Witch’s Gulch
We spent an extended weekend in Wisconsin. Most people had no idea why we were going there of all places but I had been there as a kid and the Dells in particular stood out as a place I would like to go back and visit. I had picked out a few different things to do while we were there and was pretty excited to go. We left right after work on Thursday night and made it about half an hour before Milwaukee. The ride was nice and we were able to keep the convertible top down the whole way.
Fallen Tree
The next day we were planned to spend it in Milwaukee however when we got up it was raining. We decided to flip our schedule around and do some things that were inside and further away first. We were headed to House on The Rock which is west of Madison. The route took us driving through the country side and we learned it is very hilly in Wisconsin. It was storming but not terrible when out of nowhere a tree started moving. It was just in front of us when it fell into the road. Luckily we were safe and Kyle was able to get around it. We have never seen a tree fall before so this was cool and very scary at the same time. Wisconsin has a lot of trees near the road.
House on the Rock
Eventually, we made it to the House on The Rock and the weather had turned. The house is the doing of one man with a vision. To call it a house wouldn’t be right. It’s more like a giant never ending warehouse of odd things. We did the ultimate experience and were there for about 2.5 hours. Some of our favorite “rooms” were “the outside” where there was a brick walk way with street lanterns and old fashioned shops, and the giant carousal. They had one interesting sculpture which was of a fictional whale being attacked by an octopus and in the whales mouth was a life size boat. The thing was longer than the statue of liberty is tall. That is how huge this place was. I thought it was going to be weird and it was but it was also one of our favorite things we did on the trip. The house also had tons of musical pieces that you could put a token in and the piece would come to life and play music. It was very neat.
Cave of the Mounds
After the house we went to Cave of The Mounds. The cave was discovered accidentally in the 1900’s after the land owner had blasted away at a quarry. When the dust settled all the workers saw the cave and couldn’t believe their eyes. It was an exciting time for the state having this hidden wonder right beneath the surface undiscovered. Our last cave visit was to the Carlsbad Caverns so seeing this cave wasn’t super exciting but it was cute and still cool to visit. When we left we bought a geode and the shop cracked it open for us. It was cool to see it cracked open and the colorful crystals in side. After the cave we stopped at Mount Horeb to take pictures of the troll sculptures. It was fun walking around trying to find them and see them all but it was also very hot and humid so we did not stick around long.
Axe Throwing
We then headed to the Wisconsin Dells where we stayed for the next two nights. It was cool to be back where I once was as a kid. While we were walking around we came across Asgard Axe Throwing which happened to also serve you alcohol – two things you wouldn’t think go together but okay. I told Kyle I kind of wanted to try it so we did! They had a few different types of axes to throw and taught you how to throw them. The guy told Kyle he has red in his beard so he wouldn’t have any problem and he didn’t. I couldn’t get it to save my life. The guy told me I had magic hands and after each throw it’s like I’m saying “ta dah!” I only stuck one and it was out of bounds. At the end they brought out Bertha which is the large axe. They let each person throw it once but since I was so special, the guy told me I could throw it as many times as I wanted. Kyle and I each stuck her so that was pretty cool!
Devils Lake State Park
The next day we headed to Devil’s Lake State Park for some hiking. The park is supposed to be the best in WI and it showed. I suppose we went on a Saturday but by 9:30AM when we got there it was already packed and filling up fast. We did several hikes here but we were able to combine them into one giant loop. The first took us up the west bluffs where we got overlooks of the lake. There were lots of folks carrying repelling equipment but we didn’t stick around to watch them. We then looped around and completed the east bluffs trail. We hiked for a good three hours in the very hot and humid weather. We had to completely change clothes and shower when we got back we were so drenched. Our lunch was a giant ice cream cone.
Dells
We then took a duck boat tour down the lower dells. The duck boats are cool because they are old WWII vehicles that drive on land and can go in water. The first time we drove into the water was very scary. I have a fear of drowning in a car but it became cool. The driver was very good and he was so funny. He made the trip a lot better. The lower dells were cool and the drive was neat too. In the evening we took a sunset dinner cruise of the upper dells. The upper dells are prettier in my opinion. I especially liked witches gulch which was just as cool as when I was a kid. They lit torches in it and it was super neat and creepy seeing it this way.
Fallen Tree
The next day we planned to go to the water park but it started storming. We drove out of town and had breakfast to decide what to do. This was our last full day. We decided we would head out but along the way we were close to a hike, Parfrey’s Glenn, I wanted to do. We decided to head there to check it out. This was a very scary drive in the country. There was debris from trees all over the roads and tons of trees down. It was incredibly scary to drive through this area which went on for miles. In one area the trees formed a tunnel which normally would have been cool but considering we had seen so many down, we couldn’t get out of there fast enough. It was as this point where I concluded WI is a state from hell and does not want us there. Needless to say, we made it to the hike and despite thunder and better judgement, we got out and did it.
Parfrey’s Glenn
The hike was super cool and I’m glad we did. It felt like a jungle and I felt like Indiana Jones. There was a creek that we walked alongside and everything was so green and moss covered. The weather had cleared by the time we were done so we decided to head back to the water park. Our hotel had given us free passes to Noah’s Ark although we still had to pay $15 to park and then $15 for a locker. We got there about 1:30PM. This was Kyle’s first time to a water park and I was super excited for him. I remember going to parks as a kid and it being a lot of fun. We did the first ride called the Flying Gecko and it was pretty fun. We then went and rode the Bermuda Triangle twice just because the line moved so fast. We were having fun. We then got in line for the Black Anaconda. Rides are a lot different than I remember. This one was kind of scary dropping down in the dark and being swirled up the sides. It was fun and frightening at the same time when we came to a halt. We weren’t sure if it was part of the ride but after being stopped for what felt like forever it was clear something wasn’t right. I was afraid another tube was going to come hit us. We were stuck going up a hill in a tunnel but there was light behind us. We then saw a park worker who shouted asking if we were okay. She then proceeded to enter the tunnel and get us out. One of the rides sensors apparently malfunctioned shutting it down and we got to be the lucky ones stuck on it. She then took us back to the top of the ride so we could be first in line when it restarted. People kept asking us things like, ‘were you really stuck on the ride,” “are you guys okay?” It was kind of embarrassing but it wasn’t anything we did. The ride didn’t start up in time before the storm came back so we didn’t actually get to finish it.
Buffalo Phil’s
We decided to leave the park and go for dinner. We found this really cool place called Buffalo Phil’s where we got to sit at the train table. They had a toy train that came around the table and delivered everybody’s food and drinks. It would come around periodically with different toys on it and even a bubble maker! It was so cool!! We then left the dells and headed to Milwaukee for the night.
Milwaukee Zoo
The next day we started off at the Milwaukee Zoo. Being it was our last day and we had a long drive home ahead, we did fast track zoo which meant we can’t stop and stare for too long. The zoo was neat and I liked seeing the bears and the big cats. The snakes are usually skippable for us but this time we actually enjoyed them because they seemed to all be active. They even had an anaconda which I hope to never see in the wild. We then went downtown and ate at the Safe House. I had known about this place for years so I was super excited to finally be going there. I didn’t tell Kyle anything about this place other than that I didn’t know the password but he had no idea what this meant! The restaurant’s theme is that we are all secret spies on a mission. The building doesn’t even have a sign with its name on it. When you walk into the restaurant, you go into a small room with a lady at a desk who asks for the password. We didn’t know it! She said, that’s okay, you just need to past a few tests first. She told us to stand against a wall and give her our best three karate moves making sure to yell “hi-ya!” This was funny to me because Kyle had no clue what he was in for. He participated very well although he managed to karate chop my face. We passed the test and got to proceed. We were greeted by another agent who lead us to our table. We then got to order our “missions” which was our lunch. Our waitresses name was Agent Lovely and she advised us we must go by code names so she handed Kyle the code name of Agent Shadow and me Agent Honey Bun. I was not excited for my code name. I would have rather had a much cooler and scarier name like Agent Ninja or Agent Dark. We got to walk around and look at all the stuff. They had riddles you could solve if you wanted but we didn’t. After we completed our mission Agent Lovely cleared away the evidence and gave us our damage report. To exit, we had to go through a secret door which lead us to a small room where a there was a payphone that rang. I answered the phone and was given a pass code. I then had to hang up the phone and then dial the pass code to open the next door. It was a pretty cool place.
Milwaukee
We then walked around for a little bit. We would have liked to have kayaked the city but it was hot and we didn’t have much time. We went to a park on the lake where we got to see bicycle cab rentals, swan boat rentals, kayak rentals, etc. It was super cool all the different options they had to enjoy the city. I really liked it there and wouldn’t mind going back. It seemed like Milwaukee was the only place on our trip where something eventful didn’t happen. Overall, we enjoyed the trip despite our weird run-in’s and glad we got to do some new things.
