For as long as I’ve been alive, I’ve gone to Little Silver Lake in Wild Rose, Wisconsin to vacation. My grandfather started going as a boy and the family tradition continued long after him. It takes about three hours to get to the lake from my childhood home, but the drive is so worth it. It's a beautiful sight when you come around the bend and can see the pretty, blue water with adults and children swimming, jumping off the dock and rowing their boats across the lake.
Not only does my mom’s side of the family go up there, but so do about 40 family friends that vacation in the same spot. For one week at the end of July, my family would rent out the cabin named Linger Inn. Our friends rented out the cabins Sunset and Rest-A-While, and this was always my favorite week of the year. Most years, you could catch me sobbing as my mom told us we had to go home, but about six years ago our family decided to buy a cabin so we could go up all year round. This is one of the biggest blessings I've had in my life. Little Silver Lake may not be every person’s typical destination spot, but for me it is so much better.
Let me give you a little run down of my time spent at the lake. I get to wake up whenever I want (since I’m on vacation), then I make my way over to our friend’s cabins for coffee. If the weather is nice, I grab my swimsuit and spend the rest of the day floating on lake. For dinner, we either venture to a place like Silvercryst, The Wheelhouse, Milty Wilty's or the Pioneer Pub, or we make our own dinner in the comfort of our cabin. At night, we sit by the fire with our neighbors and enjoy s'mores and lighthearted conversation. We enjoy our next six days in the same way until it's time to come home.
You'll always find sand in your bed and wonder when the last time you showered was, but no worries—the lake takes care of it all. The lake itself is too small for motorized water vehicles, but the lack of pollution from such vehicles allows swimmers to see clear to the bottom. Within 100 yards, we can walk to The Red Fox bar and the Candy Shop that carries just about any kind of candy you can imagine and the world's best hard scoop ice cream: Cedar Crest.
Some of my best memories were made at the lake from night fishing to canoeing on the Crystal River. For that week, I get to spend time with family and friends I haven’t seen in a while and I cherish those days. The truth is, I could write an entire book on the lake and my favorite moments over the past 20 years, but I'm afraid it won't fit here. If you’ve never vacationed on a lake in Wisconsin, it should definitely be the next check on your bucket list.
