Week 56 - Wisconsin - 09-09-2007

Welcome to Wisconsin,

For those of you who have been traveling along with us, you can take a rest this week, we visited only Milwaukee and Wisconsin Dells. Pete spent the week working in Milwaukee alone while Ellen flew home to visit family and friends. Pete made a lot of progress on his Game Tracker program, but missed Ellen terribly.

Upon Ellen's return, we went to Wisconsin Dells for the weekend. We took the Dell Army Duck ride through the Lower Dells on Saturday and on Sunday, the Mark Twain boat trip through the Upper Dells.

The whole town of Wisconsin Dells, population 2418, looks like the photos below. It is an entire city of amusement parks. They have indoor and outdoor theme parks, indoor and outdoor water parks, magic and other shows and all kinds of water activities. Around 5 million visit Wis Dells each year.

Ellen can never resist a sunrise. This one at Frank and Janice's house in Paso Robles.

Typical Wisconsin Countryside.

Dells Amphibious Duck. These vehicles were built for World War II. Melvin Flath brought the first Duck to the Dells in 1946. They have been used for tours for 61 years. The Duck is a six-wheel drive vehicle/boat that can climb a 60 degree hill with 5,000 lbs of payload while towing a 10,000 pound trailer. It goes a whopping 6 miles per hour in the water.

The ride

Splash down!

The Dells are on the Wisconsin River. They were first named the Dalles, by the French, meaning layers of rock. Over the years and with a language translation they become the Wisconsin Dells. The rock is Cambrian Sandstone, a type of rock which exists in only four places in the world: Germany, Switzerland, New York and the Wisconsin Dells. The water and wind have carved the rocks along both sides of the river into beautiful natural sculptures.

This rock formation has four caves that meet in the middle. Here you see right through it.

The Upper Dells has hundreds of beautiful rocks on its shores. The third picture is called Chief Blackhawk, a prominent American Indian from the area. The fourth photo is Chimney Rock.

As we left the Dells and headed toward Minnesota, we were left with the impression that Wisconsin is the most beautiful state we have traveled through. While all the states east of the Mississippi are green, grassy, full of trees and water, Wisconsin has rolling hills and beautiful open meadows as well.

We are pleased to announce that on Saturday, September 8, 2007, Chad asked Emily to marry him. Emily was delighted to accept. Plans are just getting started but the currently the wedding date is planned for early May 2008. We are delighted as well. Congratulations to Chad and Emily and may God bless you both as you continue to share your love with each other. Love, Mom and Dad.

The happy couple, the ring and the quilt. Prior to meeting Emily, Chad had created a bed-sized quilt. It took so long to make that Chad believed that he would never make another except for someone very special. He made this quilt, which took over 150 hours, as an engagement gift for Emily.

We will be heading to the Minnesota Twin Cities and on through toward Fargo, North Dakota. We will be picking the pace a little bit as we wish to get to see Pete's brother Mike in Montana before the weather gets too cold.

Love you all,

Pete and Ellen

Photos from Sep 2007