Denver and Wisconsin

[slip]

Yes, it seems so cold this morning here at Christmas Mountain.
my grandsons go to Dells schools.
I chaperoned the eighth grade send off last week.
five ducks picked them up, drove them to the ducks ride, after that knuckleheads for bowling ,trampolines , and rides. Pizzas delivered by moose jaw, then drove them to jet boats on upper dells, they took the boats to witches gulch then back. Huckleberry ice cream cookie sandwiches were given out, they all walked the river walk and golfed at Timber Falls, then walked to Jose’s for a taco buffet. All provided by the merchants. Finished up about six pm.

That quite a send off.

We'll be going to Jose's on this trip. The Baraboo location is our favorite so we'll probably go there. Even with the road construction on hwy 33 through Baraboo.

There is an art fair on the square in Baraboo today. We are meeting friends at a bar on the square in about an hour. Sounds like about 30 old friends are showing up.

 

[Cornell]

I love everything about this thread 🩷

 

[slip]

We drove by our old house on our way to Baraboo. They didn't do anything to the outside. Things are just more over grown.

 

[slip]

We had our Family and Friends get together at Brothers on Oak in Baraboo today. We were surprised by the turnout being summertime and graduation season. We had over 40 people stop out to day Hi.

It was a long day so it feels good to get back to the condo.

Here's a few pictures of us with family and friends.

 

[PcflEZFlng]

Sure sounds like The Dells is quite the regional destination! Even though I grew up next door in Minnesota, my parents never took us there. They said they didn't care for it. They probably went there once in the 1950s. Next time I'm in Wisconsin I should check it out.

 

[rapmarks]

The Dells is quite a town. Originally, the seven mile stretch of dells along the Wisconsin River drew tourists. Small families developed tourist attractions to supplement the natural attractions, then took over the tourist bus. The mom and pop motels are being taken over by corporations. more motel rooms than residents!
But most of the businesses that are local support the community. The Nelson family,who own Kalahari, not only donated the land for the new high school, but built a 14 plus million dollar performance center for the high school this year.
last year, there was a golf outing fund raiser. They raised 1.7 million at that fundraiser. That was used for: Free breakfast for every kid in school, free school supplies for k thru 5, a scholarship for every graduating senior, and a food pantry for the community.

 

[slip]

We got some rain last night. We even had some Thunder. Thunder is fairly rare in Hawaii. We have only heard thunder twice in our five years in Hawaii.

We'll go for a little ride today. No big plans. Kim wants to visit her Mom at the cemetery.

Then some dinner at one of our old favorites but we haven't decided yet.

 

[slip]

After a morning in our condo, we decided to head to the cemetery and visit Kim's Mom. After that, we headed over to Merrimac to take a ride on the ferry.

Kim used to live in Merrimac as a child and they often rode the ferry back and forth for hours during the summer.

Looks like the warm temps we had in Denver made it to Wisconsin. Sounds like a couple days in the 90's start tomorrow.

After that we stopped at Kim's sisters in Sauk City and then Kim wanted Pizza Ranch for dinner. We love their chicken.

Tomorrow our son takes us to Madison for dinner and I'm having breakfast with a couple old work friends.

 

[slip]

I had a great time catching up with a couple friends at the Alpine Cafe in Baraboo.

Then I picked up Kim and we went to Walmart for a couple items for our BBQ here at the Tamarack tomorrow. We were going to stop at my brother's but he wasn't home.

Now just to clean up and then head to our son's. He is driving us to Madison to take us to Tempest Oyster.

TEMPEST OYSTER BAR

Fresh Oysters Daily. Fine Seafood and Steaks.

tempestoysterbar.com

Here's a couple pictures of how the buildings are layed out at the Tamarack.

 

[rapmarks]

My first ever view of tamarack. Only been here since 1987

 

[sun starved Gayle]

We got some rain last night. We even had some Thunder. Thunder is fairly rare in Hawaii. We have only heard thunder twice in our five years in Hawaii.

That is interesting to me. The biggest thunder and lightning storm I ever witnessed was at Lawai Beach Resort on Kauai in January a couple of years ago. The thunder was booming so loud it woke us up, and the lightening was low, right over the water in front of the resort. It lit up the room like daylight. We generally do not get electrical storms like that in the Pacific Northwest. Pretty amazing.

 

[slip]

That is interesting to me. The biggest thunder and lightning storm I ever witnessed was at Lawai Beach Resort on Kauai in January a couple of years ago. The thunder was booming so loud it woke us up, and the lightening was low, right over the water in front of the resort. It lit up the room like daylight. We generally do not get electrical storms like that in the Pacific Northwest. Pretty amazing.

When it happens there is can be pretty loud. I asked people when we were on Oahu and they all said it was pretty rare and we only heard it once in three years. That wasn't very loud either.

 

[dmbrand]

Bit of nostalgia…..Birch Colony unit at Tamarack was my first timeshare purchase, from ebay. We stayed there June 2008, when Lake Delton drained. That was quite a week. My kids still talk about that resort, and how much fun it was. Then I passed the unit onto someone else, using the TUG giveaway thread, a few years later.

 

[slip]

Bit of nostalgia…..Birch Colony unit at Tamarack was my first timeshare purchase, from ebay. We stayed there June 2008, when Lake Delton drained. That was quite a week. My kids still talk about that resort, and how much fun it was. Then I passed the unit onto someone else, using the TUG giveaway thread, a few years later.

I owned a week here also. I think it was Birch also.

 

[slip]

We took our son with us to the Pinecrest Par 3 golf course north of the Dells. Our son doesn't golf but wanted to try.

We all had a blast. We played that course about 40 years ago and it was in nice shape compared to when it was first put in.

When we got back we grilled some steaks on the grills here. They are charcoal grills but our son had everything we needed.

 

[slip]

Our dinner a Tempest Oyster on Monday was great. Some prices were expensive but they had some cheaper options also.

I had the the Halibut, my son had the Ahi and Kim had the Seafood Pasta dish. All were excellent. Highly recommended.

 

[rapmarks]

Have you considered Asgard Ax Throwing downtown Dells as an activity I think they started after you left. Supposedly their food is pretty good. Did you drive past Mt Olympus yet?

 

[slip]

Have you considered Asgard Ax Throwing downtown Dells as an activity I think they started after you left. Supposedly their food is pretty good. Did you drive past Mt Olympus yet?

Yes, we drove past Mt. Olympus on our way to golfing. It was pretty crowded.

We didn't see the Ax Throwing in the Dells but we did see the one in Baraboo. We won't have time for either on this trip. We only have a couple days left and a few more people to see.

 

[slip]

We went and visited my brother this afternoon and then went to a local Chinese restaurant in Baraboo. After dinner we visited my sister.

Tomorrow is just dinner with friends and we head back home to Molokai Friday morning.

 

[slip]

Well, the heat and humidity are breaking today. The high is supposed to be 77, so of course, Kim is freezing.

We're going to Jose's Mexican Restauant in Baraboo for dinner with friends tonight. That will be a fun time.

Then we will be up at 5am Friday morning so we get to Madison for our flight home.

 

[chapjim]

Our trip to the Upper Midwest ends tomorrow AM. Heading back to Virginia.

Here is one photo each from places we visited while in the area -- the Dells, Circus World, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, Devil's Tower, and Badlands NP.

This was my first time in WI, MN, and SD. North Dakota is now the only state I've never visited.

 

[slip]

Our trip to the Upper Midwest ends tomorrow AM. Heading back to Virginia.

Here is one photo each from places we visited while in the area -- the Dells, Circus World, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, Devil's Tower, and Badlands NP.

This was my first time in WI, MN, and SD. North Dakota is now the only state I've never visited.

I've been to all those so they all look familiar.

My daughter just finished up visiting all 50 states. She left North Dakota for last also. They have a certificate you can get for "Saving the Best for Last", North Dakota.

 

[rapmarks]

Did you make it to House on the Rock?
What else did you do in Dells?

 

[slip]

Did you make it to House on the Rock?
What else did you do in Dells?

We only drove through the Dells to go golfing. We used to live 2 miles from the Tamarack so we have been to most of the attractions many times. Same with House on the Rock so we didn't go on this trip.

This trip was mostly to see family and friends since we have been gone for five years already.

A few weeks ago I looked in Trading Places and noticed there were still weeks available at Tamarack for before and after the week we already booked. If we hadn't had our flights booked, we may have extended our stay. But after being here a week, that extra week probably would have been too much.

After our stay in Denver and the week here, we will be gone just under two weeks and we will be ready to get home tomorrow.

It's kind of funny, when we first got here and Kim was talking with others, she was saying that she would like to return more often but now we are toward the end of the trip, she is saying that maybe another five years would be about right for a return and I feel the same way.

 

[slip]

A little foggy this morning for our drive to the Madison Airport. We ran into a brief rain shower too. We're at the gate with an hour to spare.

We got to see the new wing of the airport this time. When we arrived, we were just in the old part.

We have to switch concourses in Denver with the new airport there. We used to always just stay in the B. Now we land in A and have to take the tram to B. Kim has wheelchair assist setup so we should be good. They were waiting for us on the jet bridge on our arrival flight.

62 when we got up this morning so Kim was freezing again so she'll be ready to get home.