Original Wisconsin Ducks

We knew that we didn’t have much time before we had to head back home from the Dell’s today, but I also knew that we really should do something since we were in the area. I’m pretty sure that I was the only one in the group that wanted to go to one of the Water Parks, so the next best thing on the list was to take a Duck ride.

Now if you’ve never been on the Wisconsin Ducks before.. we’ll you just will have to add it to your bucket list. It’s kind of like seeing the Grand Canyon or the Statue of Liberty.. OK  maybe it’s not that big of a deal. But you probably should do it if you have a chance.

The Ducks are army vehicles that go both on the land and water. They were used in Sicily, D-Day Invasion, and the Pacific Theatre before they were retired. Our trip started by getting on board the Duck in our resort parking lot and off we went. The driver said that they can get up to speeds of 55 miles an hour on the highway and I’m thinking the way the wind was blowing – it was a good thing that I didn’t spend too much time on my hair this morning. (OK, I never spend too much time on my hair any mornings!) We went to another hotel with this resort and picked up a bunch more people and then we were off on our adventure. The tour started out with driving through a small winding path and we found out later, that these paths that we were taking through the woods were the paths that were originally the roads cut by the primitive city of Newport’s streets, old stagecoach runs, and roads cut by the rivermen. In 1956 the woods that we were in was transferred from the owner to the Dells Boat Company with the stipulation that the land must be left in it’s natural state. And you know what? That’s exactly what they did and the scenery was really cool! Below is a picture to give you an idea on what the land looked like when we were driving it it. There were a lot of trees and cliffs. The temperature was a lot cooler that it was before we got into the woods and we were told that the sandstone cliffs kept the moisture in and with the trees shading the forest, it was like a natural air conditioner.

Heading through the forest with our Duck

Then as you come around the corner all you can see is this huge river and the driver steps on the gas and goes in!

Duck people

You are now driving around in the Wisconsin River. There are beautiful sandstone ridges all along the river and man they are old! It turns out that the river area started 500 million years ago as the Cambrian Sea.  But glaciers came through and the climate warmed up and now we have this beautiful and historic part of Wisconsin right in front of us. After reading up a little bit more on this area, it was really home to Native Americans and they moved the tribes a couple of times to other states. But our guide did mention that some of the rock formations are named after some of the Native Americans which is pretty cool. So we hang out of the river for awhile and then off to Lake Delton. We needed to get back on land and then inch our way through this one pass which we literally had only inches on each side of our Duck before we would hit the rocks. It was really fun to listen to some of the little boys on our trip and I was wondering the time that we took our boys when they were little if they asked as many questions as these kids did? I’m guessing that they probably did. Now to get into Lake Delton. The driver asked if we wanted to go fast or slow into the water. So duh…everyone said fast! Then he said that the back people were probably going to get wet and about now everyone looked a little nervous. And they did get wet when he floored it! A huge wave came over the back and came into the boat.  But we didn’t get wet, so we thought it was kind of funny. We spent some time on this man made lake and then back on land.  On the way out of the forest we came across this one reforestation project area that the owner started back in the 1940’s. It was pretty cool looking and it’s my photo of the day.

Photo of the day

As we were getting close to the highway, I saw a bunch of old statues that went a long way on both sides of our road and our guide never mentioned anything about it. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I never took a picture of them either. I found out that they were gargoyle statues and columns from the Chicago Board of Trade Building when it was being demolished back in 1932. The owner bought them and had them placed on her property. It didn’t take long and we were back at our hotel and getting in our car for the drive home. What a fun thing to do on a Sunday afternoon!