adam’s Rib for a delicious dinner of fillet of Walleye Pike in Green Lake.
Unfortunately, that fish went right through me and I ended up having another Lou Malnati’s pizza as a midnight snack…
I made up for the extra pizza (somehow) by going on an extended run the following morning.
Before leaving the next afternoon, we had some chicken from Webster’s doused in BBQ sauce from J’s, so at least I got to try the sauce (and loved it).
Best of all though was the sweet fellowship with my friends, who I am so grateful for. A special thank you to Denny for being a gracious host, year after year, and for Terry for letting us use his sea-doo.
As always, I cannot wait to return.
I’ve written about my annual Green Lake trips for many years:
- 2023 – A Late-Autumn Visit To Green Lake, Wisconsin
- 2022 – A Sublime Weekend In Green Lake
- 2021 – My Serene Weekend In Green Lake, Wisconsin
- 2020 – My Weekend In Trump Country
- 2019 – In Search Of Great Coffee In Small Town America
- 2018 – My Weekend in Beautiful Flyover Country
- 2017 – Another Fabulous Weekend in Green Lake, WI
- 2015 – A Weekend in Small Town America
Love it. Having great friends is a blessing. Keep this tradition going.
Kids — myself included back in the day — love to be pulled on inner tubes behind speed boats in the lakes across the state and see who can stay on the longest while the driver of the boat tries to have them get bumped off. Something to consider when you get back around there with the kids as confident swimmers (with life jackets). I never got into water skiing myself, but it was popular with the rest of the family in the state.
What did you do at star alliance?
Legal / sourcing
Was it while working in Germany that you “sourced” “frauchen” and the family which has followed wedlock?
Did employees at Star Alliance get airline loyalty program elite status from any of the airlines as an automatic perk of being on payroll?
Yep, nothing like the thrill of riding a noisy, polluting, menace to marine life at high speeds across the water, turning a tranquil lake at which other people were trying to find a bit of peace and quiet into one’s own personal buzzing amusement park.
Marine life isn’t ordinarily to be found in this lake. Marine life is to be found in sea/ocean waters and in parts where sea/ocean water mix with fresh water to produce brackish waters.
While I understand and appreciate the environmental concerns about disturbing animal habitats. I also understand that it’s people who enjoy the outdoor and water body activities that tend to be more concerned with the sustainability of the great outdoors and water bodies and not be as big fans of unrestrained residential, commercial and agricultural development in the areas where outdoor recreation is appreciated. It’s really a balancing act as nature is best protected when it’s in the economic interests of those who make the rules for an area.
Perhaps you’re right. Or, one might argue that those who have made the rules over time are responsible for the degradation of water quality by overlooking pollution by agricultural interests.
Birds and fish aside, we mustn’t infringe on the rights and economic benefits of thrill-seeking jetski operators, even if it comes at the incidental cost of disturbing literally everyone in earshot and leaving kayakers and canoeists rolling in their wake. If they really want to enjoy nature, they should do it on top of an internal combustion engine.
A minor side-note: there is a difference between wave-runners and jet-skis even as both make for much the same kind of fun (and pollution) on the water bodies.
Looks like you had some fun. Have you ever considered flying into GRB to visit Green Lake? Have you ever been to Green Lake when the fall colours were at their peak? Did you see any fireflies at Green Lake?
I have seen both fireflies and fall colors. Typically the trip has been in the peak of autumn, just before the dock is removed.
GRB is a great little airport. Very modern and clean. You won’t find an easier airport to get in and out of, even picking up a rental car.
Sure, but then it requires a connection flight and between the time to do the layover, the flight time and schedule reliability, it can be easier and faster or more flexible to just do the drive from/to ORD. More so if having the possibility of free same-day changes/standby with elite status. I say that as someone that has hit just about every airport in central, northern and southern Wisconsin that has had AA, DL or UA service at any point in the last ten years.
MKE would be easier and closer than ORD. I’m not sure who has nonstop service between LAX and MKE at this time but I know WN had it at one time.
I enjoy reading your articles – what happened to 2016?
I was wondering that myself! And sadly I did not write articles in 2012-14.
When I was a kid we had a year round house on Green Lake that we only used in the summer. It was three doors down from Pilgrim Camp. As we 7 kids started high school we grew less and less enthusiastic about spending the summers up there. My Dad used to fly up on weekends in our plane (beech bonanza) from the burbs of Chicago. He’d buzz the house and we’d drive to the landing strip in the Farmers field to pick him up. Thanks for the memories.
I saw a lot of that kind of dynamic too with lake-front cabins of friends and family. [My parents saw it too and thus never bought a cabin up north or the wanted boat; and borrowing or going along was pretty easy.] Amusingly, decades later, those same “refuseniks” refuse to sell the cabins and now they take their friends and own kids to the cabins.