Wis-cago Vacation

This summer has been brutally hot and somehow very humid, but with no rain to speak of. For one last summer hurrah, we took a week off to travel to cooler climes. The heat dome is huge over the middle of the country, so we had to venture to the Great Lakes for anything sub-90s. We found cheap plane tickets to Chicago, and we were off! 

We didn't really want to spend much time in Chicago, but our flight got in pretty late, so we had to spend a night. And why not see the city a little before we leave? We love a good museum, so we got tickets to the Field museum, as I remembered visiting the museum/aquarium/planetarium complex on the lake shore some 25+ years ago.

The main hall is an impressive display area with beautiful architectural details. On display was Maximo, the Titanosaur, at 122 feet long, the longest animal to ever live.

While about half of the first floor consists of taxidermied animals from around the world (from an 1893 Columbian Exposition), there were some interesting skeletons, like this Southern Right whale's massive jaw.

Hadley cracks me up. She definitely read more signs than the rest of us at the museum, which means that we're often waiting for her before moving to the next room. At one point, she was especially behind, and when I found her, she was listening to these old phones that gave even more information about the exhibits she was seeing. She does love buttons and information, so it was a winning combination for her.

They had a pretty good selection of dinosaurs, but nothing we don't have at HMNS!

...except maybe Sue! Sue is the most famous and complete T-rex fossil ever recovered. She's so widely studied that they had her actual skull kept separate from her body because it is examined so much. There were crushed sections of her skull and signs of disease in her jaw. Sue was pretty impressive! And Hadley found and shared the "lift and smell" boxes that simulated Sue's world: pine boughs, flowers in bloom, and T-rex breath. Ugh!

There were some other exhibits too, like human cultures, Jurassic oceans, and gemstones. We liked it, but felt like the museum could use a little updating in their exhibits. Some recent changes were noted as the first changes to be made to the exhibits in 60 years! And there were definitely less interactive exhibits for the kids than some other museums we've been to.

We tried to see everything before lunch, but we weren't quite ready to leave when our tummies started rumbling. Museum cafe, it is! We had just read about "Chicago-style" hot dogs, so we were bound and determined to try one while we were there. It was a meh mish-mash of things (full pickle slice, artificially green relish, hot peppers, etc.) and luckily we didn't regret it later.

Finally, it was time to leave! If only the kids could figure out the revolving door...

 

It was a beautiful afternoon to enjoy a stroll down Lakeshore Drive.

We even got to be the cool parents that took our kids to Lollapalooza! (On accident, we just happened to time our trip to coincide with the final day of the huge music festival happening right across the street from the museum.)

It was a pretty warm day, and the temporary fencing for Lollapalooza blocked our access to the Buckingham fountain we were walking to see, so we treated ourselves to some ice cold refreshments for the walk back to the car.

Before it got to be too late, we drove a couple of hours to Wisconsin, for the kids' 30th state! I found a resort there that looked family friendly and set up for some good R&R. It was like a little slice of Americana from 20-30 years ago.

Since our last couple of family vacations were go-go-go (Seattle and DisneyWorld), we really needed one with a slower pace to unwind. We got a few groceries for easy lunches/breakfasts and made tentative plans to kayak on the lake at some point. And that was it for the week. This beer had a great name, but sadly did not live up to our expectations.

Like the beer, the resort also had a few hits and misses. They had a couple of outdoor pools, but one was for 18+ only, and therefore, the family pool area was pretty crowded. So on our first full day of exquisite outdoor weather, the kids chose the indoor pool! Wah-wah. They had it pretty much to themselves, but it felt like Houston in there, so I actually left them to go read at the adult pool for a while. They had a blast! I'm so glad that they can play together and get along for things like this!

After the pool, the kids wanted to watch Soul in the resort theater, which they did. Then we had PBJs for dinner and decided to check out the advertised beach. The resort was on a beautiful lake, but the beach charged $10/pp to enter. This was a foreign concept to us, and since we flew and didn't have any beach gear, we opted not to partake. We enjoyed the pier though! The rest of the shoreline seemed to be either marinas or private docks.

There was a city park across the street. It's nice to see that we can still enjoy the playgrounds a bit. And the temps were perfect for being outside! It's the little things.

After some searching and incorrect directions from the front desk, we found the complimentary s'mores at the fire pit. The kids always love s'mores, and this was more like it!

The next day we wanted to get out on the lake, and everyone actually agreed that they wanted to kayak. Again, the resort fell short here, as their partner rental company only rented out one-person kayaks. After calling around, we found a place on the other end of the lake that had two-person kayaks available. While Fontana was a small village with just a few businesses, Lake Geneva was more of a bustling town with a large waterfront presence. We found a great place to eat on the patio overlooking the lake.

It was just across the street from our rental place, so we were soon on our kayaks. Our rental was for two hours, which was plenty of time to kayak and enjoy the cool water, low 80s, and bright sunshine on the open water.

Everyone enjoyed it; even Owen's stomach ache seemed to magically depart for a couple of hours. We paddled faster than we thought, so the kids had time to jump in the water a couple of times. Hadley almost didn't make it back in the second time though! Kayaking is tiring work for little arms.

All along the waterfront, we admired the beautiful houses, landscaped yards, and personal piers filled with all kinds of water toys. Once back on land, we found the path that encircles the 20 miles of lake shore and went down a ways. Sure enough, the path cut through every yard, even fancy estates, like Stone Manor.

We had parked next to a park, so we soaked up the perfect weather for a little longer before heading back to the other side of the lake.

The following morning was rainy, so another water/outdoor day was out. Instead, we drove a little over an hour to Madison to see more of Wisconsin. We didn't really have plans, but thought that the capitol and UW might be good stops. However when we got there, it was pouring. We scampered a block or two and then spotted the Public Library! What a find. We had the huge kids area pretty much to ourselves, we were able to eat our lunch, and the kids found some books to add to their reading list.

After a while, we pressed on to the capitol, and checked out the Wisconsin Veterans Museum across the street. It was small, but well done, and our military aficionado enjoyed it a lot.

They even had a periscope that went outside the roof. Although there was some debate on whether it was a real view of the outside or just a postcard taped to the wall...

To our surprise, when we emerged it was like it hadn't rained at all. See below for before and after. Unfortunately, it felt a bit like Houston, which was the only evidence of the rain.

Wisconsin has a beautiful capitol building, which we explored. We found hidden badgers and learned some interesting facts when we snuck in with a tour group.

Next we started down State Street for a little pick me up caffeine and smoothies and then popped into a cheese shop. Because when in Wisconsin...

And finally, we arrived at UW! When we moved to Texas over 3 years ago, some of Owen's new classmates asked him if he was from Wisconsin because that's what he looked like, and "Wisconsin" soon became his nickname. Some kids still call him that, so he got a kick out of posing with Bucky and took home a souvenir shirt. 

We only saw a bit of campus, but we did make it to the Memorial Union Terrace with a view of Lake Mendota. What a cool place! I can imagine a biting wind in the winter, but there were swimmers and boaters and tons of tables for some al fresco dining. It was also next to the Alumni Center, which had a path highlighting famous alumni, including Harley (of Harley-Davidson).

Alas, the next day we had to check out and head back to Chicago for our flight the following day. Before turning in our Turo rental car, we made one more stop at the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio in Oak Park for our aspiring architect. The inside tour seemed a little steep at $20/pp, so we opted for a free walk around Oak Park, which has a bunch of FLW-designed homes in close proximity.

This ice cream shop seemed to be calling our name on this warm, sunny day... a perfect accompaniment to our walking tour. So long, Wis-cago! It was great to have a week of summer where our ice cream didn't melt before we could eat it!