Dells trip
On our vacation this year, we stayed in the Wisconsin Dells for two nights. For those unfamiliar with Wisconsin, Wisconsin Dells is a resort town along a stretch of the Wisconsin River known for its unique rock formations. Wisconsin Dells is also a bit of a tourist trap, with its endless waterparks, giant resorts and insane traffic. We enjoyed our trip this year, maybe because we rarely left the waterpark resort. This wasn't my first time in the Dells -- I went for a few days with friends a couple summers after high school, and Wife and I would take day trips there, because one day was about all we could take.
But my first time in the Dells was in August 1979. I've been wanting to write about this trip for a while now, particularly after our few days in the Dells last month. With school about to begin and summer nearing its end, here is one more summer flashback ...
My dad's friend owned an A-frame cabin in Baraboo, which is a few miles outside Wisconsin Dells. In 1979, the Dells weren't quite as insanely tourist as they would become in the '80s, but it was getting there. Home builders advertised these A-frame vacation cottages outside Dells in Chicago's newspapers for really cheap. Dad's friend was going to let use the cottage for a weekend.
This little trip must have been a big deal, because throughout the '70s, I think our family had taken only one other overnight trip (St. Louis in maybe 1973?). I can remember my parents debating whether we'd leave at in the early evening or go the next day. It was a cloudy August late afternoon when my dad got home from work, and we were on the road soon after. We stopped at a Ground Round in what I think was Janesville for dinner, and the highlight was getting a sundae in a little batting helmet, kind of like you would at some ballparks. There was hot fudge stuck to the inside of my helmet that I wanted to wash out, but Dad got annoyed that I was delaying the trip and just told me to leave it. We must have eaten late and everyone was crabby. I guess it took another 90 minutes to get to the cabin. Along the way, I could see the Wisconsin capitol all alit from the interstate as we passed Madison, not knowing that 16 years later, I'd be living in Madison and Wife would be working across the street from that capitol.
We got the cabin to discover moths flying around inside. The house was in a mildy wooded area, and this part of Wisconsin was less rural and more forest. I kept declaring "Get that sucker!" every time we'd try to swat a moth, but Mom didn't like me using "sucker." We eventually settled down to sleep after our long drive.
We spent the next two days in the Dells and left on what I think was Monday morning. It rained almost the entire weekend. We went for a hike down a hillside in the woods, and I was a bit freaked out by it, compaining when I scratched my finger on a sharp plant (yes, that sounds silly now; as I typed it, it seemed even more ridiculous). We drove into town the first day. Though big waterparks weren't there yet, but there were some water slides (which were still a novelty in 1979). But all we did in town was go on a Ducks ride on the Wisconsin River. This may have been the only sunny hour on the trip. Two things I remember from the boat ride: The driver warning that if the boat got stuck on a sandbar, the men on the boat might have to get out and push, and the driver asking if any kids on the duck wanted to help drive it. For some reason, I didn't volunteer; I wish I had, it might have been fun.
The second day we went fishing on the river. My dad rented a rowboat with a motor, we piled in and tried fishing. I was surprisingly not that nervous in the boat, maybe because of the flotation device I was wearing, maybe because boats only started freaking me out later. My dad isn't much of a fisherman, but he had some fishing gear and knew how to get keep the bait on the hook (put the hook through the minnow's eyes). We fished as a family for a while, then Dad drove the boat back to shore to let my mom and sisters out, telling them to see if they could find a pool and take the girls swimming (to this day, I don't know if they ever did). Dad and I continued fishing, at one point anchoring near one of the rock formations (and having the water disturbed by girls throwing rocks of the rock, not at us though), and at another time anchoring in this quiet, algae-covered corner of the river/lake where it was just us. That quiet corner is what I remember most of the trip, with my Dad enjoying the peacefulness and hoping for a fish.
Alas, we never caught a fish that day; in fact, the only one we saw was washed up dead on the shore. I haven't been fishing since.
This trip wasn't some grand adventure like our two vacations to Florida were, but we did so few overnight excursions as a family when we were young that this still an event. Never underestimate what your kids will remember even from the smallest family event.
Some other random memories from the 1979 Dells trip:
-- We went to a small grocery store for provisions, and I saw a book, Hoyle's Rules of Card Games, that my parents bought for me. I still own the book.
-- One thing we noticed was that the water tasted different in the Dells. Perhaps it was fluoridated differently or just from a spring source rather than the lake. I didn't notice anything different with the water this past trip.
-- For some reason, I think I saw the first commercial for Honey Nut Cheerios on the TV in the cabin that only got a couple stations (this was before cable and satellites in this neck of the woods). Also, we watched CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt.
-- I smelled a skunk for the first time. At least it was dead when we passed it.
-- We seemed to get only one station near the Dells on our Century's AM radio. (Years later, I wonder if I listened to the same station while living in Madison.) The song I most often connect with this trip is Maxine Nightengale's "Lead Me On," but also "I Want You to Want Me" by Cheap Trick, "Logical Song" by Supertramp, "She Believes in Me" by Kenny Rogers, "Hot Stuff" by Donna Summer and "After the Love Is Gone" by Earth, Wind and Fire. The EWF song was reinforced this last trip when we saw them the night before in Milwaukee, then listened to them the morning after ... on the way to Dells. Sometimes life is funny when it comes around full circle.
But my first time in the Dells was in August 1979. I've been wanting to write about this trip for a while now, particularly after our few days in the Dells last month. With school about to begin and summer nearing its end, here is one more summer flashback ...
My dad's friend owned an A-frame cabin in Baraboo, which is a few miles outside Wisconsin Dells. In 1979, the Dells weren't quite as insanely tourist as they would become in the '80s, but it was getting there. Home builders advertised these A-frame vacation cottages outside Dells in Chicago's newspapers for really cheap. Dad's friend was going to let use the cottage for a weekend.
This little trip must have been a big deal, because throughout the '70s, I think our family had taken only one other overnight trip (St. Louis in maybe 1973?). I can remember my parents debating whether we'd leave at in the early evening or go the next day. It was a cloudy August late afternoon when my dad got home from work, and we were on the road soon after. We stopped at a Ground Round in what I think was Janesville for dinner, and the highlight was getting a sundae in a little batting helmet, kind of like you would at some ballparks. There was hot fudge stuck to the inside of my helmet that I wanted to wash out, but Dad got annoyed that I was delaying the trip and just told me to leave it. We must have eaten late and everyone was crabby. I guess it took another 90 minutes to get to the cabin. Along the way, I could see the Wisconsin capitol all alit from the interstate as we passed Madison, not knowing that 16 years later, I'd be living in Madison and Wife would be working across the street from that capitol.
We got the cabin to discover moths flying around inside. The house was in a mildy wooded area, and this part of Wisconsin was less rural and more forest. I kept declaring "Get that sucker!" every time we'd try to swat a moth, but Mom didn't like me using "sucker." We eventually settled down to sleep after our long drive.
We spent the next two days in the Dells and left on what I think was Monday morning. It rained almost the entire weekend. We went for a hike down a hillside in the woods, and I was a bit freaked out by it, compaining when I scratched my finger on a sharp plant (yes, that sounds silly now; as I typed it, it seemed even more ridiculous). We drove into town the first day. Though big waterparks weren't there yet, but there were some water slides (which were still a novelty in 1979). But all we did in town was go on a Ducks ride on the Wisconsin River. This may have been the only sunny hour on the trip. Two things I remember from the boat ride: The driver warning that if the boat got stuck on a sandbar, the men on the boat might have to get out and push, and the driver asking if any kids on the duck wanted to help drive it. For some reason, I didn't volunteer; I wish I had, it might have been fun.
The second day we went fishing on the river. My dad rented a rowboat with a motor, we piled in and tried fishing. I was surprisingly not that nervous in the boat, maybe because of the flotation device I was wearing, maybe because boats only started freaking me out later. My dad isn't much of a fisherman, but he had some fishing gear and knew how to get keep the bait on the hook (put the hook through the minnow's eyes). We fished as a family for a while, then Dad drove the boat back to shore to let my mom and sisters out, telling them to see if they could find a pool and take the girls swimming (to this day, I don't know if they ever did). Dad and I continued fishing, at one point anchoring near one of the rock formations (and having the water disturbed by girls throwing rocks of the rock, not at us though), and at another time anchoring in this quiet, algae-covered corner of the river/lake where it was just us. That quiet corner is what I remember most of the trip, with my Dad enjoying the peacefulness and hoping for a fish.
Alas, we never caught a fish that day; in fact, the only one we saw was washed up dead on the shore. I haven't been fishing since.
This trip wasn't some grand adventure like our two vacations to Florida were, but we did so few overnight excursions as a family when we were young that this still an event. Never underestimate what your kids will remember even from the smallest family event.
Some other random memories from the 1979 Dells trip:
-- We went to a small grocery store for provisions, and I saw a book, Hoyle's Rules of Card Games, that my parents bought for me. I still own the book.
-- One thing we noticed was that the water tasted different in the Dells. Perhaps it was fluoridated differently or just from a spring source rather than the lake. I didn't notice anything different with the water this past trip.
-- For some reason, I think I saw the first commercial for Honey Nut Cheerios on the TV in the cabin that only got a couple stations (this was before cable and satellites in this neck of the woods). Also, we watched CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt.
-- I smelled a skunk for the first time. At least it was dead when we passed it.
-- We seemed to get only one station near the Dells on our Century's AM radio. (Years later, I wonder if I listened to the same station while living in Madison.) The song I most often connect with this trip is Maxine Nightengale's "Lead Me On," but also "I Want You to Want Me" by Cheap Trick, "Logical Song" by Supertramp, "She Believes in Me" by Kenny Rogers, "Hot Stuff" by Donna Summer and "After the Love Is Gone" by Earth, Wind and Fire. The EWF song was reinforced this last trip when we saw them the night before in Milwaukee, then listened to them the morning after ... on the way to Dells. Sometimes life is funny when it comes around full circle.
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