Summer Vacation

Now that summer is almost over and the kids go back to school in about a week, we finally headed off on a family vacation! Although we only decided to head to Wisconsin Dells, it was a 4 day vacation that we all had been waiting for!

Of course, the first day of vacation means the alarm going off at the same time that it does everyday for work so we can hit the road. Granted I did hit snoozed a few time, but we were still on the road shortly after 6am...

This was the first trip that we have made to the Dells during the summer months when everything was open! WooHoo - I get to go mini-golfing!! But that was going to have to wait until tomorrow since we ran out of time today (Plus is started raining). We were in the Dells by 9am and started our adventures right away...

Stop one~ The Ducks. Darrin was really excited that we were doing this, but bummed that when we got our package of tickets, it was for the Upper Dells Boat tour and NOT the Jet Boat Tour. So now it was time for the ducks! We had a great tour guide that filled us with fun facts about the area, the river, the animals and plenty of duck jokes. We saw wild stop signs, mini bears and many different shapes in the rock formations along the river (many you had to really use your imagination to see).

They did have to make a change in the route that the ducks take during the tour since Lake Delton is "missing' right now. We were able to see the location on Hwy A that is being rebuilt that washed away during the Great Flood of 2008. There was one point that we were able to see part of the dry lake bed, but not much. We are planning on going down to the lake tomorrow to check it out and get some pictures.

After the 1 hour duck tour, we hopped on the Duck shuttle to Downtown, headed for the Upper Dells Boat Tour. It was nice to be able to leave the car parked in the one spot and take the shuttle so we did not have to worry about parking! WooHoo! From where the shuttle dropped us off it was only a short walk to the docks. Darrin was disappointed that we did not take the Jet Boat Tour, especially when he saw some of these jet boats playing out in the water.

It was a perfect morning for a 2 hour cruise up and down the river! Along our river adventures we learned even more about the history of the area. We also made 2 stops along the way. The first was Witches Gulch. From the river, you would never even know this area was there, as it was at the end of a small inlet off the river. We docked there and were about to walk up through the gulch. Many of these areas along the trail were very narrow caverns that you could touch both walls at one time. Along the trail you find the Witches Bathtub, Witches Window, Whirlpool Chambers and more! The natural beauty of these caverns and chambers was awesome! It was only a short walk off the boat but well worth it! If it were not for taking this boat tour, we would have never even known this area was here.

Darrin and I also decided that we would not have wanted to be on the crew that went in and built all the walkways through the Witches Gulch - some of these areas were so narrow that there would have been no room to get any equipment in and all the work obviously had to be done by hand!

Our next stop on the tour was at Stand Rock. This rock was made famous by Photographer HH Bennett when he photographed his son Ashley jumping across the 5 foot gap out between the tall rocks. He was the inventor of the fast shutter for camera's that captured the image instantly. They now have a German Shepard that recreates Ashley's jump many times every day to visitors. This is actually the most photographed rock in all of the Dells.

It was during this stop that we found out that our Tour Guide Dana was actually just north of the Green Bay area! She grew up in Lena and was working in the Dells during her summers while attending college.

Over all our trip along the Upper Dells was great! It was a 2 hour tour that was filled with great information as well as interesting things to see!

It didn't take us long to decide where to head for lunch... back to the Riverwalk Pub that we visited when we were here 2 years ago! Located downtown, right along the river, the Riverwalk Pub offers some great food and even better views of the river that we were just traveling on!

We though about visiting a few of the attractions downtown after lunch but instead just walked up and down the streets downtown, stopping in a few shops, and of course stopping to buy some fudge! Then it was time to head to the hotel and get checked in (finally) and decide what to do with the rest of our day.

After enjoying the water parks at the hotel for a bit we decided to head out for dinner. The one place that we have been wanted to try, but have not been able to since it is only open during the summer was Crabby's - an all you can eat seafood and prime rib restaurant. So that was where we headed.

There was quite a variety on the buffet too! One of Darrin and I's favorites was the sweet and sour shrimp - shrimp with mandarin oranges and coconut! Over all though I would have to say that we were disappointed. For the price that you paid, the food was just ok. When I pay $80 for dinner for 3, I expect more than just ok food! That combined with the fact that you could not hear the "entertainment" Crabby's didn't really meet our expectations. We went, we ate, we probably won't go back again.

To finish out the night, we hit the arcade at the hotel for a bit. Gotta love some video games and skeeball to end out the first day of vacation!