Notes on Trip to Wisconsin Dells September 2021 Part 1

 Gary asked me earlier in our stay here if I were going to log everything that happened, day by day.  I said no, but I do think that some things need to be recorded, else they be forgotten in the days, weeks, months, or years ahead.  So here goes---points and observations about our trip.

 

• Don't trust the Maps app on the iPhone.  When I asked for the shortest route for this trip, it turned out to be a very long drive through the suburbs of northern Chicago.  We drove on routes and saw towns we had never seen before and most likely will never see again.  The additional two lane roads added several minutes, no at least an hour or two, onto our travel time.
  
• Hailstorms are nasty, especially when one doesn't know the area or the roads.  Pulling off into a parking lot of a random business was the best thing for us to do to wait it out. 
• Our 'townhome' for the week is nice, but I wouldn't want to live in it full time. One thing I have noticed about Blue/Green properties is that they are somewhat smaller than those we use at HGVC.  This one is fine for a visit---but I wouldn't want to live here.
• Owner Updates - I absolutely HATE these things.  Why?  Because there is always pressure to buy more points.  That is always prefaced with being able to update and get the most for our money, to add to what we already have to better use the plan for our family, to have more vacations. The bottom line is they want us to buy and if we resist, then we are usually made to feel like we are doing something stupid because if we were smart, we would be jumping at the chance to give them at least $10,000 to add more time to our wonderful vacations.....until the next time when we would be told the same thing.  Again.  But I was eager to go to this update.  Why?  Because at Boyne Mountain last fall we bought a sampler package and we were told that because of COVID we would have 18 months to use the points.  That didn't happen.  Gary was told our points would expire at the end of September---and we had to USE them by the end of the month, not just plan something for 6 months or a year from now with them.  I was ticked about that and wanted some answers.  What happened was that we found out about Bonus Time and were able to use our leftover points to extend our stay here for a few more days.  Plus our guy Adam told us that he was required to tell us how we could us our points better and how easy it would be to upgrade ....yes, here it comes....for just shy of $10,000.  I finally talked him into letting us think about it and returning to talk to him before we left.  I know that Gary would have convinced me while we were sitting there to do it, but after we thought about it, and I kinda promised a new mower instead with the money, we know adding more points won't be happening.  To date...no one has called to set up a follow-up appointment.  But someone could, and I am going to say no.
• The Dells is a fun place for going out on the lake in the Wisconsin Ducks.  For golf.  For skiing in the winter.  For skiing in the summer.  For miniature golf and arcades and all of those things like Gatlinburg has.  We realize that now.  When we were here before, we took the girls on The Ducks and it was fun.  But there isn't much else here for us to do.  So why did we come?  For one...it was hard to find a place to go close enough to home in the amount of time that we had to use our points before they expired.  But we also wanted to re-visit some of the places we had seen when  Mike and Angie lived here in the 90s.
• Drive to New Glarus - it was a little over an hour's drive.  Once we arrived in town, things began to look familiar.    The shrubs and flowers logo at the entrance to downtown is still there.  The chalets are still where they were.  The infamous funeral home still sits in the same spot.  We didn't drive south of town but I imagine the Culver's and the grocery store are still there.  We drove west out of town to see if we could find Mike and Angie's house---and we did.  Zentner Road.  There were cows in the pastures.  The trees had grown up, including the ones that Gary and Mike had planted along the drive.  It was hard to see the house and the barn, but they were still there.  I told Gary that this was the place I had liked the best of all the places Mike and Angie had lived.  I loved the catwalk across the living room.  The wrap around porch.  The kitchen.  The two bedrooms and bath upstairs that were ours.  We are lunch at a corner place called Tofflers and I ordered a great chicken salad sandwich with cole slaw. Really good.  Later we returned to a winery on the road to M and A's house---a new place that hadn't been there very long.  The wines were good and we have several bottles in the Escape to take home.  But the gal who served us was easy to talk with...and we discovered that she and her husband boarded their cattle across the road from where M and A had lived.  What a small world.  Gary had met the farmer that they were renting from.  We intend to return to New Glarus and look for the nesting dolls for Lynnlee and Tessa.   Gary didn't remember that Hilary had asked him to do that.  Plus Wally Hooker would like not just one, but four cases of the New Glarus beer from the brewery.  
• Mount Horeb - The thing we remembered about visiting Mount Horeb was the Mustard Museum.  It was cool to discover the history of different mustards plus taste samples of all kinds of varieties.  Well, it is gone.  When I searched for it online, it has been moved to one of the little towns west of Madison.  Darn.
• Wineries.  I have a list of wineries to visit while we are here.  They are not as plentiful as they are in Michigan, but there are still several to explore.   Besides Bailey's Run in New Glarus, we have visited Fawn Creek Winery and Prairie Hawk Winery, both east and north of The Dells.  The first one was recommended by Adam, our Update guy.  The location was very nice, very pastoral, and they were set up for entertainment purposes.  The gal who did our tastings was still learning how to interact with customers but she warmed up as the time went on.  We did buy a few bottles there, one for a birthday gift.  Since we were 'in the area' we found the second one and it was a disappointment.  We weren't permitted in the building, I am assuming because of COVID.  There were tables on a patio and the yard looked a little less kempt that ours does at home when Gary hasn't done the weed-eating for a few weeks.  We were the ONLY people there so that was a little awkward.  We didn't care for the wines that much, but we did buy one bottle to take home.  That one may be a gift also.  There are at least four more wineries to visit so reports will be forthcoming. 
•  
•  
• First installment - finished!  Stay turned for Part 2 tomorrow!