Tenney Park offers fun activities every season. One overlooked gem of an activity are the pontoon boat rides offered multiple times per week out of Tenney Park. Yeah, you heard right. Pontoon boat rides! And only $6 per person! We enjoyed an 1.5 hour ride one Thursday evening and took a lovely cruise all around Lake Mendota. The boats are captained by volunteers and ours was incredibly knowledgeable, sharing all sorts of tidbits about homes we passed, UW buildings and Madison history. I showed up 45 minutes early, assuming these things are popular and must sell out... wrong! The volunteers told me they actually rarely sell out and have to turn anyone away. You can also rent the pontoon boats for private events, only $100 for 3 hours which includes the volunteer captain & gas! Not bad at all. All in all, a fun activity for out of town guests or even a different sort of date night. You've still got time this year - the rides continue through September 30th! Full Schedule: http://www.mscr.org/our-programs/outdoor-adventures/pontoon-programs/59-pontoon-program
PS: Not that I want to think about winter AT ALL... but, Tenney Park has awesome ice skating. The rink is huge and the setting really feels special with the trees surrounding the lake and the bridges you can go under.