Re-routing to Wisconsin

Two weeks ago I took a solo trip to Wisconsin to meet up with my parents and my niece and nephew, who were staying with them for a few weeks. I was a little nervous about staying alert for a 7.5-hour drive on my own, but, armed with Amelia Peabody mysteries on tape, I made it without so much as a nod.

I brought several books with me, to read while relaxing on the sofa or outside on a blanket. Boy, was I mistaken. I don't think they even made it out of my bag. Mornings I woke up to my 7 year old niece standing by my bed, ready to play. We did breakfast, games, Wii Fit, and piano playing until lunch time. Then we went off on one adventure or another. We also did an overnight trip to the Wisconsin Dells and Noah's Ark, America's Largest Waterpark.


The first day in Wisconsin, we visited the New Zoo. I remember taking a field trip here when I was in elementary school. The lion peed on one of my classmates. My niece and nephew have a chicken coop at home, so they were very excited to chase this guy (girl?) down.


My mom and niece in the teeny tiny train car that wound around the zoo. I can still hear the happy music playing in my head...


The whole family!


Of course, no zoo trip is complete without the "human-head-in-place-of-an-animal" board.


At our motel at the Dells. It had 3 pools alone. One of them had a slide in the shape of a giant whale. It seemed to be the thing there. Every motel had a pool with a slide in a horrific rendition of some animal or mystical creature. The strangest one I saw was a prancing pink unicorn.


We went to the Tommy Bartlett show at the Dells. This circular structure rotated around (like the hands of a clock). There was a person in each of the cylinders at the end. They actually stood on the outside of the cylinders as it spun around.


One day we took a ferry to Washington Island, near Door County (basically at the tip of Wisconsin's tiny thumb sticking out into Lake Michigan). I think Dad was meant to be a seaman.


Mom and I in our sunglasses.


Not to be left out, Naomi sporting my glasses.


After the ferry (and riding bikes around the island) we can back for a fish boil. They boil fish on a fire outdoors, and at the very end throw kerosene on the fire to make it boil over, to get excess oils off, or maybe just to look completely awesome.


Mom and dad with the fish dinner. It was delicious!