High! I'm Your Travel Guide for Today

My fears were unfounded. I had forgotten that the butterfly garden was a later bloomer and now I remember that late July is when this garden gets active. This weekend there were bees and Monarchs all over the place.

Here is a photo of the butterfly garden and the clay garden behind it. It's working out nice as the clay garden is the main attraction until late July and then as it fades the butterfly garden is taking off.

Here is a more artsy shot (if you blow it up)

However - I think I'm getting rid of the Milk Weed. Yea - it's yummy for caterpillars but man - I spend every day picking the little milk plants that it has seeded from last year, by the thousands.

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Yesterday DJ and I took a trip to The Wisconsin Dells. For you guys not familiar with "The Dells" it is known as the "Waterpark Capital of the World" featuring 18 indoor water parks, three outdoor waterparks and is home to the largest outdoor water park in the U.S.


BUT we did not go there for water. We went there for the burgers at Monks. It's a combination actually, walk the city (pop 2000), look at all the shops and have a good meal.

Inside Monks - nothing fancy - lot's of Green Bay Packer stuff.

The cool thing about Da Dells is that they have no problem exploiting the Native American Indians.

The town of Wisconsin Dells was actually called Kilbourn City and was founded in 1857. Since this was a lumbering type area the "vision" was to build a bridge over the Wisconsin River near the river's dells. A town sprang up at the expected site which was called Newport. Well, the bridge was actually a mile up stream and the residents of Newport fled creating a ghost town and a new city called Kilbourn City (owner of the railroad) was formed.

Kilbourn City became a tourist destination and in 1931 they changed the name to Wisconsin Dells.

In 1946 on an impulse buy, Mel Flath purchased the first DUKW (popularly pronounced "duck") which is a six-wheel-drive amphibious truck that was designed by The Royal Navy during World War II. With his "duck" he started the "Dells Amphibian Line", which gave 90-minute tours in the Wisconsin River, exposing tourists to the area's famous sandstone formations.

These rides (which I have never been on) are the areas most popular attraction.

A lot of people in the area laugh at the Wisconsin Dells because it is so full of tourists but in reality the area is very beautiful and there are a LOT of things to do. We drove through the "Parks" area and it looks like Las Vegas's little sister. Plus - there is a full blown casino.

Part of downtown Wisconsin Dells - in some sort of odd style

On the way home we stopped off at the PACKED Devils Lake area. I could not get any real nice photos that would do the area justice. Not enough time and just to many people on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

The lake was created by the glacier which cruised through about 12,000 years ago. However the Hills in this area were once part of the Baraboo Range which is thought to have been taller than the Rocky Mountains.

Devils Lake is known for its 500 feet (150 m) high quartzite bluffs which are perfect for rock climbing and just doing cool dangerous things with your kids.

Here you see a father with his two kids (maybe about 10 years old?) up about 100 feet climbing on razor edged snake infested rocks with only about 200 feet to go!


We just hung out and let Blake, our growing older, Corgi get petted all afternoon. We took a walk and he got his belly caught up on some railroad tracks that his hind legs could not get over.

Oh the indignity of it all.

And of course the trip home would not be complete without having to cross the Wisconsin River where there is no bridge. The Merrimac Ferry.

The ferry started service at this spot in 1844 and charged 35 cents ($8 in today's money)to hand pull a team of wagons across. They have been upgrading through the years and the new ferry was purhased in 2003. They tried to sell the old ferry in ebay but got no takers (I think shipping costs were too high and that whole PayPal thing)

Here is the current ferry which operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, but only from April to November.



We tried to tell Blake who was tired out in the back seat that we were taking to car on a boat and going across the river but it was like he could not understand us . Sometimes I don't think dogs really know what we're saying.

That was our adventure for Sunday. Join us next week as we go to the Horicon Marsh and look at goose poop to see what they are eating. Do they really love Japanese Beetles? Let's LOOK!
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Our neighbor has 3 investors that are looking to build a full fledged Brew Pub. I'm trying to talk him into Columbus but he seems to think the location is not best and is looking at Sun Prairie. How can I convince him!!

I'm pleased at the response to the HomeBrew Festival. This would have to be for next year and a date and place will have to be discussed. I'm shying away from downtown because of the heat on pavement. Fireman's Park would be a natural setting.

The date will have to be looked at as there are so many festivals coming up. The Great Taste of the MidWest is this coming weekend (Tickets are $250 on ebay). Quivey's Grove Beer Fest is Oct 4th. The London Homebrew Festival is August 15th.

Did I mention I tried a Sierra Nevada Keller Weis which is REALLY good. I think ANYTHING Sierra Nevada makes is great. I also tried Founders Breakfast Stout which is outstanding yummy. Like was like drinking alcohol and caffeine laced Chocolate Milk. So I was looking for the recipe - THIS sounds good.

Along with the base malts it has Flaked oats, Chocolate Malt, Black malt, Crystal 120 malt, Sumatran Coffee, Kona Coffee, bittersweet bakers chocolate and unsweetened chocolate.

YUMMO!!!

I gotta run - have a good Monday!