Travel occasionally rewards participants with an unusually wonderful experience that alone makes a trip worthwhile.

Perhaps you have encountered an event or discovered a particularly beautiful location that continues to linger in your memory. Such an occurrence happened to the two of us during a mid-May trip to Lake Geneva area in Wisconsin.

Travelers visit this area for a variety of reasons.

The charming small town Lake Geneva is quiet, scenic, and a relaxing destination. It is home to first-rate resorts, excellent golf courses, and fine dining establishments.

During a recent stay, we enjoyed boat rides on Geneva Lake and scooter rides while exploring the town and countryside. We consumed one too many cheese curds and knocked back a Spotted Cow or two.

However, it was a visit to the University of Chicago’s magnificent Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay that will almost certainly be the best remembered part of our trip.

We read a short history of the observatory prior departing home and expected the visit would be something special, but strolling the landscaped grounds and exploring the heavily ornamented building created a sense of awe children might feel during a trip to Disney World. Walking into the huge domed room where the telescope is located was a remarkable experience.

Yerkes Observatory was born in the late 1800s when a university president, a young enterprising astronomer and a wealthy businessman, after whom the facility is named, found common ground.

The result is what many call “The birthplace of modern astrophysics,” one of the world’s great observatories that welcomed famed scientists including Carl Sagan and Edwin Hubble. The observatory was a stop for Albert Einstein during his celebrated 1921 visit to the U.S.

The seed for the observatory was the availability of two perfectly formed glass discs cast in France that became available when the University of Southern California was unable to fulfill its purchase commitment.

Interested in building a major observatory, the University of Chicago acquired the discs using money from businessman Charles T. Yerkes (yer’ keys) who had served some prison time and was interested in resurrecting his reputation.

By the time the observatory was completed, Yerkes had invested a total of $300,000, including $100,000 for the telescope.

The two 40-inch discs were polished in Massachusetts and installed inside a 60-foot-long tube mounted on top of a 43-foot-high pedestal. The telescope’s size required a massive dome with a 90-foot diameter that serves as the building’s focal point.

The dome and its vertical opening rotate to allow the telescope to be pointed in any direction. Two telescopes of a different type each have their own smaller domes on the opposite end of the building.

The refractor telescope at Yerkes continues as the largest of its kind in the world.

Due to the technical limitations of this type of telescope, newer models called “reflectors” use shallow curved mirrors rather than two lenses. While the Yerkes telescope has become obsolete in terms of scientific research, it continues to offer excellent viewing for many purposes.

We were scheduled for an observatory tour Monday, the day following our arrival in Lake Geneva. With rain in the forecast, we decided to visit a day early even though the observatory is closed on Sunday so we could get some exterior photos of the building and landscaped grounds.

The building and location are picture-postcard perfect.

The following morning we met in the observatory entryway with expert Dan Koehler who offered an interesting history of the observatory.

Then it was out to the back lawn where Dan used a laser to point out various terra cotta ornaments that decorate much of the building.

We reentered the observatory and headed for the large domed room at the end of the building.

Walking through the doorway into the tall, circular room and seeing the giant telescope on its giant 43-foot mount felt like we were being transported to the set of a science fiction movie.

Dan demonstrated how the telescope can be aimed and how the entire circular wooden floor can be raised and lowered so the viewer can gain access to the telescope’s eyepiece. Much of the machinery is original.

Unfortunately for us, the dome’s long vertical shutters that opened to the outside had to remain closed because of the rain.

Our visit to Yerkes Observatory was the highlight of an enjoyable visit to the Lake Geneva area of Wisconsin. We enjoyed the cheese curds, the beer, the nice people and the beautiful lakes in the area, but it was the observatory that stole our hearts.

David and Kay Scott are authors of “Complete Guide to the National Park Lodges” (Globe Pequot). Visit them at mypages.valdosta.edu/dlscott/Scott.html. View earlier columns at www.facebook.com/DavidKayScott. The Scotts live in Valdosta, Ga.

If You Go

Getting there: The observatory is located in the town of Williams Bay, seven miles west of Lake Geneva via highways 50 and 61.

Tours: Daily tours are offered weekdays and Saturdays. Frequency and times vary with the season. Check astro.uchicago.edu/yerkes for times. The cost is $10 and reservations are not required. Nighttime sky viewing is also offered.