When I Googled "Top 10 Family Lake Vacations", I was debating between Minnesota and Michigan (we've never visited or vacationed in either state). I was reminiscing about a roadtrip to visit family in Iowa and Chicago when I was between my 10yo daughter and 7yo son's ages and wanted to recreate the great American Heartland roadtrip for my kids. Plus, my husband is English and the closest he's ever been to a good, old-fashioned roadtrip was watching National Lampoon's Vacation (the original) as a kid. I saw the review for WBL on Trip Advisor that said it was like vacationing on the set of Dirty Dancing (throwback to the 1950s, family-style dining, screened in porches, daytime water sports, evening activities), and I knew I wanted to try it. This was going to be great for all of us.
After my first trip there, I am hooked and already made reservations to bring back three generations of my family next year. Plenty of other resorts have water activities on turquoise lakes, delicious food, and kids programs with fancier accommodation. We're coming back to WBL because it is on the right side of the Haimish Line.
The Haimish Line is a fantastic piece David Brooks from the NY Times wrote in his column about his families' recent vacation, depicting the various places they had visited that summer. His family found that they connected more with other guests and had more fun at the simpler camps than the did at the more private luxury camps: "I know only one word to describe what the simpler camps had and the more luxurious camps lacked: haimish. It’s a Yiddish word that suggests warmth, domesticity and unpretentious conviviality." Brooks went on to describe how his family began avoiding camps that crossed the invisible "Haimish Line" into more posh, stuffy camps that they could afford so they would have more fun at the unpretentious, convivial camps. WBL is the most haimish resort where I have ever spent a week.
Maybe it because WBL is a 3-generation family-owned business since 1958. Maybe it is because the owners have always made their profession out of teaching or instructing sports and a number of their loyal returning guests also seem to have education in common. Maybe it is because the 20-something college kids that run around and staff your visit are without exception the most polite, well-trained, friendly, welcoming staff I have encountered. It's the Midwest turned up to Eleven.
Thank you Conrad Family and WBL Staff. You gave this West Coast family everything I knew we needed, but also something I didn't know we needed in this age of connected devices and high-tech: good old-fashioned, face-to-face connection with wonderful people.
"When we’re shopping for a vacation we’re primarily thinking about Where. The travel companies offer brochures showing private beaches and phenomenal sights. But when you come back from vacation, you primarily treasure the memories of Who — the people you met from faraway places, and the lives you came in contact with."
