The places that don't make you apologize for the kids. Restaurants with crayons that aren't an afterthought, parks with shade and bathrooms, the ice-cream stop with the line on a hot Tuesday.
Fontana's coffee counter on Mill Street, next door to Reid Park — baked oatmeal and gluten-free options alongside the espresso program. Lines run long on a summer weekend when the park playground empties out for a snack. The west-end alternative to the Lake Geneva downtown cafes.
The only state park inside Lake Geneva's town limits, two miles south of downtown — a swimming beach, five miles of hiking trail, and a 100-site wooded campground that fills most weekends spring through summer with Illinois day-trippers. Cross-country skiing and snowshoeing keep it in use through winter.
Six hundred feet of sandy public beach on Wrigley Drive, right in downtown Lake Geneva, with a boardwalk, a beach house, and the historic Riviera Ballroom next door. Lifeguarded through the summer season (late May through Labor Day), admission charged during the day. The walk-to-the-water option for anyone staying downtown without a private dock.