Romantic weekend getaway in or near Wisconsin. Any suggestions?

[Stacy]

My wedding anniversary is coming up in a month, and my dh and I would like to get away from it all for a couple of days. We live in central Wisconsin, and we'd like to drive somewhere that we've never been, but is within a few hours drive from us. Dh absolutely does not want crowds, and we both want to stay far away from anyone we know. The obvious choice is Door County, but we've already been there. I suggested Copper Harbor, Michigan. The drive is long, but seems like it would be a nice scenic drive, if we have good weather.

An important factor is not spending too much money. Gas for the car would be an unavoidable expense, but we could be pretty frugal about the rest of our activities. We could have basic lodging and spend our days enjoying parks, museums, and the like. Also, I have no problem enjoying gift shops and leaving empty-handed.

Any ideas?

[Tussiemussies]

How about checking with the Visitor's Bureau for the areas you are interested in. They are usually online and have great information about the area and what to do there with a calendar of events!

[Rosemary]

How about a lake cabin in the Hayward area?

[Simpler at Fifty]

Copper Harbor MI is nice. We have been there several times. We like the German restaurant there and will make the hr drive from the inloves when we visit them near Houghton. I believe the restaurant closes for the winter at the end of Sept. The Brockway Mountain Drive is phenomenal.

http://www.copperharbor.org/recreat/drives.html

Lake of the Clouds in the Porcupine Mountains is the most beautiful site I have seen. That is near Ontonogan MI
http://porcupinemountains.com/activities/lake-of-the-clouds/

Little Girls Pointe on Lake Superior is nice, Copper Falls State Park is a short drive from there. Bayfield is nice too. You could take a charter/ferry to Apostle Islands. Bayfield would be very touristy with little shops to browse in and walk out of .;)

[Stacy]

How about checking with the Visitor's Bureau for the areas you are interested in. They are usually online and have great information about the area and what to do there with a calendar of events!

I did that for a few places, but we haven't traveled much and I'm worried that there might be a great place we might not even know about.

[Stacy]

How about a lake cabin in the Hayward area?

I'll look into that. I heard that the Hayward area is very nice, and we would definitely be getting away from it all.
Actually the north woods of Wisconsin is huge and there are all kinds of places I might consider.

[Stacy]

Copper Harbor MI is nice. We have been there several times. We like the German restaurant there and will make the hr drive from the inloves when we visit them near Houghton. I believe the restaurant closes for the winter at the end of Sept. The Brockway Mountain Drive is phenomenal.

http://www.copperharbor.org/recreat/drives.html

Lake of the Clouds in the Porcupine Mountains is the most beautiful site I have seen. That is near Ontonogan MI
http://porcupinemountains.com/activities/lake-of-the-clouds/

Little Girls Pointe on Lake Superior is nice, Copper Falls State Park is a short drive from there. Bayfield is nice too. You could take a charter/ferry to Apostle Islands. Bayfield would be very touristy with little shops to browse in and walk out of .;)

Thanks for all the ideas! I'm leaning toward Copper Harbor, but that's a five and a half hour drive from us, so I'm not sure dh would like that. It's a scenic drive, though!
I went to Lake of the Clouds with ds several years ago. Beautiful place.
A coworker two years ago recommended Little Girls Pointe to me. I had forgotten about it until now.
I've never heard of Bayfield. I'll have to look that up. I had been thinking that it would be nice to visit the Apostle Islands.

[Stacy]

Ooh, I just found out that Bayfield is close to where Big Top Chautauqua is. http://www.bigtop.org/
That brings it closer to the top of the list. :)

[Rosemary]

We went to Bayfield once - it is a beautiful town. We were scheduled to do the Apostle Island cruise but it got canceled due to high winds... so if you plan to do that, you might want to keep your schedule open for the best weather.

Copper Falls State Park is beautiful - about an hour's drive from Hayward.

[Stacy]

Rosemary - Thanks for the input. I do have to plan this several weeks in advance, to get time off from work, so we'll have to deal with whatever weather we get. Hopefully we get lucky and are about to do everything on our agenda.
I also looked into Hayward. It looks like a nice area, and we'd be sure to go to Copper Falls State Park if we choose to go there.

[sallysue]

Bayfield is a cute, touristy little town that is fun to walk around. And not only can you go to Big Top Chautauqua, there is a lovely ceramics shop called Eckels Pot Shop just on the outskirts of Bayfield (you'll want to drive rather than walk there). They have ceramics done by their own in-house artists (the daughter of the original potter, Bob Eckel, still runs the shop plus they usually have visiting artists each year) and others around the area. Instead of a cruise to multiple apostle islands (or in addition), you can take the ferry to Madeline Island to spend the day. There is a delightful cafe with fresh local food called Cafe Seiche right in the middle of town. For a less upscale choice, Grampa Tony's makes good sandwiches & pizza. The Pub, on the edge of town next to the marina, is also yummy (closer to Cafe Seiche, price-wise). If you bring your bike to Madeline Island, you can bike to Big Bay Town Park, which is gorgeous.

Let us know what you decide and how it goes!

[dado potato]

Yesterday I went for a walk with a couple from Baraboo on the trails around Copper Falls and Brownstone Falls. It was marvelous. There are quite a few steps to go up and down (mainly slate). Another spectacular waterfall, less visited (the stairs are wooden), is Potato River Falls near Gurney.

When do you think your trip will be? I have info on various orchards and farms around Bayfield where the public is welcome to pick. Depending on how many are in your party and your itinerary, it might be an option to stay family-style with us sexagenerians in Park Falls one night, then with the money you save on accommodations: blow the wad on a night at the Rittenhouse B&B in Bayfield. Email me direct if interested.

On Madeline Island I have had epiphanies walking Big Bay Park... North to the end of the boardwalk then back via the sandy beach.

[Simpler at Fifty]

@dado I walked the trails at Copper Falls every fall when the leaves were turning. Stunning. Growing up there we took the Falls for granted. I never realized what a nice tourist attraction (or maybe did not appreciate it) it was until I was in my late 20s. We swam in Loon Lake every day in the summer. We walked or rode our bikes from town. Good Memories. :)

[Stacy]

What great suggestions! I'll have to keep these in mind for a later trip, as dh and I decided on Copper Harbor. I'm kind of surprised, as he doesn't like long car trips. We decided to go the distance, though, because this is for our twentieth anniversary. It's funny, but the first person I mentioned this to at work said that she and her husband always go up there for their anniversary. That makes me even more excited for our trip, because it's obviously a place where people want to repeatedly go back to. She recommended the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge and their whitefish dinner.

[Stacy]

@dado I walked the trails at Copper Falls every fall when the leaves were turning. Stunning. Growing up there we took the Falls for granted. I never realized what a nice tourist attraction (or maybe did not appreciate it) it was until I was in my late 20s. We swam in Loon Lake every day in the summer. We walked or rode our bikes from town. Good Memories. :)

I feel the same way about the place I grew up. It was a beautiful place, the central UP, but it was so BORING for a kid growing up there. We thought beautiful scenery and lots of choices of campgrounds and swimming were normal for everyone. How strange it was to me when I realized as an adult that people from around the world were visiting the Pictured Rocks lakeshore because of its beautiful rock formations.

[Stacy]

Well, we took our trip up to Copper Harbor, stopping at a few points along the way. We stayed two nights, but it wasn't nearly long enough! I posted the pictures on facebook for your viewing pleasure. I hope the link works:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152070454810123.895442.507590122&type=3#!/media/set/?set=a.10152070454810123.895442.507590122&type=3

[Simpler at Fifty]

Thanks for the update Stacy. I was going to send you a note to see if you made the trip. We are heading to the UP Oct 8th for a few days. Probably not going up to the Harbor this time. Just visiting with the inloves will be fun. Your pictures are great on FB.