Wisconsin Dells - September 2010

I have to be very honest, we didn’t research anything about the Wisconsin Dells and didn’t really know what to expect. And I don’t know what I expected but it wasn’t what I did expect. I sure hope that makes sense. We stayed at the Wyndham Glacier Canyon Resort in a very nice room except for when the ceiling was leaking. It took them 24 hours to determine that there was a small pin hole in the water line to the refrigerator in the condo up above us. It had leaked long enough that there was lots of water in the ceiling and down the walls and it dripped in two spots in our bathroom and one in the kitchen. This was after Labor Day and even though the weather was beautiful they close the outdoor pools right after Labor Day.

Now what we really found in Wisconsin Dells was water parks and water parks and more water parks. I think there was one connected to every hotel and resort. There were three at our resort. It was very busy and hectic on the weekend but became much quieter during the week. We did go to the water park one day. I did the lazy river which is really just my speed and I enjoyed it. Bob tried one of the slides but did not do well afterward so he won’t try that again. It whipped him around too much in the tube.

We explored the downtown area, stopped at fudge shop and a popcorn shop and stopped at a couple of cheese and wine stores. We were looking for cheese curds but they were really high priced.

The highlight of the week was our trip to the House on the Rock located about 1½ hours from where we were staying near Spring Green, Wisconsin.







I loved the gardens and the plants. I don't think I had seen Chinese Lanterns before.


Coleen’s dad and her brother Eric were there last year which is how we found out about it. Dad talked about how exhausting it was and we hadn’t been there more than 15 minutes and we could understand why. By the time we finished 5 hours later we were tired but utterly amazed at the enormity of what is there. It is something we would recommend that everyone see but we don’t think it is good for children. They would become too bored.

The House on the Rock originally opened in 1959 and is a complex of architecturally unique rooms, streets, gardens and shops designed by Alex Jordan, Jr. The house is atop Deer Shelter Rock, a column of rock approximately 60 feet tall and 70 feet by 200 feet on the top. Many additions have been made to the original structure and other buildings have been added over the course of several decades.

First we toured the museum which gave the history and explanation of the house. Then we toured the house itself.

It has actually never been lived in but could be. There was a very nice kitchen and the house consists of room after room, some up a couple of steps, some in small nooks and others with walk through passages.



The walls in one area were filled with books. Another area had stained glass lamp shades.



Most of the walls were still rock. It was just unbelievable. And then there was the Infinity Room which is designed to seem like it goes on forever.

It is actually the part that protrudes from the building with no external support.



Bob was not comfortable being here to have this picture taken.


After the house we toured The Streets of Yesterday which is a re-creation of an early twentieth century American town.


Then there was The Heritage of the Sea which had nautical exhibits and a 200-ft model of a whale-like sea creature. There is a huge collection of automatic music machines that still play. These were extremely fascinating and fun to watch. With your admission ticket you received some tokens to play the machines but could also purchase others or if you were around some other folks you listened when they played them.




There was a large indoor carousel with over 200 animals none of which were horses and all of which were original pieces.



The walls around it were filled with horses. It was lit by more than 20,000 lights.

Even the bathrooms were decorated with strange objects, including mannequins and flowers.




There was also a doll carousel and 250 doll houses. We decided that anything that could be collected could be found here. I couldn’t count the number of organs in the music building.


I still just shake my head as I think of all that was there. What a sight and a very unusual place.

We left Wisconsin on the 18th and stopped for one night in Bartlett to visit with Cindy, Ron and girls. We thought we would get in a couple more softball games but the weather didn’t cooperate and we headed home on Sunday after attending church with Cindy.

August 28-September 11 - Minnesota 2010

When we left Eagle River, we drove up to Lake Superior and along the lake for quite a distance,




then across to Duluth, Minnesota. Bob finally got to add Minnesota to his visited State list. We started south on I-35 and I called Phil to tell him we were heading south but he wasn’t fooled. He told me that he didn’t think we would be arriving at their house very soon. Oh, well.
Our first week was spent at Breezy Point. There were many timeshares in the area, many lakes and more than one golf course. The towns are small and unless one wants to boat or golf there was not much to do. We went to the wine and cheese welcome and learned about where to see the Mississippi headwaters. We had seen some Mississippi River signs as we were driving to Breezy Point. The condo we stayed in was very nice but quite small in square footage.



On Saturday, September 4 we checked out of Breezy Point and spent the day at Lake Itasca State Park which is the headwaters of the Mississippi River. It is utterly amazing to see the humble beginning of the great river.










Then we checked into The Village at Izatys in Onamia, Minnesota. We were in a beautiful townhouse but there was really nothing at the resort.




Akasha enjoyed the trip with us.

Bob worked studiously on the computer.

The pool area is not owned by the resort and the weather had turned cool. There were 2 golf courses but only one was maintained. The other we used to ride our bikes on. It hasn’t been open since 2008 and it was sad to see how the bunkers were overgrown and the cart path was beginning to deteriorate. It was great for bike riding though.

We either walked or biked most days. In Wisconsin one of the movies we watched was Grumpy Old Men and it was really cool to see all the ice houses in storage along the lakes.




As we left Minnesota we stopped in St Paul to visit the Mississippi River Visitor Center for the National Park.




We would like to take another trip and spend some time in the twin cities.

Eagle River, Wisconsin - August 2010

We drove from Door County back through Green Bay and then headed north toward Lake Superior to Eagle River. It is in an area of many lakes. We stayed at Lake Forest Resort and Club. It is a rustic timeshare with just 24 units. The units are two storied with the bedrooms on the entry level and the kitchen, dining and living room below with a walk out patio on the lake level.




Each unit had life jackets, an assigned rowboat and there were about 12 canoes available for use on a first come basis. They had wireless internet at the rec center where they had free hot chocolate and snow cones. The kids could come in any time it was open and make their own cone. We did go canoeing.


We also found a cross country ski trail and went bike riding a couple of times.

We saw this nest on our drive to the bike trail.


We went to Scheer’s Lumberjack show. Two competitors demonstrated the lumberjack contests that are used each year in the competition. It was interesting and fun.










We went to the Chamber of Commerce in Manitowish Waters, a neighboring town, for a lesson about cranberries.

They gave us a sample of cranberry juice and craisins.

Then one of the growers explained the entire process. The program was free and there were about 40 people in attendance. The program was continued at the cranberry farm where we were able to see the cranberries growing. We learned that Wisconsin is the top producer of cranberries in the world.




The resort had lots of VCR movies that were free to use so we watched movies a number of evenings. I made glycerin soap at one of the craft sessions.

I also found wild rice that cost about $11 for 3 pounds. We had a very enjoyable time here and would recommend it highly to others.

Before the house, March 2010

We arrived back in Nashville the day after Deb’s birthday but we did celebrate. We took her to a fondue restaurant, The Melting Pot, in downtown Nashville. We also bought her a new mattress and box springs. We spent one evening visiting with the Sammons which is always fun. They moved into a house south of Nashville so we have about a 1 ½ hour drive from the resort to get there. We brought the kids some pencils from Hawaii.



When we left Nashville we stayed with Rhonda & Lanie in Roanoke until we moved into our house in Warren on April 1. We thank the Lord for good friends.