Ah...summer Up North. Pine scent hangs in the fresh air, the woods beckon and diamond light dances across clear, deep lakes where fish are plentiful. These delightful lodgings make great vacation bases in that third of the state that calls so many of us, year after year, to venture north and get away from it all.
Grand Pines Resort, Hayward
What do you get when you mingle the crisp smells of a grove of white pine with the lip-smacking aroma of fresh-cooked barbecue? Some clues: Tall pines. Clusters of dark brown split-log cabins. A nearby scenic lake—and Dave. This is the setting at Grand Pines Resort east of Hayward on Big Round Lake. It’s “nostalgia with a touch of class” combined with top-shelf barbecue eats at the original Famous Dave’s restaurant. Boasting 22 cabins on one of two lakes, Grand Pines is a premier Wisconsin resort and has that special North Woods ambience of rustic coziness. Cabins are furnished in similarly woodsy antique themes, with aged tools and toys from logging and fur trading days. Most cabins offer three bedrooms, and all but two include a whirlpool bath; the two-story versions have a second fireplace in the loft master bedroom.
Spider Lake Lodge, Hayward
The only way in to Spider Lake Lodge near Hayward is down a scenic six-mile road. It’s perched at the end on a hillside amid huge old-growth pines, shrouded in age with dark brown tamarack and cedar log walls. A squat, gabled entrance opens to the lodge’s great room, highlighted by hefty log beams in the shape of the letters “T” and “M,” in honor of Ted Moody, who built this special place in 1923 with the help of area lumbermen and Native American craftsmen. A large common area serves as space for dining, lounging or reading at a separate small library. Each of the lodge’s seven guest rooms—with such names as Hemingway, Moody’s Camp and Bear’s Den—has its own personality.
The lodge’s setting is stunning. A short walk down the bluff leads to Spider Lake’s clear waters and squiggly shoreline. Bald eagles and white-tailed deer are common sights.
Lenroot Lodge, Seeley
Recess time at Lenroot School meant frolicking along the scenic banks of the Namekagon River. Guests at the Lenroot Lodge in Seeley can enjoy recess all day long—and skip out on the homework. The lodge’s brawny log columns and stout beams are built around the early-1930s one-room schoolhouse. Four of the lodge’s 10 guest rooms are in the former classroom. The original floors remain, as do the chalkboards with ghosts of the ABCs. The lodge’s exterior features recycled material as well, including huge log columns rescued from blow-down areas, heavy beams from the town’s former garage and telephone poles that now serve as handrails.
Rooms include a main floor bedroom and bathroom, and a spiral staircase to a bed loft. Five rooms have postcard views of the river. One room is specifically set up for wheelchair accessibility.
Dillman's Bay Resort, Lac du Flambeau
Dillman’s Bay Resort, situated on a breezy peninsula in Lac du Flambeau’s White Sand Lake, can accommodate groups large or small. Its 40 cabins and cottages feature kitchens and one to four bedrooms; many also have a fireplace, deck or are lakeside. Motel rooms have efficiency kitchens and many feature baths with whirlpool tubs, while the guesthouse has private rooms and baths that share a kitchen and common areas. The resort is known for its summer artists’ series; each week, May-Oct., Dillman’s Creative Arts Foundation hosts a different accomplished visual artist to lead workshops. On the premises are a restaurant, marina, tennis courts, playground and beaches. Massages are available, too.
Wissahickon Farms Country Inn, St. Croix Falls
Tucked into the woods of a 30-acre hobby farm outside St. Croix Falls is a one-room cabin the Ingalls family would have loved on the prairie. Built as a replica of an old country store, it was moved to the site by its current owners—they live a few hundred feet away—who updated it as the Wissahickon Farms Country Inn. Modern touches include a two-person whirlpool tub and a kitchenette. A gas stove casts a glow on the barn-plank floor and rough whitewashed walls. Antique furnishings and store wares fill the room—farm toys, Burma shave toiletries, books, even an old Remington cash register. Braided rugs, rockers and the cast-iron camel-back canopy bed topped with a handmade patchwork quilt make the place downright cozy. Kick your feet up on the front porch and enjoy the peace. Or hit the great nearby routes on one of the available bikes.
Inn at Pinewood, Eagle River
Eagle River’s Inn at Pinewood is a former classic hunting and fishing lodge that’s now a bed and breakfast. The burnt sienna log walls of the original 1934 building positively glow and the hulking fieldstone fireplace no doubt has overheard its share of fish tales. In the commons area you’ll find a game-filled room and enough antiques—plenty of musical instruments to form a band, a wedding dress and a crosscut saw that reminds of the area’s logging heyday—to make you think you’re in the local historical museum. Out back the hill slopes down to Carpenter Lake, favored by ospreys, loons, eagles and walleye. Book one of the nine rooms or suites in the main building or one of three bedrooms in the adjacent home. No children under 6.