Travel Review – Exploring Clear Lake, IA

Have you ever considered exploring Clear Lake, Iowa? We just got back from our second trip to Clear Lake. It’s become a sort of tradition the past couple of years for my parents to gift us a family getaway for Christmas. They rent a lake house/cabin up there for a week, and we go and spend some time together as a family.

One of the best ways to learn about where you’re going (for any vacation you’re taking) is to start with a chamber or visitor’s bureau website. Clear Lake has a great tourism website that is very easy to navigate and has a bunch of great resources for visitors.

Since my Mom had done the work to find our lake house each year, I hadn’t really spent much time learning about the area. We haven’t spent a ton of time out and about in the area because each year we’ve had the pleasure of staying at a lakefront property with a dock and our own little beach! We don’t have many reasons to leave very often.

However, there are a few highlights I’d like to cover as I give a review of the area now that we’ve been there a couple of times.

Location

Clear Lake is in Iowa and sits on the west side of Interstate 35 up near the Iowa/Minnesota border. The lake is a spring-fed body of water formed by glacial action roughly 14,000 years ago.

Both times we’ve visited, the lakehouses we rented were located on the south shore of the lake. It was a short drive into town if we needed anything or wanted to go do something.

I’d say five minutes to get to downtown Clear Lake and then ten to fifteen minutes to get over to Mason City. Mason City has larger stores and conveniences. Clear Lake has a much more “small town” feel. Both towns have plenty of unique shops, attractions, and eating establishments to keep you busy (if you want).

Lodging

While there are quite a few options for lodging in Clear Lake, I’d encourage you to narrow your search to lakefront properties, if possible. I say this for a couple of reasons.

#1 – It is truly a joy to “live on the water” for a few days, especially if you don’t get to experience lake life in your general day-to-day. There’s just something cathartic about experiencing the constant movement of water right outside your doors 24/7.

#2 – Another reason I’d encourage you to lodge lakeside is because of convenience. It’s so easy to walk out your door and be on the water within seconds. You don’t have to shuffle all of your water gear, food, belongings, etc each time you want to leave the house. You simply walk out the door, saunter about 50 feet, and voila, you’ve arrived. It’s easy to go back and forth at your leisure, which makes the time away more enjoyable and less stressful.

Since these trips were gifted to us, I didn’t play much of a part in choosing where we stayed. My Mom did all the grunt work for that (thanks, Mom!), and she connected with the owners of our lake house through simple word-of-mouth to get it booked.

She’s now created a relationship with them after multiple stays. They have multiple properties on the lake that have remained in the family for generations. All of the homes neighbor each other, so we stayed just a couple of houses down from where we were last year!

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After a quick search on VRBO, it appears that there are a ton of options in the area. I would encourage you to plan well in advance, especially if you do intend on getting a lakefront property for your stay.

Activities while Visiting clear Lake

These family trips are very chill for us. We aren’t a family that has to go and do and have every minute planned out for our stay. And we like it that way! Therefore, I don’t have a ton of really riveting things you must do when you visit Clear Lake. But, I will list the things we did spend time doing, and then I’ll list a few other activities that I know are options if you do want to go and do more things with your time.

What we like to do in Clear Lake, Iowa

First and foremost, the majority of funds were spent on our lodging for this trip. Therefore, it makes a ton of sense (to me anyway) to make the most of this space. We spent a great majority of our time enjoying the lakehouse. As I mentioned earlier, the water greets us just steps outside our door.

WALKING 

We spent a great deal of time walking along our shore. There is a nice sidewalk that is straddled by lake houses and the lakeshore. It’s fun to take a stroll and look at all of the cool lake houses – some new, some old, all unique!

We also walked down the road a mile or so to the marina – PM Park – where you’ll find a lakefront restaurant, tiki bar, beach, marina and boat rentals, as well as lodging.

HIKING

We heard through some neighbors that there was a nice hiking trail nearby. A few of us went and checked it out one evening. It did not disappoint! It’s called the Woodford-Ashland Lone Tree Point Nature Area. It is a primitive, one-mile trail on the southwest shoreline of Clear Lake.

We really enjoyed this hike as a group. We enjoyed seeing lots of wildlife on our way – snake, geese, otter. I would not recommend doing this hike with small children unless you have a good carrier. Luckily, my mom offered to stay back at the house with our kids.

While I wish she could’ve joined us, that was a really great decision. Ha! There is no way any of us would have had a pleasant experience hauling two toddlers around through that type of trail (I regret not packing our Ergo Baby carrier!).

FISHING

If you know my family well, you know that my dad, brother-in-law, and nephew are huge fishermen! They love it. Fishing is a frequent activity during our trips to Clear Lake. We haven’t had great luck on Clear Lake, but we’ve found a couple of other fishing holes nearby. They haul their small fishing boat up there. You could also rent a fishing boat.

PARKS

Eric and I took our kids out for a little family time on our own one day. There are really great parks and playgrounds in Clear Lake. I think parks/playgrounds are often overlooked when traveling with small children, but this was a fantastic (and FREE) little adventure just for the kids. They enjoyed exploring a new playground!

BIKING

This is not something we did, but I thought it was worth mentioning because we saw a lot of bikers (and walkers/runners) while we were up there. The roads are biker friendly, and there aren’t a ton of hills which would make for a nice, leisurely ride. Biking is also a nice activity since everything is close by. You can ride to get ice cream, ride around town and explore, ride to a lunch spot, etc. Lots of options for biking!

GOLFING

My sister and her family went mini-golfing close by both years at Plamor Mini-Golf. This is close to the South Shore Sweet Spot! There are also golf courses in the area.

WATER ACTIVITIES

There are, of course, lots of activities on the water! It is a lake town, after all! The Clear Lake State Park has the largest public beach area. You can rent a variety of boats at the marina, or put your own on the water. I believe there are also dinner cruises you can take part in!

We swam just about every day. After visiting with our neighbors a bit, they graciously offered their watercrafts to us for the week – we had a kayak, canoe, paddleboard, and lots of beach toys at our disposable! They were so kind and that really made our water time more enjoyable!

For indoor activities, we tried to do a variety of things this year, but due to COVID-19 none of the options ended up working out. There are a few museums you can tour. They have a nice little art center. And you can visit the Surf Ballroom, which is an iconic music venue right in Clear Lake.

We spent our evenings (and nap times) playing games together, reading, and visiting with one another. We also enjoyed evening fires on the beach listening to music and chit-chatting. You know, the simple things. 🙂

Food While Visiting Clear Lake, Iowa

We ate quite a few meals at our lake-house. If you have children, you know the work, chaos, and expense of going out to eat. Ha!

We definitely like testing those waters occasionally, but we also had a full kitchen and dining area at the house to use. That was a great way to save some money and gather as a family (without disturbing people we don’t know!).

This year was also a bit different because of COVID-19. Places were just beginning to open back up and we preferred to avoid crowds.

Here are the few places we’ve tried that I’d highly recommend:

• PM Park Restaurant – Breakfast was great!
• Papa Everett’s Pizza – I’d recommend Carry Out or Delivery.
• South Shore Sweet Spot – Ice Cream!
• Rich’s Muskie Lounge – Located in Ventura, on the other side of the lake

Here are other options I want to try on our next trip:

• The Other Place
• Lake Time Brewery
• South Shore Donut Co.
• PM Park Tiki Bar
• Cabin Coffee Co.
• Starboard Market
• Seven’s Steakhouse

Shopping in Clear Lake, Iowa

My mom and I ventured out for a quick looksy at the shops in Clear Lake on our last day. I hadn’t been yet, so she showed me around the downtown area. It is quaint and bustling with life!

There are quite a few cute little shops right on the main downtown strip. I thought there was a great variety of shops – something for everyone! There were a couple of home decor shops, clothing shops, coffee shops, souvenir shops, antiques, etc.

You can also venture over to Mason City for even more shopping options. It looks like they have a great downtown scene, too! They also have the larger retail stores.

Exploring Clear Lake, IA – A Relaxing Destination

If you’re looking for a relaxing destination to unwind, Clear Lake is a fantastic place to visit! We definitely make the most of our time at the lakehouse, but there is still so much we have yet to experience in Clear Lake and the surrounding areas. It’s relaxing. It’s quiet and peaceful (mostly!). And, it’s a great place to reconnect with family or friends!

Sidenote: I used my laundry basket technique for packing all of our necessities for the trip. It worked out well. And then, the greatest thing I did this entire trip was wash, dry, and fold all of our laundry at the lakehouse. I literally had no dirty clothes going home with me except what we wore the day we left. It was awesome. I plan to do this much more often in the future. If you have access to a washer and dryer on your next trip, I’d highly encourage you to do it!

Have you been to Clear Lake before? Tell me what your favorite things to do are in the comments below.

To the Chaos!

-MG

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