Goat Islands, Pizza Farms, and Pancake Cheese Curds: The Wisconsin Summer Bucket List You Didn’t Know You Needed
A little teamwork at Camp Lola Whiskey, 2025
I travel internationally about a third of the year to places like Morocco, Colombia, and Georgia (the country, not the state). And yet I was born in Green Bay, I've lived in Eau Claire for almost 20 years, and I will fight anyone who tries to tell me Wisconsin isn't the most underrated state in the country.
Last month I haggled over baby alpaca blankets at a market in Peru, 4,000 miles from home, and stood on top of a dune in Ica that was larger than anything I’ve ever experienced in my 8 trips to Morocco.
Two weeks later I was sitting in the grass at Blue Ox Music Festival — ten minutes from my house — making flower crowns for the artists backstage, covered in glitter and glue with a cold drink in hand.
I'm honestly not sure which one I'll be telling stories about longer.
That's the thing about Type 2 Fun — it doesn't need a passport. It just needs you paying attention. I got to talk about exactly this when I recently hopped on The Cabin Podcast with Andrea and Megan — a whole episode about the quirky, unexpected corners of Wisconsin summer that don't usually make the top-ten lists.
So here's our recs: seven unique things to do in Wisconsin this summer that we actually do — a floating goat-island bar on Okauchee Lake, dinner at a pizza farm, alpaca yoga, a free bat study, sandbar camping on the Wisconsin River, and the cheese curd crawl in my hometown of Eau Claire. And if you’re new here, I'm Laura Ericson — I lead small-group trips around the world with Type 2 Travel, and I still spend my best summer weekends right here.
The Camp Lola Whiskey 2025 crew doing the shot ski, a Wisconsin tradition
The Island Bar Where Al Capone Left His Coins
The Barge is a floating island bar on Okauchee Lake in Waukesha County, reachable only by boat. It has a movie screen, yoga classes, mimosa brunches, and a pen of very fat, very happy goats. You park at The Golden Mast, call up the Tin Can (a free shuttle boat with a cheapo tropical paint job — you can't miss it), and three minutes later you're drinking on an island. The island also used to be a brothel owned by Al Capone. People still find his coins at the bottom of the lake.
Wisconsin, I love you.
Dinner at a Pizza Farm (BYO Chair)
Pizza farms are having a moment here in Wisconsin, and they deserve it. Where else can you get wood-fired pizza made with ingredients grown feet from your table, live music, and a sunset over somebody's back forty? I’ll wait.
Some of the best Pizza Farms in the state are Stoney Acres Farm in Athens, Grassway Organics in East Troy, and Together Farms in Mondovi (just outside of Eau Claire), which also runs a burger night worth planning a week around.
Fun fact: I now live in what my neighbors call "the pizza oven house," because the Italian doctors who sold us our home left us a legitimate professional pizza oven in the backyard. It cooks a pizza in three minutes. The first one came out black. We're learning.
Our backyard pizza oven setup in Eau Claire, complete with two corgis
Walk an Alpaca or Do Yoga Next to One
Exercising with goats and alpacas has been growing in popularity fI once walked an alpaca named Buttons through a field in Donegal, Ireland, who refused to cooperate — you can read the whole saga in my Ireland trip recap. But it turns out I never needed to fly across the world to hang out with these adorable furry friends. At Eagle Eye Farm in River Falls, you can walk alpacas and feed kangaroos (yes, kangaroos, in Wisconsin). Londonderry Alpaca Ranch in Two Rivers does wine tastings with alpacas wandering the party. And my friends Kristina and Tiffany run Hidden Timber Soul Sanctuary right in Eau Claire, where goat yoga now comes with an alpaca pasture option.
A few of the alpaca crew at Hidden Timber Soul Sanctuary in Eau Claire
Count Bats For Science (It's Free)
Wisconsin runs volunteer bat-monitoring studies each summer that anyone can join for free. This one surprised even me. Bats are struggling in Wisconsin, and the state runs echolocation studies you can actually join in at caves, refuges, and preserves around the state. One study in Two Rivers logged over 460 bats across six species in a single count. It happens at dusk, the views are gorgeous, and you leave having done something useful with your Tuesday night.
Sleep on a Sandbar
You can legally camp on the sandbars of the Wisconsin River. All you have to do is paddle out, pitch a tent and you have your own temporary island. Nothing beats sleeping in the middle of a river that once served as a canoe highway for Indigenous peoples and fur traders for thousands of years. Check the DNR site for where it's allowed, then go have the weirdest, best night of your summer.
The Cheese Curd Crawl (a Passport You Can Eat)
Visit Eau Claire's Cheese Curd Crawl is a self-guided curd trail through my hometown — you get a passport stamped for cheese curds at spots like Mogie’s Pub. Download the app, hit up to 11 participating restaurants, scan at each one, and win prizes for eating cheese. This is a real municipal program, and I've never been prouder to live here (and have my face on the campaign).
Pro tip: start at Phoenix Taproom, where the menu includes pancake-battered cheese curds served with maple syrup. I'll wait while you reread that.
Eating my weight in cheese during Visit Eau Claire’s Cheese Curd Crawl
Adult Summer Camp
Maybe you've been reading this list thinking, "okay, but I want all of it." That's exactly why Camp Lola Whiskey exists.
Camp Lola Whiskey is my grown-up summer camp in Hayward, Wisconsin — the 2026 session runs August 27–30. It packs the best of Wisconsin into one long weekend. All the fun and nostalgia of camp without the bunkbeds, shared showers, and trust falls. Just nice cabins, private rooms, and a crew of people ready to live it up in the woods with amazing sponsors.
Last year, one camper loved it so much she got a Wisconsin old fashioned tattooed on her arm on the way home. If that’s not social proof, I don’t know what is.
If a bloody mary bar, pontoon float, and adult spelling bee where I make people from out of state spell words like "Oconomowoc" sounds like your idea of fun, make sure you register by July 31. There are still a few spots left, but this is truly the last call — camp starts in a few weeks.
Just a friendly game of musical chairs at Camp Lola Whiskey, 2025
If you want the full conversation about the best off the beaten path summer activities in Wisconsin, including the man-in-a-van summer camp story Andrea has somehow survived to tell, listen to my full episode with the ladies of The Cabin on Type 2 Travel. The best story of your summer might be ten minutes from your house.
Wisconsin Summer Questions I Actually Get Asked
How do you get out to The Barge if you don't own a boat?
Their Tin-Can shuttle picks up from the docks at Golden Mast and will drop you off at Island Park right next to the Tiki Barge. There is no set departure schedule for the Tin Can, and it will operate as needed. There will be directional signs posted outside the Golden Mast with a number to call for a ride.
Do Wisconsin pizza farms take reservations, or can you just show up?
Most run only on set evenings during the summer season, and many require a reservation or timed ticket. Many are a bit of a drive from bigger cities, so check each farm's page before you drive out, and plan to bring your own chairs, a blanket, and cash.
Is it really free to camp on a Wisconsin River sandbar?
Yes — on the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway, sandbar and island camping is free and needs no permit or reservation. The catches: you can only stay up to three nights in one spot, you have to arrive by watercraft (no driving in), and it's carry-in, carry-out.
What does the Cheese Curd Crawl cost, and how does it work?
It's free. You download Visit Eau Claire's Curd Crawl mobile pass, check in as you eat curds at participating spots around town, and rack up points toward prizes. The pass is good for a full year after you download it, so there's no rushing it.
Can you come to Camp Lola Whiskey alone if you don't know a soul?
Yes, and plenty of people do. Well over half of our campers show up alone, and it’s the perfect opportunity to make new friends. The 2026 session is August 27–30 in Hayward.
