{"id":9032,"date":"2024-05-19T06:00:44","date_gmt":"2024-05-19T11:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/?p=9032"},"modified":"2024-05-17T14:23:26","modified_gmt":"2024-05-17T19:23:26","slug":"memorial-day-weekend-trips-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/?p=9032","title":{"rendered":"Memorial Day weekend trips 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s my favorite time of year: Memorial Day weekend! I know it&#8217;s still spring, but this weekend is my defacto start of summer. The weather usually cooperates, and pools and waterparks open for the season.<\/p>\n<p>For those who aren&#8217;t sticking around town for backyard BBQs, Brat Fest or other local Memorial Day celebrations, here is a curated list of events, restaurants and activities within a two-hour drive of Madison, Wis. (updated for 2024).<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong>Wisconsin Dells<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-9036\" src=\"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Rise-of-Icarus-rendering-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"Rise of Icarus\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Rise-of-Icarus-rendering-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Rise-of-Icarus-rendering.jpg 711w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Mt. Olympus Water &amp; Theme Park has added a 145 ft.-tall slide called the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mtolympuspark.com\/specials\/the-rise-of-icarus\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rise of Icarus<\/a>, which is the country&#8217;s tallest waterslide. This comes two years after Mt. Olympus unveiled\u00a0Medusa&#8217;s Slidewheel, a combination waterslide and ferris wheel. <em>Rendering from Mt. Olympus website<\/em><\/li>\n<li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kalahariresorts.com\/wisconsin\/resort-renovations\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kalahari is currently undergoing extensive renovations<\/a>. So far, it has created a new entrance to the indoor waterpark and added a few new restaurants, including Cinco Ni\u00f1os, which has a ton of TVs to watch sporting events. The swim-up pool bar also has been given a name: Thirsty Turtle (I also appreciated that it now has machines to make blended drinks, which saves the bartenders a lot of time).<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ishnala.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ishnala Supper Club<\/a>, which overlooks Mirror Lake, added the Tomahawk Bar near its private beach last July. It&#8217;s another place to enjoy the view as well as live music on the beach.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bigskydrivein.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Big Sky Drive-In Theatre<\/a> is now open for the season (warning: it&#8217;s cash-only).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Lake Geneva area<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-9038\" src=\"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Maxwell-Mansion-furniture-300x232.jpg\" alt=\"Maxwell Mansion\" width=\"300\" height=\"232\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Maxwell-Mansion-furniture-300x232.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Maxwell-Mansion-furniture-1024x793.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Maxwell-Mansion-furniture-768x595.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Maxwell-Mansion-furniture-1536x1190.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Maxwell-Mansion-furniture.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>I recently visited the historic <a href=\"https:\/\/staymaxwell.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Maxwell Mansion<\/a>. It is home to The Apothecary Bar, which takes mixology to the extreme. I brought my fancy cocktail to an adjacent room and sat on funky furniture (see photo). Musician Pat McCurdy will be performing on Friday.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandgeneva.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Grand Geneva Resort &amp; Spa<\/a>\u00a0will begin its weekly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandgeneva.com\/sunday-fireworks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fireworks display<\/a> on Sunday. Make sure to try the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/C4d7l1jpsTW\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">&#8220;Ouisconsin&#8221; croissants<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.lakelawnresort.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lake Lawn Resort<\/a> in Delavan will host its annual <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lakelawnresort.com\/events\/memorial-day-weekened\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pig Roast<\/a>, complete with outdoor activities and live music.<\/li>\n<li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/burlingtonjamboree.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Burlington Jamboree<\/a> takes place Friday through Monday and features pony rides, a rock-n-circus and live music.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Elsewhere<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If you want to go tubing, you can&#8217;t go wrong with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wiriverside.com\/canoes-tubes-kayaks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wisconsin Riverside Resort<\/a> in Spring Green, <a href=\"https:\/\/sandbtubing.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">S&amp;B Tubing<\/a> in Albany or <a href=\"https:\/\/sandyshorestubing.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sandy Shores<\/a> in Mauston.<\/li>\n<li>For distilleries, visit\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.blaumbros.com\/blaum-bros-distilling\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Blaum Bros. Distilling<\/a> in Galena, Ill., <a href=\"https:\/\/driftlessglen.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Driftless Glen<\/a> in Baraboo or <a href=\"http:\/\/minhasdistillery.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Minhas<\/a> in Monroe.<\/li>\n<li>For breweries, I like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hillsborobrewingcompany.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hillsboro Brewing. Co<\/a> in Hillsboro, <a href=\"https:\/\/tyranena.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tyranena<\/a> in Lake Mills and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.potosibrewery.com\/brewery\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Potosi Brewery in Potosi<\/a>, which also houses the ABA National Brewery Museum (definitely worth checking out).<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baileysrunvineyard.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Baileys Run Vineyard<\/a> in New Glarus is a trendy place, and it will have live music on Memorial Day weekend.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Have a great weekend!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s my favorite time of year: Memorial Day weekend! I know it&#8217;s still spring, but this weekend is my defacto start of summer. The weather usually cooperates, and pools and waterparks open for the season. For those who aren&#8217;t sticking around town for backyard BBQs, Brat Fest or other local Memorial Day celebrations, here is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9036,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,47],"tags":[227,99,113],"class_list":["post-9032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holidays-and-events","category-things-to-do","tag-lake-delton","tag-lake-geneva","tag-wisconsin-dells"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9032"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9817,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9032\/revisions\/9817"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}