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Visiting Rice Lake, WI

522 views 6 replies 3 participants last post by  sjane2579 
#1 ·
Hi all,

We're visiting dh's family in Rice Lake, WI in July. We have a 21 month old dd and was wondering if anyone could point us to activities that toddler would like to do. I haven't been in WI for almost 10 years, so any help would be appreciated.

Also, we are basically a TF family, does anyone know if there are resturants near Rice Lake that might be okay? Dh family has a very standard processed food & soda type of diet. I know we'll make concessions while on vacation, but I do want dd to eat as healthy as possible.

TIA!
 
#3 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by Tine View Post
But first.... What's "TF"?

Sorry, should have been more clear, "traditional foods."


I was curious if there were resturants in that area use fresh, local, whole foods ingredients (it would be fantastic if some where organic, but they don't have to be) that they use to cook from "scratch". I know that many resturants now in days use processed, pre-packaged foods (loaded with preservatives and other things) that they heat up and serve. Dh's family love to go out and eat and I just wanted to offer some healthier alternatives - if there are any.

Also, does the Rice Lake area have a farmers market we can visit? Or, do you think it would be best to stop by a natural grocery store in the Twin cities on our way to Rice Lake.

Thanks Tine!
 
#4 ·
Thanks for the clarification.
I think I can hep you a little. My parents' place is in Cumberland (a 15-min. drive west of Rice Lake), so a lot of what I know is in that direction. Also, FWIW: we keep looking for things to do/places to shop in Rice Lake, but constantly strike out. Maybe we're just clueless...but it does seem as though it's not a very NFL-friendly (or in fact, family-friendly) place to hang out.

As far as I know, there are no natural foods stores in Rice Lake, only a supermarket. And the restaurants are all chains or very conventional family diner-like places. But the family-owned Mexican restaurant there is very tasty -- worth the drive from Cumberland. It's called Casa Mexicana.

Island City Food Co-op in Cumberland is a lovely little member-owned natural foods store. We shop there every time we visit, and I think they have a good selection of foods/products for their tiny size. They also have an attached bakery/cafe. Everything it serves is either made right there or made locally. See http://www.islandcityfoodcoop.com/.

Other decent restaurants in the Cumberland neighborhood....

Five O'Clock Club (http://www.the5oclock.com/): I doubt its food is all from scratch. But it is pretty darn tasty. There are lots of good grown-up selections and a big kids' menu too. We like going there because it's got something for everyone in our gang. My parents like the old-fashioned supper-clubbiness of it. We think the food and wine are decent. The place has several large fish tanks and nautical tchotchkes, which our kids love to ogle. When the weather is nice, there's live music on the huge deck. There's also a big landscaped back garden for getting the wiggles out, when our kids get antsy. And a walking path through the woods to the nearby lake. I took my son for a walk along this path last summer and we encountered 2 black bears!

Bistro 63 in Barronnett (just north of Cumberland on Hwy. 63) is surprisingly good. This review (http://www.yelp.com/biz/bistro-63-barronett) about sums it up. The place doesn't look like much from the outside, but the chef is really quite talented. I bravely ordered scallops there, and they were awesome. My DH had the puttanesca -- and it was yummy! He couldn't stop mmmmmm'ing. The servers were very sweet and helpful, esp. with our kid-related needs.

And other destinations....

Peter & Annie's is a coffeeshop attached to a large (and pretty interesting) gift shop and art gallery. Have no idea about the TF-ness of their food, but it's a good place for a snack and some puttering around. (http://www.peterandannies.com/) The gallery next-door is called the Dancing Bird (http://www.dancingbirdartstudio.com/). All its work is by local artists. We liked it enough to actually buy something there recently (which is rare for us).

If you like movies, Cumberland has beautifully restored its old movie theater on Main Street (http://www.isletheatre.com/). The movie (it has only 1 screen, of course) changes weekly. The matinee is always a kids' movie. Rice Lake has a movie theater too, but it's your typical mall-based multi-plex.

Here are a couple of Rice Lake commerce/tourism links. I don't see a lot I would do, but that's just me! Maybe you'll find something you'd like, or a groovy gig on the calendar of events.
http://www.ricelaketourism.com/summer.asp
http://www.rice-lake.com/

The Pioneer Village Museum (http://www.barroncountymuseum.com/) sounds nice. Never been to it yet, but we've been trying to find our way over there. I see it hosts a bluegrass festival in July with some good-quality performers. If you happen to go to that, there's a very good chance you'll see us there.
(we're bluegrass lovers/musicians)

Toddler-friendly fun: There isn't much besides parks and lakes. But luckily you'll be there in the summer, so outdoor activities will be plentiful.

I hope this is helpful. Sorry, again, that I can't give you much useful info about Rice Lake. But hopefully you'll get some good ideas from this. Have a great trip!
 
#5 ·


Tine, THANK YOU! That was a fantastic review!

Wow, there is a lot more up there than I had thought. I'm so psyched to here that there is a co-op up in Cumberland. The 5'oclock club sounds really nice too (I think I recall the in-laws mentioning it as a dinner possibility). We will definately hit the resturants you mentioned.

Can't wait to get my dd in a canoe this summer and paddle around a lake or two (we're in New Mexico, beautiful hiking, mountains, etc, but no real water here).
 
#6 ·
Aw, shucks. Glad to help. It gave me a chance to seek out new things to do for my own family.

And I'm happy you found some things in my post that you'd like to try. I was feeling a little bad that there weren't more exciting options to tell you about!
 
#7 ·
I'm probably a little late since it's mid-July, but there actually is a very small food coop in Rice Lake. It's on Main Street, but I'm blanking on the name. There's a farmer's market on Thursday nights north of Barron (not too far from RL). If your trip isn't over already, I can email my parents -- who also live in Cumberland
-- and find out exactly where. Other than that, Christine covered the highlights, I think. We never go home without stopping at Bona Casa for cheese & raisin ravioli. Not the healthiest by any means, but they do make their own pasta. It was started by my high schools BF's grandparents.
 
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