When you’re staying at an inn straight out of Victoria magazine, in a town lifted from Currier & Ives, you don’t complain too much when a blizzard delays a return to the real world.
In summer, Bayfield, Wis., overflows with sailors, kayakers and the holiday-makers who have been coming here for more than a century. But winter is quiet. Not everyone knows about the ski slope outside town, or the 60 kilometers of cross-country trails, or the ice caves on Squaw Bay. Lots of people have heard of the Old Rittenhouse Inn, but not that winter makes a weekend there affordable.
I drove up to Bayfield one recent fine day, starting my weekend by skiing on a perfectly groomed trail along the wooded side of Mt. Ashwabay, three miles south of town. From my ridge, slivers of Chequamegon Bay popped in and out among the hills in the distance; on days the T-bar operates, cross-country skiers ride it up 300 more feet, for an even better view and a winding trip down.
In Bayfield, I bought some Swedish linens just as the shops closed and then found myself inexplicably drawn to the ferry landing where, to my surprise, a line of cars, engine running, was waiting to be taken across the bay to Madeline Island, the largest of the Apostles.
“After next week, we’ll start using the wind sled,” one of the ferry-line employees told me as we watched the Island Queen chug away through bobbing slabs of ice. “Then, it won’t be long until some nutcase decides to go over in a car.”
It was dark when I approached the Rittenhouse, twinkling away on its hillside perch, all gables and garlands, bay windows and balconies. Two music directors from Madison found the 1890 house crumbling in 1974; they bought it, restored it, filled it with antiques and made it into one of the most celebrated B&Bs in Wisconsin.
I settled into the lavishly adorned dining room for one of the inn’s five-course dinners; the long recited menu made my head swim, perhaps a cue for the whitefish, but I chose instead a mushroom burgundy soup, a Caesar salad, marinated duck and white-chocolate almond torte.
Then I went upstairs, built a roaring fire and retired to my rocker with — what else? — the current issue of Victoria magazine.
Next morning, I noticed that the world had changed outside my four turret windows. It was whitewashed and eerily silent, thanks to a wicked wind from the west that was blowing in a foot of horizontal snow.
So much for plans to ski in the wilderness down the peninsula. Instead, I struggled off up the street, past two little white-frame churches and across a footbridge to Le Chateau Boutin, also a Rittenhouse inn. I tiptoed through its opulent rooms as if it were a museum; which it was, of a Victorian lifestyle far removed from modern times.
As I walked back, noon bells were ringing at a nearby church founded when Bayfield was a frontier boom town, years before a Civil War general with hay fever built the Rittenhouse.
Life in Bayfield was rough then. It isn’t rough now.
Inside the Rittenhouse, three teenagers had resigned themselves to an afternoon of well-upholstered indolence most people save for birthdays and anniversaries.
The family of Madison high-school principal Libby Burmaster was stranded, and the teens had rebelled — no TV, no phone.
“They said, `Why do we have to stay here?’ ” Burmaster said. “I told them, `There could be some worse places to be stranded than the Rittenhouse Inn!’ “
DETAILS ON BAYFIELD
Old Rittenhouse Inn: Winter-spring weekend packages are a good deal: Two nights in the cushy, wood-paneled champagne suite at the Rittenhouse and a dinner for two, which would cost $537 in summer, goes for $325. The same package is $275 and $225 in other rooms. Daily weekday rates are $150-$250, including dinner for two. All rooms have wood-burning fireplaces.
There are four buildings under the Rittenhouse umbrella; the 1908 Chateau Boutin, a splendid manse overlooking the lake, has the showiest rooms and spacious common areas. The 1888 Grey Oak Guest House, farther up the hill, has a lovely parlor and rooms and the coziest atmosphere. The Fountain Cottage has a whirlpool and wet bar and is nearest the Rittenhouse, to which all guests must come for breakfast. The Rittenhouse is the nerve center but has no common areas besides the dining rooms. Of the lowest-priced rooms, choose Room 5 over 2 and 3; of the others, all but one has a whirlpool.
Special events include a Valentine Dinner Concert Weekend Feb. 14-16; Wine Weekends Feb. 21-23, March 29-31 and April 26-28; a Wellness Weekend Feb. 28-March 1; and a Gilbert and Sullivan Weekend March 7-9. Costs start at $360 per couple. Call 715-779-5111.
Other lodging: Cooper Hill House B&B (715-779-5060) has modest but comfortable rooms, $65, and offers free pool and ski passes with a two-night stay. Silvernail Guest House (715-779-5847) has small rooms with double whirlpools and TV, $75, but no common area.
Dining: The Rittenhouse’s five-course dinner, at $39.50 per person, is best enjoyed as part of a package. Maggie’s (715-779-5641) serves excellent food in a convivial atmosphere, with daily specials at $12-$16; those staying at the Rittenhouse can return there for one of its excellent desserts and coffee, $9 for two.
Cross-country skiing: Mt. Ashwabay has 30 kilometers of trails and a chalet, open Tuesday-Sunday; fees of $4.15 and $3.30 (half-day) include a lift ticket. Fee is $2 when lifts aren’t running. Call 715-779-3227.
Mt. Valhalla, 10 miles west of Washburn on County Road C, has 30 kilometers of trails. Fee: $2. Call 715-373-2667.
Downhill skiing: Mt. Ashwabay’s T-bar and rope tows run Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday; lift ticket for 13 runs is $8.25 midweek and $12 weekend.
Snowshoeing: Apostle Islands Outfitters (715-779-3411) rents snowshoes, $15 per day, and suggests routes.
Squaw Bay ice caves: The ice-sculpted caves at Squaw Bay, around the peninsula from Bayfield near Cornucopia, can only be visited when the ice along the exposed shoreline is thick enough. The Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Visitor Center has a hot line on conditions: 715-779-7007.
