Spread out comfortably in a valley near the Wisconsin River, the small town of Baraboo has some relatively big claims to fame. You won't find a lion tamer putting his big cats through a routine on every street corner of small-town Baraboo, but as the one-time residence of the Ringling brothers, chances are you'll be able to catch a show at the Circus World Museum.

You don't ever have to step foot outside of the continental US to be able to do a bit of European traveling Wisconsin style ? steer instead straight for very Norwegian Mount Horeb or distinctly Swiss New Glarus, the only thing noticeably absent are fjords and soaring Alpine peaks.

Unfolding tidily at the southern semicircle of Lake Winnebago, the small town of Fond du Lac is a top fishing destination even when frigid temperatures send less single-minded travelers scurrying indoors.

You don't need a passport for an escape to Lake Geneva ? provided you're thinking of the popular Wisconsin resort destination on Geneva Lake and not some city in Switzerland. An easy drive inland from Racine and Kenosha or up from Chicago, Illinois, it's partly location that keeps this lakeside haunt hopping. Central Lake Geneva is situated along the northeast shore of the lake, but beaches and other area attractions are within easy water taxi reach.

With a population of 580,000 or so, Milwaukee, graced with vast green parks and a view of Lake Michigan as it shimmers off to some clandestine appointment with the distant horizon, somehow manages to strike a fine mellow balance between happening cultural destination ? there's always something on here, from sports to symphony - and laid back lakeside retreat.

Anyone with a passing interest in architecture won't want to leave southwestern Wisconsin without visiting the favored haunt of Frank Lloyd Wright, a man whose innovative designs challenged notions about the form and function of buildings. Surrounded by rolling countryside and watered by the Wisconsin River, the small town of Spring Green serves well, when there's a room to be had, as a base for exploring some of the area attractions.

It's easy in life to get so caught up in the serious business of everyday bustle that you forget to have fun. Happily, there's a temporary fix to be found on the Wisconsin River, the Wisconsin Dells ? at times it might be a little, well, too much fun ? but it certainly will entertain you, even if it won't garner you shorter office hours once you're back at work.