J and Cousin E dragged their mothers (that’s me and my sis, yes-sirree) to the Dells on Thursday. Normally, I’d avoid it in the summer–I’m not into crowds. Unfortunately for the tourism industry down there, the flooding we had a few weeks ago that ended up draining Lake Delton scared the normal tourists away. I hate to say this, but it has really worked to my favor because the hotels are seriously discounting their rooms.
May I tell you how much?
On Thursday, we got a whirlpool suite with two queens, a king and a sofa sleeper (plus THREE TVs) at The Atlantis for $110/night. Weekends were about the same.
Then, because the real tourists (I don’t really count considering it’s only an hour away) weren’t out in full force, so traffic was good, the kids had their run of the kiddie water slides and pools, and we hardly waited in line for anything…
…including the Ducks. If you haven’t heard of them, they’re the amphibian vehicles that run through the trails and down the river a bit. They’re pretty cool; especially since there are some really pretty sandstone formations on the river and in the woods. They can’t go on Lake Delton right now, obviously, but they did take us up to the road that was washed out when the lake drained and we did drive past the house that’s still sitting at the edge the the lake, ripped in half. I recommend the Original Wisconsin Ducks, if you happen to go. It was a really nice thing to do after some toddler-sized screaming fits at the outlet mall and meltdowns at lunch. Really. Very calming. For us ALL.
But if you go…take bug spray. J and I didn’t get bitten, but Cousin E had a few mosquito bites.
The next day we went to Circus World, the historic site at the former winter home of the Ringling Bros. Circus. It’s a place for kids, most definitely, and they’ve got something going on all the time. We saw an instrument demonstration that the kids enjoyed and went to the Kids Circus (kids from the audience volunteer to be lions, horses, clowns and even the ringmaster). J enjoyed himself and clapped at all the appropriate places. They’ve got a circus performance or two every day…which we missed because we were avoiding the rain in the very nicely priced general store.
Overall, it really was very nice, something I didn’t expect–especially for a mini-vacation planned only two days before we left. Sometimes spontaneity actually works out!
Stacy says:
That sounds like a great time with great deals! I have never been to the Dells before (drove past it lots, though!). One of these days…
June 30th, 2008 at 9:51 am