Tasty Planning Time with ZeBrook! A 2 for 1 PTR - 12/24 - All our bags are packed

[brookelizabeth]

Back in Wisconsin Dells....we left off after arriving in the new motel, mini golfing and just relaxing and chatting late into the night.

We allowed the children to be our alarm the next morning, got ready and the kids found the playground directly across the parking lot from our hotel room. So, while we packed and loaded the cars, the kids played.

It was another beautiful day! Bright, sunny and warm-but not too warm!

This was our hotel room-there were 3 Queen Size beds. Basic and slightly outdated, but VERY clean and the price was right!

Look at that face!

Baby butt!

"Dog!"

Of course he found the one thing on the playground that resembled a car.

I recall Henry being a bit hesitant on both the stairs of the playground equipment and going down the slide.

Two months later, he's a pro at both! He's almost walking up and down stairs standing straight up...the baby moves are slowly disappearing...

The hotel-our room was the one directly to the right of the red truck.

After the cars were loaded up we ventured out and found some breakfast/lunch at the most glamorous Burger King.

But, the meals did come with free paper crowns!

During our brunch we decided to check out the Upper Dells Boat Tour. I read really great reviews on this boat tour AND we had a "Buy 3, Get 1 Free" discount rate.

After some driving all over the Dells and ending up in the wrong parking lot twice, 2 of the 3 kids were fast asleep in the cars and we found the correct place to purchase tickets. We then had to cross a busy highway and hike up a small hill - walk a couple blocks, go down two elevators to the waiting boat.

Ya think they could find an easier way to tell the tickets and get you to the tour!

Of course we didn't make it on the first boat - it was packed. So we waited just a bit and boarded the second launch.

Let me tell you, the ordeal of first finding the place, then waking up the kids, getting to the boat, and then waiting was WELL worth it! This was SUCH a cool tour!

This is, what our boat driver (who reminded me of Frank Lapidius from "LOST") called, "The Real Dells".

Be prepared for PICTURE OVERLOAD!

Continued in next post

 

[brookelizabeth]

Continued from previous post

Our boat

Waiting for the boat to leave, kissed for Da Da

Frank Lapidius. I mean...our Captain. I can't remember his real name. But, he had worked on this boat tour for a VERY long time, then left for a while to get an office job, but the draw of the boat, the water, and just the sheer entertainment of doing the tours drew him back. He had been back for about 10 years. Needless to say, he was VERY knowledgeable and excellent as his job.

The tour started out and we could instantly tell this was gonna be beautiful.

If you've ever been to the Dells you would see tourist attractions-some VERY tacky and/or odd looking, hotels in all colors, shapes, and sizes, stores, theme parks and people all over the streets. Nothing which has to do with the river. You could easily visit the Dells and never even realize there is a river there!

However, just going down those two elevators brought you face to face with the river and with nature.

Incredible sandstone rock formations, and due to the unique ecosystem, plant and animal life that is only found in a handful of places in the world.

I think it's amazing how these trees basically grow out of the rocks that overhang the river!

This doesn't do it justice.

There is another similar tall, jutting out in the water, rock formation on the other side of the river from this and they call this area something like "Marriage Rock". If I recall the story correctly, the man would stand on one side, and the woman on the other. They would throw two flaming sticks into the water. If they went out before they hit the water, the married was "doomed". If they were still both lit when they hit the water, then they would have great success. If one went out and one stayed lit...well...

Pancake Rock

This one is called something like "Face Rock" - if you look t the darker rock on the left hand side of the picture, you will see a "nose" jutting out and a small tree that is the eye.

Shield Rock

While Henry was actually VERY well behaved for 99% of the boat ride, he wasn't as impressed with the history of the area and rocks as his geeky Mommy and Da Da! Thankfully we had a truck book on hand!

People way up there on that one!

We had two stops on the boat ride...

Continued in next post

 

[brookelizabeth]

Continued from previous post

We were just told to follow the path.

So we did....

We were basically UNDER the trees!

We walked along that wooden bridge - it sometimes was very close to the rocks below and sometimes...not so much! I'm scared of heights, so thankfully the bridge felt incredibly secure, so I wasn't too nervous.

You could start to feel it get cooler and cooler was we walked deeper into this area.

Water flowing below us

Sorry for the blurry pics - we had people behind us and wanted to be quick about it!

The path got veryyyy narrow at one point!

And where did it empty out?

A gift shop/snack stand of course!

It was just like Disney!

We partook in some ice cream and then headed back to the boat.

Back on the river...

Continued in next post

 

[blessedby3]

Wow, those pictures are awsome. God's handiwork is amazing. I have never seen rocks like that before in my life. Thanks for sharing

 

[brookelizabeth]

Continued from previous post

And at our second stop...this time we got off in the middle of the trees instead of the rocks.

We walked up a small incline to Stand Rock. This is kind of an infamous area in Wisconsin Dells.

The story is that H.H. Bennett, who was a photographer back in the mid-late 1800s, took pictures of the Dells, the popularity of them grew and grew and people began to visit the area just to see the rock formations he took pictures of. Bennett then began a business on this tourism an started a photography studio-he sold postcards and the like of his pictures to the visitors. In the meantime, he was also an inventor. He created the stop action shutter which allowed him (and now us!) to take pictures of action and "stop" them. Which is pretty standard photography today-we now have to adjust our cameras to get it to leave the shutter open for a blurry picture!

Anyway, he created the shutter and then had his son jump between these two rock formations until he had a shot of him in mid-air to prove his invention.

The picture instantly became famous. And so did the shutter!

Our other guide telling us the story of Stand Rock, you can see the picture H.H. Bennett took of his son in mid-air.

Today, the have a dog jump between the rocks just like Bennett's son did. Look, stop-action, the dog in mid-air!!

It's hard to believe that is natural.

Heading to...the gift shop of course!

We bought a magnet and a few other goodies.

And then back to the boat.

Henry very much not wanting to cooperate for a picture.

Back on the boat...

We headed back to the area we launched off from and Henry started to get a bit fussy. He hadn't napped at all again that day and was just DONE with being on our laps...more toys to entertain helped!

When we were dropped off again we found a small waiting area that had some old pictures, I do not know if they are H.H. Bennett's, or not, but I'm guessing they are.

As you can probably tell-due to the sheer amount of pictures I took, this was an AWESOME boat tour!! I loved every second of it.

Up next: Should we stay, or should we go now?

 

[brookelizabeth]

Wow, those pictures are awsome. God's handiwork is amazing. I have never seen rocks like that before in my life. Thanks for sharing

I so agree! God's handiwork never ceases to amazing me!!!
I pretty much grew up in southern Minnesota surrounded by bluffs (also formed by the glaciers) and I had never seen anything quite like this either. I really felt privileged getting to experience it!

 

[wdwgirl03]

WOW, those pictures from the boat ride are amazing! Now I really need to get back to the Dells!

 

[DreaGirl]

Wow! What an amazing tour! That is the kind of thing we like to do/see. Your pictures are great too. I'm going to have to look up Bennett to find some of his other pictures.

Thanks for sharing this.

 

[CJsMom]

Wow, the Dells are beautiful! Having lived here in MA all my life, I've never heard of it. Thanks for sharing!

 

[tiggerbell]

Wow! Read it all! I needed to catch up, seeing as - not only are we going to be in WDW at the same time in September - but you're going on the Podacast Cruise!!!!!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Great pictures from your get-away! The dog's jump makes me mega-nervous! That looks dangerous!!!

 

[mrsksomeday]

Fantastic pictures, that boat tour looks great. Henry is too cute, he seems like such a good boy. Looks like you had a great time.

 

[Charleston Princess]

Lovely boat ride! I about fell out of the chair laughing when you called your captain Frank Lapidius! He does look just like him!!!

I am a firm believer that all places should have gift shops -- even nature preserves!

 

[brookelizabeth]

WOW, those pictures from the boat ride are amazing! Now I really need to get back to the Dells!

It really was a beautiful ride - I feel like my pictures don't even come close to doing it justice. I was amazed for the entire ride at the history and the beauty!

Wow! What an amazing tour! That is the kind of thing we like to do/see. Your pictures are great too. I'm going to have to look up Bennett to find some of his other pictures.

Thanks for sharing this.

You're welcome! This is my favorite sorta thing to do-both Joe and I are really into history, so it was a really great tour for both of us.

I wonder if you can find prints of Bennett's out there??? Hmmmm...

Wow, the Dells are beautiful! Having lived here in MA all my life, I've never heard of it. Thanks for sharing!

It really was very beautiful! The strange thing is you would NEVER know it was there due to the very overloaded tourist attractions all over the town. Kinda funny, but I'm glad they still do the tours and show people this side of it all!

Wow! Read it all! I needed to catch up, seeing as - not only are we going to be in WDW at the same time in September - but you're going on the Podacast Cruise!!!!!

Hey Jaime! Thanks for reading! I've been a bit of a lurker on your past couple TRs - I loved the bit about your camera on a steeeeeeeeek. I love it so much, if our paths do cross in September, can we get a pic together using it???

And YES! The Podcast Cruise!!!! Joe and I are so excited about it! We already tell Henry about going on the "Mickey Boat". We have been listeners to the Podcast for about 3 years now, but I've just kinda lurked over on those boards-I'm starting to post more in attempts to get to know a few people before the cruise. I can't wait until you get to that part in your TR!!

Great pictures from your get-away! The dog's jump makes me mega-nervous! That looks dangerous!!!

I was really nervous about the dog jumping at first, but then when he got up there and did it-he was almost as long as the gap! He barely even had to jump, it was more of a big step for him. I was really relieved when I realized that!

Fantastic pictures, that boat tour looks great. Henry is too cute, he seems like such a good boy. Looks like you had a great time.

Thank you! We did have a great time! And Henry is a very, very good baby. He are beyond blessed with his easy demeanor. He really only fits when he has good reason to.

Lovely boat ride! I about fell out of the chair laughing when you called your captain Frank Lapidius! He does look just like him!!!

I am a firm believer that all places should have gift shops -- even nature preserves!

It totally made me do a double take and whisper to Joe "Uh...that guy looks like Frank from Lost, are we SURE we want to be on HIS boat???" I almost commented to him at one point when he was chatting with us, but I restrained myself.

I'm a fan of the gift shop and snack shop as well. Gotta get my treat and my magnet!

 

[Charleston Princess]

It totally made me do a double take and whisper to Joe "Uh...that guy looks like Frank from Lost, are we SURE we want to be on HIS boat???" I almost commented to him at one point when he was chatting with us, but I restrained myself.

That's great!

I'm a fan of the gift shop and snack shop as well. Gotta get my treat and my magnet!

For me, it is magnet, coffee mug, sometimes Christmas ornament, and treat! LOL!

 

[tiggerbell]

Hey Jaime! Thanks for reading! I've been a bit of a lurker on your past couple TRs - I loved the bit about your camera on a steeeeeeeeek. I love it so much, if our paths do cross in September, can we get a pic together using it???

And YES! The Podcast Cruise!!!! Joe and I are so excited about it! We already tell Henry about going on the "Mickey Boat". We have been listeners to the Podcast for about 3 years now, but I've just kinda lurked over on those boards-I'm starting to post more in attempts to get to know a few people before the cruise. I can't wait until you get to that part in your TR!!

Absolutely - in fact the picture of you guys in the elevator in WI looks like it was taken with a steeek...

If you're still planning to do Sci-Fi at 11:30, I can make sure I'm out front a little before that for a Drive by shooting (with the camera on a steeek!)

I will be done with Disneyland this week (there's 4 more chapters to post) and then it's time to head down to Florida!

 

[kschafer]

I have fallen behind and just caught up on your mini-TR. You know I am hoping to visit the Dells in a few weeks (still waiting on that job situation to settle out) and you boat tour looks SO beautiful!!!! DH realy wants to focus on the commercial side of the area, I'm going to have to show him your pics, they will convince him to set some time aside for the nature part too (he won't be able to say no to the Earth Science teacher in him ) Do you by chance remember which tour company you went with? I noticed there are a few and I love the idea of being able to get out and walk a bit.

 

[IluvXU]

I so want to go to the Dells someday. My uncle has a lake house about an hour from there... and sadly we are the only cousins that have not "Delled" it. We will have to get there someday, I want to wait to invade their house once my children are more civilized or sleep through the night!

 

[PopArtGal]

Those rocks are soooooo cool. Nature's aesthetics as so neat!

 

[disneyfan61]

Finally caught up again!! Great pics of the tour. Beautiful