Cruisin' Lake Mendota

Mendota is the large lake mostly north and west of downtown Madison.  It hugs the University of Wisconsin campus and is the city's defining natural landmark.

Just a few months for summer fun on the water, but the lake is part of city life all year long.

It's a heat source as we head into winter, and a source of cooling in the early warm days of summer.  Find a spot along the shore and breezes carry away your worries.

Last weekend, we got a special passage aboard the Grand Mariner of the Betty Lou Cruise fleet for a clockwise tour around the lake.  We left from their pier at the Mariner's Inn and made our way down the eastern shore.

Captain Tom

You start slow as much of the trip from the pier is through water not any deeper than a bathtub.  In other parts of the lake when you touch bottom, there is almost 80 feet above you!

Our ride is the biggest boat on the water with an upper deck, a cabin, and a table with deck chairs on the bow.  We took a spot up front to feel the wind in our hair and sun on our faces.

We pass Governor's Island on the way to Maple Bluff.

The Bluff is home to many of Madison's finest homes.  Some trace their history back to the beginning of the city.

Maple Bluff

It's also a great place to ride a bike.  The slope up the bluff offers glimpses of lake between the homes; from this angle we can see the manicured backyards overlooking the lake.

Not far from the island is the home of Wisconsin's Chief Executive.

Governor's Mansion

Compared to other homes in the neighborhood, it's actually modest abode.  It has a great view, but far as I know no Governor ever swam to work.

Tenney Park and the Yahara River canal are the next notable landmark.  It links Mendota to Lake Monona and other lakes downstream.

Approaching downtown it felt like we were a moving second hand on the face of a clock waiting for the minute when the Capitol Dome would line up between two multi-story buildings.

In 1966, Madison's city council passed a law prohibiting any new building within a mile of the Capitol from being taller than the base of the columns beneath the dome.

Thanks to those alders, it's possible to see the glistening dome for miles in any direction.

U.W. Union Terrace

The University serves as a beacon of a different sort.  A leader in higher education and one of the country's top party schools.

Depending on the student you ask, you'll likely get different answers on which is the higher honor.

Picnic Point

Union Terrace is a popular place year-round and there may not be a better spot for a warm summer evening.

Unless you made the hike out Picnic Point.

One of the nicest things about Madison is the number of acres preserved as park land.  Picnic Point adds it's apostrophe to the shoreline as the most prominent feature of wild land devoted to nature and walking paths.

It impressed me while we circled the lake at how much green hugged the shore compared to the amount of land devoted to homes and offices.

The green space surrounding the magnificent blue space is another city park on days like this.

It offers time of solitude even if boats, wind-surfers, kayakers, and jet skier buzz around.

We were fortunate in getting invited along on a chartered trip, but unlike Gilligan we returned home 3 hours later.

You can cast a line for a trip of your own at Betty Lou Cruises.