Wisconsin resorts

• Carrying the torch

  In Wisconsin's north woods, Lac du Flambeau provides a portal into Ojibwe culture.

  In a quiet corner of Wisconsin lake country, Ojibwe culture lives and breathes. Violent protests shattered its north-woods serenity in the 1980s, when the courts upheld spear-fishing treaty rights. The backlash traumatized the community, but also strengthened its commitment to tradition.

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• Chasing gangsters in Wisconsin

  In lakes country, tourists still love to visit the resorts and supper clubs where Prohibition-era crooks relaxed.

  In 1920, northern Wisconsin already was a playground for people from Chicago. And when Prohibition flung open the door to organized crime, its remote lakes and forests became even more attractive to a certain kind of Chicagoan.

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• Minocqua's white magic

  In northeast Wisconsin, a forest full of snow delights skiers and snowmobilers.

  In northeast Wisconsin, winter can be almost shamelessly beautiful. Skiing the Escanaba Lake Trail near Minocqua one February, exchanging hellos with passing skiers, all of them smiling, I had the feeling I must be in a magazine shoot.

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• Swinging through northern Wisconsin: Minocqua

  For nearly a century, golfers have relished the woods and lakes between Sayner and Rhinelander.

  Stretching from Hayward in the west to Minocqua in the east, you will find fishing, boating, swimming, hiking, snowmobiling, cross-country skiing and Friday fish fries.

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• Browsing in Boulder Junction

  A fishing and resorts mecca in northwoods Wisconsin has become a fashionable place to shop.

  In a little village in northern Wisconsin, muskie probably is still king. Back in 1971, city boosters got the U.S. Patent Office to make Boulder Junction the official Musky Capital of the World. After all, the surrounding two counties have the world's densest concentration of lakes, and they still yield 4-foot fish. But times change. Now, this former logging town deep in the middle of state forest has gained fame as a playground for another kind of trophy hunter.

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• The Wisconsin resort of your dreams

  There's no better vacation than the classic week up north.

  In summer, there's no better vacation than a week at the lake. Lazy afternoons on the beach, boat rides, marshmallow roasts, catching a string of sunnies - these are memories families savor for decades. But if you don't have a family cabin, where do you go? Wisconsin has more than 15,000 lakes, about the same number as Minnesota, plus shoreline on two Great Lakes.

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• Summer in Minocqua

  In Wisconsin's north woods, vacationers flock to this Island City.

  In northeast Wisconsin, Minocqua is all things to all tourists. It's been a boating destination for more than a century because it's on a chain of lakes and nearly surrounded by Lake Minocqua. In fact, it's Nature's Original Water Park, and the town has the trademark to prove it. But summer is short, and these days, tourists like to keep busy. That's why you'll also find water-ski shows, lumberjack shows, boat tours, wildlife parks, bicycle trails, city-style shopping, golf and, in the middle of downtown, mini-golf.

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• Historic boathouses of Minocqua

  In a Wisconsin resort town, the wealthy built playrooms on water.

  In Minocqua, you have to get in a boat to go on a historic home tour. In the first part of the 20th century, captains of industry streamed to this village in northeast Wisconsin, called the Island City because it is nearly surrounded by Lake Minocqua. Their estates are hidden in the trees, but the boathouses were built over water, fanciful structures with gables, balconies, towers and turrets.

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