Wisconsin Dells in the Fall!

Day 1, Monday October 26, 2015. Departed home about 10:00AM heading through Chicago, IL and Madison, WI, toward the Wisconsin River and the city of Wisconsin Dells. Stopped for a late lunch/early dinner at the Cracker Barrel in Rockford, IL and arrived at the Bluegreen Christmas Village Resort about dusk. Settled in to the coolest log cabin you ever did see, with upstairs loft bedroom, spiral staircase, kitchen island, open living area with a free standing fireplace, and a private master bedroom on the first floor with full bath. The cabin had a large deck and was tucked in a wooded area with ample "elbow room" between cabins. Very private indeed.

Day 2, Tuesday October 27, 2015. Went into town and stopped at the information center to find out about the town. Afterward we walked over to a local eatery for brunch at a place called "The Keg" and had their signature eggs benedicts - "Corny" for Chuck and "The Wisconsin" for Cheryl. After brunch we loaded up on supplies at Zinke's Village Market, and then toured the main drag for a bit. We purchased combo tickets for the Dells River Tour and the Amphibious Ducks which was recommended to us at the info center. We took the Duck tour today, a WWII service craft that functions on land and on water, seeing the lower Wisconsin River, Lake Delton, and the surrounding area. Learned about the big flood of 2008 where the lake breached the dam and wiped out 5 houses and flooded the river. Returned to the resort and spent a good hour in the 36 person hot tub at the clubhouse. Drinks in hand, we had the tub all to ourselves, then back to the cabin afterwards for some R&R after a rousing search for firewood that encompassed most of the city of Wisconsin Dells in the nightime rain, dark roads, ending us up at a Home Depot of all places.

Day 3, Wednesday October 28, 2015. It had been forecasted to rain all day, which it did so we took the opportunity to stay in our wonderful cabin - a rare treat. Watched movies, updated this here travel blog for several previous trips, had dinner of spaghetti with homemade sauce using our home-grown tomatoes from back home, simmering for hours and more fireplace time. Long naps and a whole day of quiet, coulda done that for a week! Talk about R&R.

Day 4, Thursday October 29, 2015. After a deluxe breakfast at the cabin, we returned to the main tourist area of town and did a little window shopping, a little sampling of the local fare at the bread shop (soup and hot fresh bread) and the cheese shop. Returning to the resort, we stopped in at "Mulligans", the on property bar, and threw back a few adult beverages. Then back to the cabin for dinner of leftovers and fridge clean up before we checkout in the morning.

Day 5, Friday October 30, 2015. Got up and cleaned up the cabin for check out, then headed to town to take the Wisconsin River tour, an excursion via a 2 story ferry of the Upper Wisconsin River, nature preserve, and geology lesson. The tour made two stops along the river, through crevasses carved in the Cambrian sandstone over several million years, pretty fascinating stuff. Several portions of the layered rock had been visibly shoved upward by glacial movement, as well as dredging the river bed to a depth of nearly 100 feet in places. After the tour, we hopped in the van for the ride home, about 2PM, stopping in Racine, WI at a Perkins restaurant and still managed to hit Friday rush hour traffic in Chicago. Made it home by midnight and crashed almost immediately.

Was a fun, fall trip with the leaves changing, crisp air and no tourist to be found anywhere (except us). We will be back.