When it begins to seem like vacation days are mysteriously and almost magically slipping away, find at least a temporary distraction in the hometown of world-renowned illusionist, Harry Houdini. You might not be able to recover lost holiday pay, but visitors can at least have a stab at learning a few tricks to entertain cubicle-bound colleagues back at the office.

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.

If I say "Green Bay" and you say "Packers", it's clear that the majority of your exposure to this fine Wisconsin destination is football oriented, and that's not such a big surprise. As home to an NFL team that had three Super Bowl wins and nine NFL Championship victories, this medium-sized city of just over 100,000 isn't all about tackles and touch-downs, though that's certainly a big part of life here at the edge of the water.

Travelers bound north along Lake Michigan out of Sheboygan, Door County bound, shouldn't be in so big a rush as to miss out on all the activity easily accessible from the cities Manitowoc and Two Rivers. Once an important center for naval ship-building industry, modern Manitowoc is now more noted for its charter fishing ? and cultural sights located in the vicinity.

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.

Settled comfortably along the shores of Lake Michigan north of Milwaukee, Sheboygan, half-way up the side of Wisconsin, is a medium-sized city with a very Bavarian past. Efforts to set Sheboygan up as a destination popular with a 21st-century crowd have succeeded, awarding visitors with pleasant parks to wander and a fine clutch of cultural sights.