This has been a summer to remember for myself and Sophia. We have spent the bulk of the summer traveling to the family cottage, enjoying long days of floating on the water, fishing, swimming, and bumming around local shops. The flea market in St. Germain every Monday has been a real favorite where we can browse antiques, handmade crafts, home made treats from the local ladies, munch on a bratwurst, or play on the jungle gym when we're through shopping. We've been privileged to enjoy a long, luxurious summer of travel to Devil's Lake, and we just returned from the Wisconsin Dells this past Friday.
Speaking of our trip to the Dells, I have to mention the resort we stayed at. I am not a fan of the trashy tourism of the Dells. It's not even so much that it's touristy, it's the TYPE of tourism that it seems to be. There is very little of quality on the old strip of shops, and it's set against some of our state's most dramatic and beautiful nature-scapes. At any rate, we had wanted to have a family vacation that was more oriented toward things Sophia was find exciting and among those things is the water park. The Wisconsin Dells is known as the country's water park mecca, and included in the nightly rate of our resort was "free" water park passes.
If you ever find yourself itching to see some sites in the Dells, take a Duck Tour, eat some colored popcorn, walk the Wisconsin River, then I'd highly recommend staying at http://www.birchcliff.com/ . They rent modest, clean cabins, some are duplex style others are one family, larger cabins, sleeping up to 6 adults. The place has the feel of what I began to call the "family camp". It was reminiscent of Girl Scout camps I've attended. The resort has been around for a while, and yet is very comfortable, homey and fun. They offer a tennis court, basketball, volleyball, three separate ping pong tables (one of which is a lovely concrete slab and stone table, set among the trees outside), shuffle board, a heated, in ground pool, community fire pit, recreation room with air hockey, foos ball, carpet ball, as well as a hiking trail to the river where you could picnic and swim if you were so inclined. We really enjoyed the resort and plan to go next year as a part of our annual Devil's Lake vacation. It is a short drive from Devil's Lake and we could alternate between the State Park and the water parks, avoiding the bulk of the trashier side of the Dells. If you have a family vacation in the works, or a reunion, this would be an ideal place in a park like setting that is quiet and relaxed. Each time I went into the office, The Grateful Dead was quietly playing in the lobby and a friendly, smiling face greeted me from behind the desk. I'd give Birchcliff Resort 4 stars for family camp style vacation.
