Dells Trip
Two days later, I'm unlazy enough to update you all on the mini road trip we took to The Dells this last week. It was only two days - Monday overnight into Tuesday - but it was a blast. Spent the night at Mt. Olympus Resort that has an attached indoor water park and theme park. Monday - Saint Patty's Day! - was more of a "get there, do some other Dells things" kind of day, saving the water park bit for Tuesday when all of us could be there the whole day.
We didn't leave Plover until around 1:30/2:00 in the afternoon, so Manda and I spent about two hours at the Stevens Point YMCA swimming and stuff before coming back here to pack up and get ready to go. JB had to work until 1:30 supposedly, so he was gonna meet us there. Anyway, we all packed into Dustin's gigantic Astro van by about 2 pm and started the hour/hour and a half drive to get to Wisconsin Dells. Manda slept, I listened to my MP3 player, and it was over all a rather quiet trip.
We got to the hotel by about 3:30. Our room wasn't quite ready yet, so we drove a mile or two to the Wisconsin Dells shopping district that has all these cute little touristy shops. We only had a half hour, so we pretty much just stayed at one store for the duration - cute little place called Dandi Lions that had some really cool glass work and crafty-type things. I didn't buy anything cause I have very little money, but Mandy (oh yes, the whole Manda-Mandy thing made Saturday through Tuesday all sorts of fun. At some point we decided that Amanda From Minnesota was Manda, and Amanda My Roommate was Mandy for the duration. It totally didn't work that well in real life, but at least it makes the writing about it a bit easier) picked up a few things before we headed back to the hotel to try and finish checking in.
Our room still wasn't ready. However, there was another room exactly like it next door, so the front desk lady just moved us to that one. And I gotta say - the Studio Suite was a pretty nice deal. One private king-sized room with a whirlpool that it was decided Manda and I would share, one semi-private full-sized room that Mandy and Dustin claimed, and then a full-sized sofa sleeper that we left JB and Steve to duke it out over. I, personally, just told them to man up and share it. They did, eventually, but it was amusing to watch the two of them take turns trying to lay claim to the couch.
Anyway, by this time it was about 4:45 ish. Dustin, Mandy and Steve decided to go gambling at the Ho Chunk casino just out of town, while Manda and I hung around the hotel room to wait for JB to get there and take us shopping. You may think we're mean, but believe it or not he was quite willing. Apparently going shopping with two girls is far less scary than the thought of losing one's money at a casino. When I originally asked JB if he wanted to take us shopping instead, it was kind of as a joke and no one was more surprised than I was when he agreed. Who'da thought.
Anyway, it turns out the Wisconsin Dells mall is all open-air. The stores themselves are heated and have doors and windows and everything, but the hallways connecting them are open to the elements. Now, it wasn't super cold by any means on Monday evening, but it was only around 40 degrees, cloudy, and wet. Manda, JB and I all left our jackets at the hotel, so we were walking around in a sweat shirt the entire three hours we spent shopping. Needless to say, it was a wee bit chilly.
However, JB found a pair of work pants and two new Star Wars shirts cause he's a geek like that, I found a green t-shirt that says "Love is a four letter word" on it (it was Saint Patrick's day, after all) for five bucks, and Manda found a green Nike t-shirt for the same price. I find it highly amusing that it was the Y chromosome of the trio who ended up buying the most, all of it clothing at that. He will totally not live it down for at least a month.
By this time it's getting to be around 7:30/8:00. JB decides we should go to the casino to see if we could find Dustin and them and drag them from the tables long enough to get something to eat. We did have partial success in that we found them - however, Dustin was down and Steve was up and Mandy had broken even, so the whole "drag them from the tables" didn't work out too well. No big, we just head back to the hotel to get ready to meet them at the casino restaurant in an hour or so. I shower and let Manda attack me with the contents of her makeup case while JB showers and then starts ragging on us to hurry up. Now I know where that stereotype that women take forever to get ready comes from - putting on makeup takes *forever*. But, twenty minutes, two annoyed calls from Dustin, and countless "are you ready *now*?!" yells through the door from JB later, we are off. Manda and I looked *hot*, by the way. It just figures that the college-aged boy pickings were kinda slim, and the fact that neither of us were really in the mood to go on the prowl for them. But such is life.
Get back to the hotel around 11:30. There was talk of going bowling by me and Manda and bar hopping by JB, neither of which ever came to be because firstly, the waiter we asked about any near-by bowling allys didn't know of any until Baraboo (we found out the next day that there actually was on in the Dells, and that we drove right by it on the way back to the hotel. Go figure), and secondly, no one wanted to give JB any chance what so ever of getting sloshed. So, we went back to the hotel where Mandy, Manda and I all crashed, and the boys stayed up until 1-ish jabbering. I didn't get much if any sleep because I spent a good chunk of the night shivering and worrying Manda - I got insanely chilled at some point during the day, and no matter how many blankets I piled on I was still freezing. I felt fine otherwise, but yeah... I was shaking so hard it reminded me of that episode of Stargate SG-1 where Teal'c keeps demanding quarters from Jack to keep feeding into the vibrating bed. After putting the TV on to distract me, I was finally able to stop shaking and doze off for a bit around 3, but I was still running on less than two or three hours sleep all day Tuesday.
Tuesday was the WATER PARK! Which was totally a blast, even on lack of sleep. Checked out just before 11 in the morning and hit the park hard. And, it being a week day, the park wasn't that busy at all, so the longest we had to wait in line for any of the slides was maybe 5 or 6 people. Manda was the only one with a waterproof camera, so she was the only one that took pictures that day. However, when she finally develops them, she promises to upload them online or to try and send them snail mail if necessary. Favorite "ride" was the Lazy River - we probably spent at least a third of the time floating on that thing. The water slides were a blast, too, but I had a bit of an upset stomach that day, so the fun was slightly faded due to motion-sickness fears. It was still hella fun, though, and we spent at least four hours there the picture of Drown Rats. ;) Mandy looked *hot* in her two-piece, though she was insanely bashful and wore a t-shirt over the top of it for most of the time (seriously... She has some actual *abs* going on there. That woman needs to stop hiding - she looked great). I was too chicken to wear my bikini, but I was working the black one-piece I did wear just fine.
Need for some form of sustenance had us getting dressed and leaving the water park by about 2 or 3 in the afternoon. The food they had there was insanely expensive, and we weren't allowed to bring any food into the park with us. So, we headed to a restaurant by day/bar by night called Marley's for a late lunch. Food was goooooooood, especially their kalimari and jerked fries.
Then it was back home to Plover. Manda, Mandy and I all crashed like a mad crashing thing, and Steve rode home with JB who also had gotten very little sleep the night before and wanted someone to keep him awake. That left poor Dustin with nothing but himself and the interstate to keep him company, but since he said he was one of the few who slept really good, we weren't too worried.
Got back to Plover by about 4:30, where Manda and I went to hide up in my room for more crashing disguised as watching a movie, and everyone else hung out downstairs and played Doctor Mario. All in all, it was a really fun trip, and I hope to get back there in the summer when all the outdoor stuff is open.
And that was our Spring Break Wisconsin Dells trip. There are pictures, but I hope to add to them when Manda finally gets hers uploaded. The few I did take on my digi camera are already uploaded into an album on Facebook if anyone is interested. Will hopefully add to that when more pictures are received.
We didn't leave Plover until around 1:30/2:00 in the afternoon, so Manda and I spent about two hours at the Stevens Point YMCA swimming and stuff before coming back here to pack up and get ready to go. JB had to work until 1:30 supposedly, so he was gonna meet us there. Anyway, we all packed into Dustin's gigantic Astro van by about 2 pm and started the hour/hour and a half drive to get to Wisconsin Dells. Manda slept, I listened to my MP3 player, and it was over all a rather quiet trip.
We got to the hotel by about 3:30. Our room wasn't quite ready yet, so we drove a mile or two to the Wisconsin Dells shopping district that has all these cute little touristy shops. We only had a half hour, so we pretty much just stayed at one store for the duration - cute little place called Dandi Lions that had some really cool glass work and crafty-type things. I didn't buy anything cause I have very little money, but Mandy (oh yes, the whole Manda-Mandy thing made Saturday through Tuesday all sorts of fun. At some point we decided that Amanda From Minnesota was Manda, and Amanda My Roommate was Mandy for the duration. It totally didn't work that well in real life, but at least it makes the writing about it a bit easier) picked up a few things before we headed back to the hotel to try and finish checking in.
Our room still wasn't ready. However, there was another room exactly like it next door, so the front desk lady just moved us to that one. And I gotta say - the Studio Suite was a pretty nice deal. One private king-sized room with a whirlpool that it was decided Manda and I would share, one semi-private full-sized room that Mandy and Dustin claimed, and then a full-sized sofa sleeper that we left JB and Steve to duke it out over. I, personally, just told them to man up and share it. They did, eventually, but it was amusing to watch the two of them take turns trying to lay claim to the couch.
Anyway, by this time it was about 4:45 ish. Dustin, Mandy and Steve decided to go gambling at the Ho Chunk casino just out of town, while Manda and I hung around the hotel room to wait for JB to get there and take us shopping. You may think we're mean, but believe it or not he was quite willing. Apparently going shopping with two girls is far less scary than the thought of losing one's money at a casino. When I originally asked JB if he wanted to take us shopping instead, it was kind of as a joke and no one was more surprised than I was when he agreed. Who'da thought.
Anyway, it turns out the Wisconsin Dells mall is all open-air. The stores themselves are heated and have doors and windows and everything, but the hallways connecting them are open to the elements. Now, it wasn't super cold by any means on Monday evening, but it was only around 40 degrees, cloudy, and wet. Manda, JB and I all left our jackets at the hotel, so we were walking around in a sweat shirt the entire three hours we spent shopping. Needless to say, it was a wee bit chilly.
However, JB found a pair of work pants and two new Star Wars shirts cause he's a geek like that, I found a green t-shirt that says "Love is a four letter word" on it (it was Saint Patrick's day, after all) for five bucks, and Manda found a green Nike t-shirt for the same price. I find it highly amusing that it was the Y chromosome of the trio who ended up buying the most, all of it clothing at that. He will totally not live it down for at least a month.
By this time it's getting to be around 7:30/8:00. JB decides we should go to the casino to see if we could find Dustin and them and drag them from the tables long enough to get something to eat. We did have partial success in that we found them - however, Dustin was down and Steve was up and Mandy had broken even, so the whole "drag them from the tables" didn't work out too well. No big, we just head back to the hotel to get ready to meet them at the casino restaurant in an hour or so. I shower and let Manda attack me with the contents of her makeup case while JB showers and then starts ragging on us to hurry up. Now I know where that stereotype that women take forever to get ready comes from - putting on makeup takes *forever*. But, twenty minutes, two annoyed calls from Dustin, and countless "are you ready *now*?!" yells through the door from JB later, we are off. Manda and I looked *hot*, by the way. It just figures that the college-aged boy pickings were kinda slim, and the fact that neither of us were really in the mood to go on the prowl for them. But such is life.
Get back to the hotel around 11:30. There was talk of going bowling by me and Manda and bar hopping by JB, neither of which ever came to be because firstly, the waiter we asked about any near-by bowling allys didn't know of any until Baraboo (we found out the next day that there actually was on in the Dells, and that we drove right by it on the way back to the hotel. Go figure), and secondly, no one wanted to give JB any chance what so ever of getting sloshed. So, we went back to the hotel where Mandy, Manda and I all crashed, and the boys stayed up until 1-ish jabbering. I didn't get much if any sleep because I spent a good chunk of the night shivering and worrying Manda - I got insanely chilled at some point during the day, and no matter how many blankets I piled on I was still freezing. I felt fine otherwise, but yeah... I was shaking so hard it reminded me of that episode of Stargate SG-1 where Teal'c keeps demanding quarters from Jack to keep feeding into the vibrating bed. After putting the TV on to distract me, I was finally able to stop shaking and doze off for a bit around 3, but I was still running on less than two or three hours sleep all day Tuesday.
Tuesday was the WATER PARK! Which was totally a blast, even on lack of sleep. Checked out just before 11 in the morning and hit the park hard. And, it being a week day, the park wasn't that busy at all, so the longest we had to wait in line for any of the slides was maybe 5 or 6 people. Manda was the only one with a waterproof camera, so she was the only one that took pictures that day. However, when she finally develops them, she promises to upload them online or to try and send them snail mail if necessary. Favorite "ride" was the Lazy River - we probably spent at least a third of the time floating on that thing. The water slides were a blast, too, but I had a bit of an upset stomach that day, so the fun was slightly faded due to motion-sickness fears. It was still hella fun, though, and we spent at least four hours there the picture of Drown Rats. ;) Mandy looked *hot* in her two-piece, though she was insanely bashful and wore a t-shirt over the top of it for most of the time (seriously... She has some actual *abs* going on there. That woman needs to stop hiding - she looked great). I was too chicken to wear my bikini, but I was working the black one-piece I did wear just fine.
Need for some form of sustenance had us getting dressed and leaving the water park by about 2 or 3 in the afternoon. The food they had there was insanely expensive, and we weren't allowed to bring any food into the park with us. So, we headed to a restaurant by day/bar by night called Marley's for a late lunch. Food was goooooooood, especially their kalimari and jerked fries.
Then it was back home to Plover. Manda, Mandy and I all crashed like a mad crashing thing, and Steve rode home with JB who also had gotten very little sleep the night before and wanted someone to keep him awake. That left poor Dustin with nothing but himself and the interstate to keep him company, but since he said he was one of the few who slept really good, we weren't too worried.
Got back to Plover by about 4:30, where Manda and I went to hide up in my room for more crashing disguised as watching a movie, and everyone else hung out downstairs and played Doctor Mario. All in all, it was a really fun trip, and I hope to get back there in the summer when all the outdoor stuff is open.
And that was our Spring Break Wisconsin Dells trip. There are pictures, but I hope to add to them when Manda finally gets hers uploaded. The few I did take on my digi camera are already uploaded into an album on Facebook if anyone is interested. Will hopefully add to that when more pictures are received.