mjmjr25's Family Vacation 2015 Edition (pics coming soon)

[mjmjr25]

Greetings,

We are just returned from our annual trip and as in past years i'll be sharing the high (and low) lights of the trip.

Day 1: Left town Friday at 1pm. My wife told me to head to Cloquet (15 mins the direction opposite where we were heading) as she had some books to drop off at the library - they were due today. As usual - this started the trip off with an argument. We have 9+ hours of driving planned already, so adding 30 extra minutes for library books did not make me happy...but, we dropped them off.

About an hour down the road near Minong, WI (home of Jack Link's Beef Jerky...and RV sales) I looked up at the oil change reminder and noticed they hadn't put up a new one. I asked my wife about it and she had forgot to get it changed yesterday. I don't mind going 1,000 miles over or so, but we were already at 3,500 miles and the trip was going to be 2,000 miles plus, so now we had to stop for that.

We stopped in the first town w/those types of services - Rice Lake, WI (pop 10,000-ish) and got an oil change. The guy in the pit says, "Tell this guy his gas tank is leaking like a sieve." I get out and look - sure enough, tank is saturated and smell is strong. We are 90 minutes from home - so options are to go home, get a rental, or chance it. We opt for a rental and drive to Cameron, WI regional airport. There is one guy working the enterprise desk (the only rental place w/in 40 miles in any direction). After 20 minutes he frees up from the person he's dealing with and I ask him, "Do you have anything that can seat 6?" He says, "Oh no, I have a Focus and 500." I say, "What about Eau Claire?" He calls up and says, "Sure do, should I reserve it for you?" I ask how much and he says, "$870 for a week." Me, "Is that unlimited miles?" He says, "No, ummm, that would be $70 additional." I tell him we'll pass. I'm beyond frustrated - go out to the car and just stare out the windshield. I tell my wife i'm going to let the car run and look to see how bad the leak is. It's dropping about 1 drop of gas every 30 seconds. I tell her we'll drive to Eau Claire, WI (45 miles down the road) and we'll see how it's doing. We hit up a Culvers in Eau Claire and check the gas. Best we can tell - we are losing 2 drops a minute, or 1 oz every 5 hours. We decide to proceed. Another hour behind schedule.

Everything goes relatively smooth up until Rockford, IL. We stop at a gas station there at about 9pm. Some guy is honking at me as I pull in but he drives off. I figure I didn't do anything - so maybe there's something wrong w/my lights or something. I give the van a once over...left rear tire is visibly low. Can't find my tire guage so buy one in the store for $3. Check the pressure - 12lbs. So, fill it to 35 and figure we'll get back on the road and check it often. Obviously i'm nervous now because once I pass the Belvidere Oasis there really isn't anywhere to stop until i'm through Chicago. It's going to be 10pm by the time we hit the heart of Chicago so I figure we'll go right through on I-90 - straight shot / no loop around. Construction and traffic non-stop for nearly 6 full hours until we got through Gary, IN around 130am. Another 75 miles ahead we hit our hotel in Elkhart, IN; where the girl at the desk tells me that i've been charged a no-show fee. She told me I had to pay for Saturday as well now because it was Saturday...but yet I still had to be checked out by 11am Saturday morning. I said, "isn't 230am considered late Friday night?" She tells me no and that i'm being billed for Friday and Saturday...even though I have to be out Saturday morning at 11am. I'm so tired / exhausted / crabby and my kids are still in the car that I just cave and figure i'll fix it in the morning. Luckily the gal at the desk in the morning had a brain and said of course 230am is still Friday night and she reversed the double charge - she will be following up w/Yvette.

Day 2: We got up at 9am and on the road by 10am. We have a 5-hour drive ahead of us to Wellington, OH. The van is doing well - gas leak is maintaining at a negligible amount and left rear tire is a firm 35lbs. I-80/90 through IN and then into OH is brutally expensive; particularly the Ohio side, was like $14.70 for a 150 mile stretch through Ohio. It was raining non-stop since the night before and still pouring. Kids were in good spirits - they are great travelers. We play car games along the way: License Plate game (we got 43 of 50 this year. Our best ever was last year, 47 of 50). We have yet to see a Louisiana or Hawaii. We got Alaska this year, but not last year. Singing games, car bingo, alphabet memory game, travel tickets, reward tickets, etc.

We have our lineup of music that fits any mood: The Verve Pipe (old), The Verve Pipe (new - they are a kids band now...and excellent), Barenaked Ladies, Gordon Lightfoot, Tom Paxton, Jack Johnson, MercyMe, Todd Snider, Weird Al, Forest Gump Sdtrk, Rolling Stones, CasTing Crowns, They Might Be Giants (old and new; also doing kid albums now...also excellent), etc.

We hit Wellington, OH, which is a small town of about 2,000 in middle of Ohio, about an hour South of Cleveland. It is amongst a few dozen small towns and villages throughout northcentral Ohio; almost all are quaint and clean. A few Amish towns are nestled in as well. Central Ohio is rolling and quite pretty. Lots of wildlife - golden and bald eagles as well as many other large birds.

We hit my father in laws "farm" - no longer a working farm, more of a retirement log cabin. It was a farm many years ago. It is 20 acres now - the previous owner sold 100 acres to the state parks which is a win/win for my FIL. He doesn't pay tax on the land - but essentially, it's all exclusively his as it lies on his side of the river and there is no entrance to the state park on this side of the river. To his right is a working 1,000 acre far, but the farmhouse is on the far opposite end - so there is no signs of (human) life near his place - it is his trees, about 3 acres worth, and then a few thousand feet of farmland before you see a house. The other side of his property is the state road (5 blocks from the house) and a pond is on the back end. This really is an ideal property - it has open flat land for football or yard games. A fully stocked pond with water birds, fish, huge bullfrogs, and many varieties of snakes. There are hills and forest on the fringes. He has a massive barn converted into a workshop where he houses a backhoe, tractor, massive sprayer and mower, skid steer, and every other toy a boy (or farmgirl) might like. He took the existing home and turned it into a massive log cabin - 30 foot ceilings with cedar, oak and ash throughout. A gorgeous fireplace, a sun room where he works on his circuitboards, windows all around, just absolutely gorgeous place on the perfect plot of land - I know I couldn't ask for anything more in a dream home. We spent the first night looking for snakes (found Eastern Garter, Butler's Garter, Rat Snake, Eastern Brown and a common watersnake). My oldest daughter was enthralled and every time we went in...she wanted to go back out and look for snakes. We have a large property where we live, but we only have common garter snakes and even those are pretty uncommon around here. We closed the night with egglant appetizer followed by steaks and salads (with goat cheese from the neighbor's farm).

Day 3: We went to Cedar Point "The Roller Coaster Capital of the World" which is on a peninsula in Sandusky, OH. It was a 50 minute drive from FIL's place; very nice drive and the morning had been overcast - so the crowds weren't insane (they were still large, though). There were a massive number of extreme coasters and my kids each tried one of the level 5 rides...and one each was enough...I love coasters and have been to most of the parks in Florida as well as Six Flags, Valley Fair, etc. This park is very very good - it doesn't pound you in the face with reminders that you are at Cedar Point. Meaning; you don't have people jumping out taking your picture or constantly trying to sell you mugs or t-shirts, etc. The carnival games are busy enough that they don't make you uncomfortable. A few rides went down and they were always up and running quickly - attentive and polite staff. We were there 7 hours and didn't stop for a second - was great fun. The park is right on the beach so each coaster has amazing views - a really nice beach at that. Clean sand, clean beach, not overcrowded, decent waves. We picked up pizza on the way home and had a nice night of pizza and soda - then me and the kids went snake hunting until dark. I got bit by a baby rat snake - it was purely him being defensive to me picking him and showing the kids - very strong and even grabbing just under the head he was able to turn and bite.

Day 4: We had a nice breakfast in the morning and hit the road by 10am. We saw a few buzzards feeding on a dead something in someone's yard near Ashland, OH. Huge birds and first time i've ever seen them in the wild - was really cool. It was raining again and didn't let up by the time we hit the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. The Zoo was still busy from what we could tell - but I believe they were mostly locals who left when the rain didn't stop. My daughter (12) had a great attitude (camp builds character, people) about the rain - as did my wife and youngest son. Me, my oldest boy (9) and youngest daughter (5) were all sort of whiny at first - me mostly because of my glasses being covered in water and unable to see; the other 2 were "cold". However, the attitudes of the other 3 lifted us up and within 45 minutes we were all having a good time. About 90 minutes after arriving the park was nearly empty as the rain hadn't stopped. We ended up spending 7 hours at the Zoo / Aquarium and had a great time. The Australia exhibit was particularly enjoyable and unlike many zoos - every single exhibit was actually open and had animals. We had a great day.

My wife got to choose dinner and she wanted to try a Bob Evans. I'd never been to one but have only heard not-great things, but, she had fond memories as a child and said it would be clean and kid friendly - it was on both counts. We fed a family of 6 for $40 w/tip included - that doesn't happen too often. The food was decent - sort of like KFC meets Perkins. It's not a place i'd choose to go if given other choices, but it was ok. We stayed at an Embassy Suites just East of Columbus - nice pool (empty). One of those that is half inside, half outside, and while overcast, it was still 70 degrees and the pool was heated - we had a good time; well, except for the one unaccompanied kid who kept cannonballing our group and pulling on us. He told my wife, "Hi, I love the water. It makes me go bananas. I'm going to go bananas on you." This kid would not go away - but, we also felt sorry for him - who let's their 10 yo boy go to the pool alone? So, we let him join our water games and despite a little too much energy, he was a good kid. We ended our night with some House Hunters on HGTV and laughed at all the commercials. We don't have cable/satellite; so we look forward to HGTV on vacations and our kids just crack up at how terrible commercials are. There's a new one w/Jeff Goldblum my kids have been quoting ad nauseum now. "Change your apartment - change thee world!"

Day 5: Up at 830 for a great breakfast at Embassy (Omelettes to order...mmmm). Hit the road...raining. Got through Indy quick and easy (great city btw, both in the city, and travelling in and through). Hit a Steak and Shake an hour north of Indy - first time we went to one. They were having "happy hour"...on shakes. Their shakes are insanely good. We hit South Chicago (and a new round of tolls) just after 3pm and hit the Lake Avenue bridge downtown around 445. Our hotel was right off of that bridge - a block away...and for the next nearly 2 hours we drove around trying to get to it (this is already chronicled in the smile / ticked thread). After I nearly hit ANOTHER cyclist I told my wife someone is going to die. We just need to eat the 2 night hotel fee and get out of this city. He got through the traffic 2 hours later and hit the Belvidere Oasis where they had free wi-fi. We booked a room in Janesville, WI. Our hotel clerk recommended the Hhffrrrggh restaurant - she said it was great food and family friendly. So, we went. It turned out to be a dive of a packers restaurant. These are fairly common in Wisconsin. 4 walls, a huge bar, a bunch of tv's, a crap ton of Sterling Sharpe and Brett Favre posters and microwaveable chicken nuggets and fish sticks. The food was terrible and it was mostly empty, but, the service was ok and we were starving after 4 hours in Chicago stuck in the van - so we it all got eaten. Went back to the Baymont and swam - again having the pool to ourselves.

Day 6: One hour NW is The House on the Rock. It has been 8 years since i've been there and was luke-warm on going back. Boy was I wrong. I can't believe I didn't recall how awesome this was. I kid you not when I say this is better than 99% of the museums in this country. Only the Smithsonian would I say is better. There are 4 major sections (and 3-4 smaller sections) of the museum. Each of the larger sections you could spend a day in. The first is a clean, attractive, museum that showcases how the museum / house was built and the history of the man who built it (Alex Jordan). Next is his house - he literally built a home into the rock. This in itself isn't amazing - but the way he did it is. It is massive, sprawling, trees growing in and through, waterfalls and springs, and everything is carpeted...everything. Ceiling, chairs, walls, etc. It looks like a massive sex den - you can just see his artist friends in the late 50's having drinks and orgies in this place. The house sprawls. Sitting rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms, reading rooms, music rooms, etc. He was an artist and a collector - he has carved wooden boats with such detail they must have taken years to build...and he has DOZENS of them throughout as well as other vases, lamps, etc - all carved from stone, wood, ivory, marble, etc. Then, you enter section 2, which is "The Streets of Yesterday" - it is designed to look like an 1880's downtown. Barber shop, blacksmith, livery, library, restaurant, candy shop, etc - on and on - you forget you are in some secluded building on a rock in the woods and you feel like you are in 1880 London. Then, there are all of this animatronic bands that he built - i'm not talking 5 instruments - i'm talking 50 instruments, 30'x50' across, fully animated, fully decorated - and nothing is cheap. If the backdrop looks like silk curtains...it's silk curtains. There are again, not one or two of these, but at least a dozen. Then you go to another part of section 2 which is a room shaped like a boat...a BIG boat, with THOUSANDS of pieces of detailed skrimshaw, ivory, and marine memorabilia - this has to be the largest skrimshaw collection in the world - it is piece after piece, 3 stories high, 150' long each story. It is model ships, small, medium, and large - highly detailed. In the middle of the room is a MASSIVE shark / whale thing being taken down by an octopus - it is absolutely massive.

Then, you go into a 4 story cavernous room with old cars, wagons, bikes, etc. You leave there after an hour and go into a room containing the worlds largest operating carousel. It is 40' high to the top and has 269 characters - each one hand carved and unique and not a single one is a horse. The walls are filled (50' high, floor to ceiling, with EXTRA carousel pieces - each one appx 5'x5', and there must have been 1,000 of them, again, each one hand carved, hand painted).

You leave there to go to "Section 3" which you enter this room where everything is made of wood, copper, and marble, 5 stories high. The largest Beer Steins you can imagine - 10' high, detailed. Copper kettles, a massive distillery, original beer kegs from over 75 manufacturers mounted on the walls. Player pianos all around you - it is madness, and everything you touch (walkways, railings) covered in red shag carpeting.

You leave here to go to 3 consecutive MASSIVE rooms of dollhouses - each one meticulously crafted - there had to be well over 100 of them, each one deserves hours of your attention. That is followed by a toy room, then a circus performer room, then a room of turn of the century cash registers, then a room of medieval armor, then royal crowns and jewelry, then...1600-1900's guns - so many guns you can't imagine - all ornate, thousands of them, all gorgeous - this one room alone could be a museum and has to be one of if not the largest antique gun collections in the world.

It just didn't end - i'm leaving out so much. Anyone within 12 hour drive should consider the trek to Spring Green, WI and The House on the Rock.

We then drove to our hotel in Wisconsin Dells - went to the hotel waterpark and then to dinner at Uno (for a taste of Chicago after all).

Day 7: pending

[mjmjr25]

added days 2 and 3. Days 4, 5, and 6 later tonight.

[Ack]

Needs more water heaters and Baja Blast.

[noiseredux]

[waiting for conclusion of season before comment]

[marurun]

Come on, man. We like to binge-read this stuff.

[JoeAwesome]

(Sings theme song to all the Vacation movies to himself).

[mjmjr25]

added days 4/5/6

still need day 7 and pictures...

[jmbarnes101]

My daughters and I were in Madison about a month ago. The Henry Vilas Zoo is great, even in the rain, but Uno was just a bad experience with bad and expensive pizza and poor service. The rest of your trip sounds interesting though.

[mjmjr25]

My daughters and I were in Madison about a month ago. The Henry Vilas Zoo is great, even in the rain, but Uno was just a bad experience with bad and expensive pizza and poor service. The rest of your trip sounds interesting though.

Did you get pizzas off the kids menu - the ones they make themselves? I'd agree - those are not good, but their actual deep dish chicago style - that stuff is bombastic. Amy had a Tuscan Chicken and loved it. Em and I split a Chicago Classic pizza and it was outstanding. The service - that's hit or miss at most places - we had decent service.

[jp1]

Was this just a six day vacation? "Day 7" is just there to antagonize the OCD crowd. You just kicked back and rested dude.