Annabelle’s Ice Cream Parlor (Horicon Marsh)

May 31, 2024

Annabelle’s Ice Cream Parlor, Beaver Dam Lake, Wisconsin

Beaver Dam Lake is a large lake in south eastern Wisconsin. When I came here on a beautiful day, I first enjoyed Tahoe Park – a waterfront park compete with grassy fields and short fishing piers with melodic lapping water. It was near here that I found Annabelle’s Ice Cream parlor,

Annabelle’s greets customers with colors – red and yellow umbrellas, a pink store banner, green plants, a brown and yellow giraffe statue and bright blue garbage cans. They had food items like hot dogs and spaghetti, but specialized in Cedar Crest Ice Cream “since 1976 Wisconsin-made ice cream made in small batches”. I got a cup with the not-so-traditional flavors – Carrot Cake (this bright orange ice cream really caught the flavor perfectly) and Key lime pie (key lime flavor and pieces of crust, great flavor and texture), I enjoyed the ice cream sitting at a picnic table admiring the shark sandals on the kid at the next table wondering where I could get a pair. I really enjoyed the ice cream here.

In the area– Wisconsin is a fun place to explore. Lots of lakes, farms and amazing scenery.

Horicon Marsh, Horicon, Wisconsin – Today I had a free day to explore by myself, so I drove up to Horicon Marsh. At 33,000 acres, it is the largest freshwater marsh in the United Stares. There were plenty of very pleasant walking trails, boardwalks, nature centers as well as fishing and boating access points. The park even allowed hunting at certain times of year.

There several entrances to this marsh, some state land, some federal land. I started in the State Wildlife Area and walked on the Boardwalk Trail. It was beautiful and easy to follow with a lot of birds very close to the trail, interesting plants and water fowl. This is a great place to start your exploration, Download the Merlin Ap before you go – It is always fun to identify birds by sound or sight.

After doing several trails in the State land, I ventured to the National Park land – It was here that I saw a warning about wild parsnips (best stay away from these yellow flowers!). The trails at the National Park headquarters were more of an open field with markers. There are some nearby marked hiking trails which are probably better place to spend time. Horicon Marsh was a great place to explore – I would like to visit it again in the future.