Famille Du Pentium

On July 4th, we went to the Skokie fireworks show after returning from the Dells.  This is an annual event held at Niles West High School that includes music, food, games, and of course the fireworks show.  The pictures are HERE, and here’s what you’ll see:

• The kids running around on the Niles West athletic field during the concert. 
• A juggler
• Ethan in the Sack Race
• Aaron waiting for the sack race.  Somehow, he didn’t get to participate.  Sigh.
• Ethan eating watermellon.  There was supposed to be a seed spitting contest, but he just ate the food.
• Justin eating watermellon too
• Ethan in the tug-o-war game
• Aaron in the tug-o-war game (he won!)
• Pictures of the Skokie dusk sky, just before the fireworks
• Aaron on top of the car, waiting to watch the fireworks
• The Fireworks 

So, as promised, pictures from Wisconsin Dells: <http://gallery.famille.org/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=2401&g2_fromNavId=xb17dc9dd>.

Here’s what you’ll see:

• The resort.  We stayed at the Raintree.  Pictures of the building, parking lot, and the indoor waterpark.  We went to the outside waterpark too; it’s basically the same as the indoor except it’s, well, outside.
• Mini-golf.  There’s lots of these places in the Dells that offer hundreds of holes of golf.  We settled for 18 :). 
• The Upper Dells boat tour.  You’ll see our boat, more pictures of Wis Dells sandstone formations, and a few pictures from some of the boat stopovers including the famous Stand Rock (where the dog jumps across).
• The Ducks / Lower Dells tour.  More sandstone :).
• "Top Secret" – a sort of strange upside down house that you tour.  It was fun, but not extraordinary.
• Go carts.  We love go carts.
• Rick Wilcox (magician).  There’s one picture of the kids with him.
• The Riverview and Great Western Railway.  This is kind of special.  It’s a 15" track, with cars and a  real working steam engine built specifically for them. I include pictures of the cars and engine, plus the staff turning the engine around on a turntable at the end of the line.  We approached this ride with some trepidation, thinking it looked kind of like one of those amusement park train rides.  But it’s a nice one, really – 1.5 miles each way and the Engineer explains to the kids how a steam engine works.
• The Lost Canyon.  This is a horse-drawn carraige (sp?) ride through "Lost Canyon" in the Dells.  More sandstone, but this time with horses in the foreground.
• Tommy Bartlett’s Exploratory.  A little difficult to describe, it’s like a small version of the Museum of Science and Industry, where kids can do some hands-on activities.  If you look carefully, you’ll find a picture of Tommy Bartlett water skiing in there – the only time in his life when he put on water skis.  Also, Aaron and Marla’s heads are on a platter, and Justin makes some rubber band art, and Marla does an acrobatic trick involving a bicycle precariously balanced on a high wire.

Last night, we all went to Hartford Speedway Park in Hartford, MI (about 2 hours from Chicago) to watch stock car racing.  This is a half-mile dirt oval track that has Factory Stock, Mini Stock, UMP Late Model, UMP Modifieds, Mini Sprints, Enduros, and Quads.  We actually went to see a friend race in the Quads, which are like little one-cylinder two-stroke four-wheel ATVs.  A friend from work helped the driver rebuild his Quad, and he was there watching his friend race.  So we went, because it’s a good opportunity for the kids to  (A) see REAL stock car racing, and (B) Meet the driver.

This is what NASCAR was 30 years ago – a bunch of guys just racing their hearts out on a dirt track  just for the thrill of it.  And we all had a great time, and came home at 2:00 AM covered in dirt. 

The pictures are HERE.

It’s been a couple of years since we went to the Dells, and things have changed a lot.  It used to be a place where you could go, nearby to suburban Chicago, and (relatively) cheap – compared to places like Hawaii or Disney or so forth.  It’s still nearby.

Driving down the main strip (Wisconsin Dells Pkwy), you feel a real sense of Deja Vu if you’ve ever been to Vegas.  Not that casinos are taking over (although there are two nearby) but because, like Vegas, big players are taking over the strip and making mega-parks that must constantly expand in order to hold bragging rights to the "Biggest waterpark".  

For instance, Treasure Island used to be a big player with a large indoor & outdoor park and an onsite hotel.  Suddenly, a small start-up from up the street, Mount Olympus, owns Treasure Island (and everything else on that side of the strip for that matter).  I’m not saying that’s bad – big parks can be good – but it does change the landscape of things a bit.

The Dells attractions are traditionally a pay-as-you-go  affair.  You buy as little or as much entertainment as you want.  Like the old Vegas.  But now with the mega-parks knocking down the old players and building huge all-inclusive parks, it’s a bit harder.  For instance, we would have liked to have ridden the "Trojan Horse" go-carts.  A few years ago, when Mt Olympus was a newcomer to the strip, TH was a pay-as-you-go affair.  Now, you have to buy in to the Mt Olympus mega-park in order to ride it, whether you want to ride anything else or not.  Maybe that’s fine if you want to do the roller coasters and rides and water park at Mt Olympus.  One price, and you get it all.  But if you just want to ride Trojan Horse, you’re out of luck.

Condos are also taking over, and I think in a bad way.  Timeshare sales is tainting the Dells, and they’re knocking down some good family entertainment in order to build.  For instance, the old Native American dance show at the top of the hill near New Concord, across from the Indian Trading Post, is no more.  They’ve knocked it down to build condos.  No more Native American dance show.  

Same with Big Chief go-carts – gone, soon to be something else, probably a condo.  In fact, in the old days you couldn’t drive a block without tripping over a go-cart place.  Now, only a few go-cart-only places exist (like A-Dare), otherwise you have to buy in to a park to ride go-carts (and the selection is still very limited).   

Wis Dells is still a fun place, and it’s still (just barely) cheaper than Disney, but I’m afraid if they keep developing this way, soon it won’t be.   

We went to Wisconsin Dells this week for three days, a sort of last-minute trip that we didn’t plan in advance, after we had cancelled a longer six-day trip that we were just too tired for.  So at the last minute (last Friday) I searched online for "last minute wisconsin dells" and two resorts came up – the Raintree and Christmas Village.  Christmas Village is a timeshare, and several reviews mentioned that they hard-sell you on timeshares while you’re there, so I looked into the Raintree.

We approached the hotel with mild trepidation.  Most of the reviews were outstanding, but one or two mentioned how old and worn out this resort is, and the Raintree management sometimes answered those reviews with "Just wait until Fall 2007, we’re planning a major renovation!"  Well, that doesn’t help me now, but on the other hand, they were offering rooms the week of July 4th, at the last minute, for $125 per night for two beds plus a foldout queen.  For reference, you can’t really stay at a cheap Wis Dell on-strip motel for this price, and this hotel has an indoor/outdoor "waterpark" (more on that later).

The hotel is indeed worn and aged, but it’s clean and it’s smallish indoor waterpark is actually bigger than some we’ve seen (like the New Concord).  Our room was clean and stayed clean throughout our stay, and all the amenities worked. 

We made our way to the waterpark, and although it’s certainly not going to compete with Kalahari or Mount Olympus, it is a nice indoor waterpark with plenty to do for the younger kids (10 and under).  There are five or six toddler-sized slides and two bigger slides (our ten year old was fine on them, and then got bored iwth them after a couple of trips).  It also has a water basketball area, a zero depth pool, things that spray and dump water at you everywhere, and one of those lilipad-like things that you try to balance your way across the pool.  

The outdoor pool was basically the same.  Great decor, well themed, and all the sprayers and water activities were in working order.  Oh, and there are two whirlpools for those of you (like me) who spend time relaxing – one indoor and one outdoor.  The indoor park has a snack bar adjacent, and the outdoor park has a small bar that they sell things like Mike’s Hard Lemonaide out of ice buckets.  

Overall, our stay was great and everyone at Raintree provided exactly what we expected for our $125 a night.  Despite several bad reviews on hotel review sites, I would recommend this hotel to anyone looking for a discount stay in an expensive resort town, as long as you don’t mind threadbare carpets and old furniture.