We learned a new unflattering acronym from the Wisconsin Democrats while in the Lake Geneva area last weekend, canvassing for Kamala Harris and other Democrats. F–king Illinois B–tards is the unaffectionate name for big city slickers who drive their fancy cars up to this area, known by some as the Hamptons of Chicago or the Newport of the Midwest. Then again, those slickers spend money in Wisconsin so maybe its best to define FIBS – as one kind Wisconsite told me – as Fantastic Illinois Babes.
It feels new (and odd) to be viewed as a city slicker, since we’ve been in Chicago for just over two years. Living for 32 years in Iowa, we were never in danger of being labeled city or slick (although we did live in the city of Des Moines). Ditto for the 4 years or so lived in Kansas City and Wichita.
After knocking on doors for several hours, we did a little scouting of visitor spots, enough to make us want to come back as tourists, if not FIBs. There’s an astonishing old observatory in a historic building that we’re told offers fantastic if pricy tours. Yerkes Observatory is billed as the birthplace of modern astrophysics, frequented by Einstein and Carl Sagan (who taught at Cornell when I was there.) We drove right up to it, although it was closed for a private event. Definitely on my to-visit list. We also drove down to Fontana-on-the-Lake and Wilson where some of the old money estates appear to be. We couldn’t get very close to Black Point Estate and Gardens. Apparently visitors can only get there by taking a boat tour. (Geneva Cruise Line’s 3.5 private tour.)
Other things to do/see on my list: the Mail Boat Run, Geneva Lake Shore Path, Simple Cafe.
We did find some exclusive-looking lakeside communities – the Harvard Club and the Chicago Club – that reminded me of similar lovely but sometimes snobbish and restrictive communities in northern Michigan around Harbor Springs and Petosky. No thank you. We stopped at an upscale market, Big Foot, in the area for coffee and later, over the Illinois border at an unsupervised organic market that runs on the honor system and has a creative potato storage system.
Good resources for future reference: https://www.travelandleisure.com/lake-geneva-wisconsin-travel-guide-8622409
And:
TakeBetsywithyou 