Brent Koppenhaver

It’s almost the end of August and summer is inevitably winding down. School at Iowa started on Monday and Sara has been back in class since last week. The sun has been setting earlier each day, cutting into my bike riding time after work. The Olympics in Beijing are over and football season is finally here. Labor Day is this coming weekend. With all that in mind it’s nice to take a look back at our vacation in early July when summer was still in full swing.

I’ve never been to the Wisconsin Dells before but Sara was always saying we should go sometime, so for the weekend of the Fourth we decided to visit. Joining us were my parents plus my siblings Leslie and Ross. Sara found us all a nice log cabin located near the river, which proved to be just the right size for everyone. On Thursday after Ross got off work the three of us drove up from Iowa City. The trip took around four hours, mostly interstate but also a bit of two-lane without much traffic or construction until we neared the Dells. On the first night we grilled out and cruised the strip downtown. We also played one of the five excellent courses at Pirate’s Cove Adventure Golf where Ross had the lowest score.

On Friday morning we wanted to take a tour of the actual Wisconsin Dells. There are several different types of boats available like river boats, Ducks, and jet boats, plus quite a few different operating companies. We decided to go with the Original Wisconsin Ducks (pictured above) and had a great time. Our tour took us along the lower Dells and past the drained Lake Delton, which Ben also visited recently. After lunch at Moose Jaw Brew Pub we checked out Mt. Olympus, where we rode two roller coasters, Hades and Cyclops, and also the Trojan Horse go-karts (in the background of the picture above). In the evening we found a good spot to watch fireworks in the parking lot of the Wilderness Glacier Canyon Lodge. In fact we were able to see about five different fireworks displays going on around the area, and on the way home we stopped by the side of the road to watch another.

On Saturday we started out with an hour trail ride by horseback in the morning, which was pleasant except for the animatronic characters along the way. Next we played a round of mini-golf at Timber Falls Adventure Park where Ross won again. In the afternoon we went to Noah’s Ark, which claims to be America’s largest water park. We tried to hit as many of the different water slides as we could, including the big drop slides and my favorite the Black Anaconda, which is a “watercoaster.” The log flume ride called Flash Flood was also a lot of fun. We ate dinner at Monk’s Bar & Grill.

Sunday was our last day in the Dells, and after we checked out of our cabin we headed back downtown to cruise the shops looking for souvenirs. Sara and I had our picture taken at one of those “olde tyme” picture places. We decided to go with a 1930’s mobster theme. After lunch at a German restaurant we headed back home, along with seemingly everyone else who had been at the Dells for the holiday weekend. Traffic was initially bad but thinned out the closer we got to Iowa.

To sum up the trip, I think we had a pretty full Wisconsin Dells experience. We rode the Ducks, went to a water park and rode go-karts, rollercoasters, and horses. We saw plenty of fireworks and played several rounds of mini-golf. The weather was perfect all weekend. Just a few things were left unchecked on my list of things to do including touring the more famous upper Dells and watching the Tommy Bartlett Ski Show, which is still operating but without the ski-jumping due to the draining of Lake Delton. I’ll just have to leave those for the next time we visit the Dells.

Gallery pictures

This post is pretty belated but since nobody really reads this blog it shouldn’t be too big of a deal. Back in June, Ross and I met my parents in Davenport to see the 2008 Quad Cities Air Show. To sum up the day, it was a combination of interesting, hot, noisy, sweaty, and totally rad.

We arrived at the Davenport Airport in the morning and spent about an hour walking around, taking pictures of the planes, helicopters, and other assorted military vehicles. The firearms exhibit was pretty interesting although Mom mentioned that she didn’t like us holding guns. There were quite a few WWII aircraft present including an F4U Corsair, several T-6 Texans (above) and P-51 Mustangs, an AH-64 Apache helicopter, two A-10 Thunderbolt IIs, a CH-47 Chinook helicopter, and an F/A-18 Hornet. Unfortunately there weren’t any big WWII bombers like the B-25, B-24, or B-17. I understand that they’re rare and expensive, but it would have been nice to see one or hear a flyby.

After lunch the air show started over the main runway with several stunt aircraft. There was a demonstration of wingwalking on a Stearman biplane and a race between a plane and a jet-powered semi truck. One of my favorite events was the Aeroshell Acrobatic Team flying four T-6 Texans. The sound of these high-performance propeller-driven aircraft was really unique and a lot of fun. Next was a demonstration of a P-51 Mustang, which also sounded awesome and different than anything else, very deep like a muscle car. It did a high-velocity low-altitude pass that was very cool.

At this point the big guns started to perform. First up was an F-16 Fighting Falcoln, which also did a heritage flight with the P-51. Next was the Army Golden Knights parachute team, demonstrating precision landing. At this point they turned up the rock music and the Blue Angels started to perform. The transport C-130 “Fat Albert” performed a jet-assisted takeoff (which was impressive) and then the full braking performance of the aircraft upon landing. Finally the six F/A-18 Hornets performed for about half an hour, doing pass after pass in various formations. The “knife-edge” pass was my favorite.

Afterward we went to Ruby Tuesday’s for dinner and then headed back home. All in all I had a pretty good time except for getting sunburned a bit during the airshow. I took a lot of videos of the flybys which were pretty neat, and also quite a few pictures, the best of which I added to the gallery. An update about our Fourth of July weekend in the Wisconsin Dells is next.

Gallery Pictures