![\"Land](\"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Land-of-Natura.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
It’s my favorite time of year: Memorial Day weekend! I know it’s still spring, but this weekend is my de facto start of summer. The weather usually cooperates, and pools and waterparks open for the season.<\/p>\n
For those who aren’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 2025).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Wisconsin Dells<\/strong><\/p>\n Lake Geneva area<\/strong><\/p>\n Elsewhere<\/strong><\/p>\n Have a great weekend!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s my favorite time of year: Memorial Day weekend! I know it’s still spring, but this weekend is my de facto start of summer. The weather usually cooperates, and pools and waterparks open for the season. For those who aren’t sticking around town for backyard BBQs, Brat Fest or other local Memorial Day celebrations, here […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9821,"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],"tags":[99,113],"class_list":["post-9816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holidays-and-events","tag-lake-geneva","tag-wisconsin-dells"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9816","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=9816"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9823,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9816\/revisions\/9823"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
![\"Aquavia](\"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Aquavia-Lumina-1-300x200.jpg\")
The inflatable waterpark at Land of Natura<\/a> is a ton of fun for the whole family (see photo above). The inflatable obstacle course sits on a man-made lake, and you can also use a stand-up paddleboard or lounge on the surrounding beach with a drink.<\/li>\n\n
![\"Maxwell](\"https:\/\/www.eatdrinkmadison.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Maxwell-Mansion-furniture-300x232.jpg\")
I visited the historic Maxwell Mansion<\/a> about a year ago. 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 once again.<\/li>\n\n