Lake Delton-ish

This last weekend we decided we needed a change of scenery. I myself needed a change in a bad way. So at the last minute, we rented a condo and headed up to the Wisconsin Dells. For those of you not in the know, The Dells, as the locals call it, is home to the most and biggest indoor water parks in the world. Or as I like to say, "The Dells, a way to stay pasty white all year 'round!"

Wisconsin is only a 10 minute drive from our house, but The Dells is just over 2 hours. And let me tell you, that extra 1 hour and 50 minutes makes a huge heck of a difference when it comes to the weather. They still had about 2 feet of snow on the ground in places! The lakes were still frozen! But people (us) were walking around in wet clothes to and from the car to get to the water park.



Here is the condo we rented. Literally at the last minute. We were just going to start driving and decide where to stay when we got there, but the nice owner called us back and squeezed us in. She was so embarrassed because there were still dishes washing in the dishwasher. I told her I could live with that, and so she said it was fine. We were expecting something kind of ghetto, especially for the price we paid. But I figured as long as it had a bed and a kitchen, we'd be fine for 2 nights.

As you can see, it was much more than just a bed and a kitchen. It was gorgeous! 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, TV's and DVD players in every room, and most of all 2 balconies, one of which had a hot tub. I always want to sing the Eddie Murphy SNL skit of "Hot Tub" whenever I say that. The hot tub was a hit. The girls, even Maggie, would have been content to sit in there all day. It had a radio, a light show, and even a waterfall! Who needs tickets to a water park when you have a lighted rockin out hot tub all to yourself?

Here is Maggie. I think this shot shows her having the most fun of the day. My Maggie is afraid of everything. And water parks are probably right up there with being picked up, and getting dirty. We did force her on a couple of slides, one of which was a family slide. She screamed her guts out the whole time, but the second time, she didn't scream quite so much. Even the lazy river was a little too much for her to handle.

Here's Gretta intent on finishing her Kool-Aid. This kid is exactly the opposite of Maggie when it comes to adventure. She was going down slides, swimming around the baby pool, and begging to go on the family slide. Even in the lazy river, she didn't want me to hold her on my lap in the tube, she wanted to hang on to the handle and dangle over the side so she could float. No life jacket, no floaties, just good old fashioned water lover in that kid. Like her mother.


Here's Emma in front of one of the kiddie play lands. She was perfectly content to do her own thing most of the day. She climbed the stairs, went down the slides, and put that on repeat. She and I decided we wanted to go down the "toilet bowl" slide. It's the kind where you shoot through a steep dark tunnel, and then it spits you out into a toilet bowl looking thing, wherein you fall out through a hole in the bottom. It was scary, but she said she'd do it if I bought her some watershoes. Deal. She bonked her leg pretty hard, got lots of water up her nose, and vowed never to do it again. I concurred, and we went to the gift shop for the shoes.

One sad thing about where we stayed, is that it used to be lake front property. Last year the dam broke, and the water rushed down the Wisconsin River. They have fixed the damn dam, and Lake Delton is currently filling. I'm sure by next year it will be lake front again. Not that we cared, since it was a frozen piece of dam ice anyway. But I'm thinking next summer, condo rental, kayak in tow, and maybe a far away family member or two. Perfect.