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On the road to Wisconsin in search of a great city escape.

Monday Feb 26, 2007.     By Joanne Hinkel

Travel + Tourism Feed

No matter how much I curtail my sushi dinners and John Fluevog shoe splurges, I simply can't afford to jet off to the islands for a week. But, with the help of a car, I managed to find that a weekend of local luxury is well within reach. Spurred by the official onset of the winter doldrums and Valentine's Day, Jason and I booked a mini-getaway to Delafield, Wisconsin. Besides a special winter rate of $189 per night, the promise of a chromatherapy tub, complimentary Aveda products and HDTV had us hooked on the Delafield Hotel.

On a particularly frigid Saturday afternoon in February, we gassed up the VW and hit I-94, NPR on the radio and Dunkin Donuts coffees in our hands. About three hours and a few tollbooths later, we arrived at our destination. Located in the tiny, 160-year-old village of Delafield, the hotel appeared austere from the outside, with a brick-heavy façade and ominous white pillars, but after waltzing into the lobby with our light weekend bags, we instantly warmed.

Dark wood paneling, 19th-century-style portraits and a fireplace adorned the interior, and service was Four Seasons quality: Our last bit of check-in business was letting them know when we wanted our complimentary coffee delivered in the morning!

The 500-square-foot suite felt luxurious indeed, with a stately, king-size bed, oversize HDTV, DVD player (for which you could borrow movies or CDs from the hotel library), mini-bar, terry-cloth robes, slippers and the decadent bathroom set-up we had anticipated. Since the front desk clerk had told us the village shops would close at 5 p.m., we headed out to get some gourmet goodies.

It only took two blocks to get to the "village," which amounted to 20 shops in eight buildings spread across three blocks. Moments earlier, Jason had commented that our homestead reminded him of the hotel in The Shining, but I was certain we'd landed ourselves in Sicily, Alaska on the set of Northern Exposure. We spent an hour looking over the loads of gourmet goods in Gagliano's, an upscale market akin to a Whole Foods, and bought a small hunk of 12-year old cheddar to find out what a $45-per-pound cheese tastes like (very sharp) along with some crackers, prosciutto and sparkling water.

Because the town is so small, we were able to check out every shop (mostly home decor, sporting goods, upscale gift and novelty shops) in about one hour, which was good since we were toting our groceries with us.

One of the shop owners, an honest local, let us know we were here in the wrong season (Delafield is surrounded by 11 lakes, where folks spend the summer fishing and boating), but we gracefully endured the near-negative temperatures together. We shared a pair of gloves on our walk back to the hotel and got giddy for the bubble bath and Melville Chardonnay (a saved-for-special-occasions bottle we brought from home) awaiting us in our room. As promised, the tub was like a high-powered personal Jacuzzi but with slightly perplexing flashing purple lights under the water.

Dinner followed at 8 p.m. in the hotel restaurant Andrew's, where a jazz singer cooed at us as we passed through the bar to get to our table. We were elated to discover that for a small corkage fee, we could bring the bottle of Pinot Noir—a Sam's Wines and Spirits purchase—to the table. This helped us to save big on the bill, which amounted to $100 (sans wine, but including two martinis). The meal—carrot-ginger soup, mixed greens salad, a steer steak and a fillet of halibut—was nothing more than predictable hotel fare, so next time I would try the organic Italian place in the village, Ruggeri's...or defer to Jason's brilliance, "We should have just stayed in our deluxe room."

The next morning, after enjoying our coffee (delivered precisely at 10 a.m.), we checked out and headed to some antique spots. Though we decided not to go to the Antique Center at Wales, we did venture to the Milwaukee Antique Bottle Club 34th Annual Show & Sale at the Four Points Sheraton. I wasn't sure if this was a romantic ending to our mini-getaway, but it was an appropriately Wisconsin thing to do. And, looking at Jason's face as he proudly purchased a Kingsberry beer platter, I realized champagne dreams don't always have to clash with a beer budget.