#Wisconsin Dells--it used to be a nice little place to visit

There is a reason for the silence on my blog for these last couple of weeks. We took a little holiday to Wisconsin Dells in the good old USA. The last time we were there was 49 years ago. We spent our honeymoon there. Things sure have changed since then, and I’m not sure for the better.

It used to be a nice, quiet place. Now it’s mostly huge water parks and hotels. Fortunately, for us, all the water parks closed the day before we got there. A disaster for people with kids, but a blessing for us. When we were there in 1965, we stayed in a small resort in a quaint little cabin. The resort had a private beach and wasn’t crowded. We ate in a quaint restaurant where they served home-made bread and the food wasn’t greasy fast-food. We spent some time in ‘Little Disneyland’ where they had all the Disney character and I had a snow cone. Just a ball of ice with juice, but it tasted fine in the June heat. That place is gone, along with the resort.

Now there are no quaint little places. Now it’s large resorts, double lane highways with one way streets and exits. We went on a few tours. The Duckboat was interesting. It took us over land through forested areas where we saw a few deer and into the water down the Lower Dells. The next day we took a cruise in the Upper Dells with a ship. That German Shepherd that jumped from one rock to another 49 years ago still did his jump. Obviously, it was not the same dog. If he were still alive, he would not be able to do that jump.

Then we took the ‘Lost Canyon’ tour. A one hour ride in a horse-drawn wagon through a canyon. The driver tried to entertain us with witty stories. Everything was okay and interesting in a way, but to be honest, I would have rather been fishing.

We went to see other places, like the Crystal Cave, an hour ride from Minneapolis. The caves were, well—caves. Apparently, they are home to bats. We saw only one, and it could have been an artificial one. The highlight of that tour was when our tour guide switched off the lights so we could experience total darkness. I have that when I go the bathroom at night without turning on the lights and closing the door.

More interesting than the Crystal Caves where the #Caves of the Mounds, south of Wisconsin Dells. Our GPS took us onto a scenic road and I wasn’t sure if we’d ever get there. I asked a local guy where that road would lead and he said, “As far as I know nowhere." Then he checked his tablet and said, “Actually, it gets you to this here highway and you’ll end up at the Caves. I had no idea. Never been there myself. Did you come all the way from Canada to see the Caves?” I said, “Not really. We’re here on a little holiday.”

I was glad I got the information. I’ve read too many horror stories about a GPS leading drivers astray and have them end up in a swamp. We finally did make it to the caves, though.

Stalactites inside the Caves of the Mounds

An underground river in the Caves of the Mounds

That same afternoon we still had enough time to visit the International Crane Foundation to see rare and not-so-rare cranes. It was quite educational and fascinating to see these graceful birds.

This is a Sarus Crane

These are Whooping Cranes

I still want to mention briefly the adventure on horseback. It was boring and painful. Boring because we rode for one hour down a muddy trail through a forest where the only interesting things we saw were trees and mushrooms. My next blog will go into more detail about that ordeal.

All in all, we did have a good time, but I’m happy to be home again. I’m like an old tree, my roots are at home and I’m most happy there. But not all is sunshine and roses. Now I have to worry about my garden. The peppers aren’t red yet and neither are the tomatoes. Everything is late this year, and ‘Father Frost’ is waiting to pounce with the intent to destroy all my hard work in one night, but I’m fighting back. My garden is covered now with tarps and burlap. We had frost last night. If we can get past these next days it will warm up again and perhaps the tomatoes and peppers will still ripen. I already harvested all the red beets and we had our last meal of fresh beans on Thursday night. There is nothing better than fresh beans from the garden and made with sour cream and dill.

See you next time.