Our Anniversary in the Dells

Nothing says 13 happy years together like going to Wisconsin Dells. Aunt Carrie and Uncle Shane were brave enough to watch the kids this weekend so Jenn and I could spend some time alone. I will apologize now that there are not more pictures like my bike trips but once you have been to the Dells many times, I don't find it necessary to take pictures.

Friday night starting in downtown Dells at a German restaurant. Jenn is not a big fan of German food so I appreciate the fact that she gave me the green light. Luckily for me, Jenn is cheap date. One 20 oz beer and she was good for the night.

After dinner, we wonder around the downtown area. It amazes that you can buy the same crap at every other store. There are many nicknack's junk stores. I often wonder if it is under mob control. I mean you can see the same junk all around town.

Night fell and we drove out to Ho-Chunk Casino. No trip to the Dells is complete unless I can gamble. Jenn is just happy if she can play the penny slots. If she wins, she is happy. If she does not, she is content. She just like all the bells and whistles. I told her is she wants excitement, I could get naked and have sparklers coming out of my butt and dance around and whale like a fire engine. I don't think she will be seeing that show any time soon.

Back at the casino, Jenn finds a row of Star Wars slots. I watch. I play. I lose. Leave it to me to blow $20 on a penny slot machine in less than five minutes. Yes, it is true. The max bet is 30 lines which comes out to $3.00 bucks a pull. I was up about $10 bucks then lost it really quick. Jenn had fun but eventually lost her money. We then played a few other cheaper slots. No money return.

I then decided to play the Dollar machine with a max of three bucks bet. I put in $20 dollars. First pull. Nothing. Second pull, I win $6.00 bucks. Third pull, I hit it for $150.00. The credits are just rolling up. I thought I broke the machine. When it got to $100, I tell Jenn out of confusion that "I think each credit is one dollar". The credit kept going to $150.00. I was so excited. We both stood there dumb founded. Three pulls and I am up. An older lady leans over and says, " you did good. Cash out son!" I played a few more times and cashed out for the night. We did cash out for $151.00. Not a bad way to start the weekend.

This picture is a tribute to our friends Sean and Brenda out West.

Of course, another trip to the Dells would not be complete with pigging out at Paul Bunyans.

Hmmmm ,DoughhhhhNutttttssss

Bring Out the Food!

Sean Imitating Sean

We can't help but think of our Cali friends, Sean and Brenda when we go to the Dells and especially Paul Bunyan's. One year, the four of us went to the Dells for a weekend. I remember Sean's fondness for this all you can eat lumberjack buffet.

Paul Bunyan's was the first stop on the trip. As we exit off the highway, I hear Sean saying "I have been dreaming of Paul Bunyan's for the last 100 miles." As we drove down the hill to the entrance, Sean yells out like a kid seeing Santa at Christmas, " PAUL BUNYAN'S!" It was hard for Sean to hold back the tears of joy. Once inside we all ate like Kings but Sean had the last laugh. He asked for more potatoes. The waitress said you have to clean out the bowl to get more food. She grabs the bowl and shovels down the final pieces. Ahhh yeah, great times. We miss you guys.


As we took a few pictures outside of Bunyans, I caught these two guys out of the corner of my eye. I could not help it but I ran over to talk to them. One guy had a sticker of bike web site that I use to frequent. I went to see where they were going and to see how the trip has been. One guy is from Chicago and the other Colorado. I can't recall the names but the Colorado guy drove out to Chicago to meet his buddy and ride back to Colorado together. They were doing some camping along the way. We got to talking about there bikes but did not want to take up too much time as Jenn can find this rather dull. All was good with them so we set on our different ways. (Matt, how rare is it that both bikes that I like are next to each other? They were from ADV)




Going on a little after noon, we stopped at the Dells Mining Company. We have never been here before so we bought into it. The deal here is you buy a bucket of sand with hopes of pulling out precious jewels. You wash out the sand like old minors did in search of jewels. The catch is that that the more money you spend, the better chance of getting something good. They even guaranteed some buckets with packaged stones already attached.

We started with the lowest bucket for $13.00. The highest bucket was around $100. We pulled out some stones. Jenn is loving it. I could care less but Jenn is having fun so I go with it. Jenn orders another bucket.

"Are you serious? What are going to with these rocks?"
"I don't know Jenn says. We can use them in a vase or something."

I don't argue much, and Jenn does not ask for much so I give in.

Here is part of our finds. Yeah.

After you are done sifting through sand, mud and crap, you collect your rocks and go to a room where there is an appraiser to tell you what you have found and what you can do with them. To my surprise, I can get my stones cut to rings, ear rings, pendants and so on. Jenn really wanted a garnet ring. Happy Anniversary honey!

A later afternoon lunch at Monks led us to the new Torture Museum in the downtown Dells. This was basically a walk through of various exhibit. They tell the history of different devices that that government use to torture people for various reasons. The one above reminded me of something out of Saw.

Enough dancing already. It's raining or as I learned in Wisconsin, it is high humidity.

Every single one of us the devil inside.........

Again, nothing says love like a tattoo. Yes Dad, I got another one. This is one that I have wanted for a long time. The original artist who drew this goes by the name of Coop. He is known for drawing rock and roll posters, full figured she devils and b-type monster characters. What do you think P-Dub? The tattoo of the razor was done a while back but at least you get an idea of where it is on my arm.



Sunday was more of a sleep in, eat breakfast, and head out to get the tickets. We could not leave town without stopping at the candy shop located across from the Casino. This place is known the Cow Pies. Hmmmm, Cowwww Pieesssss

That's about it. Thanks for reading.