Wisconsin Dells Camping Trip

July 30 – August 1, 2004

Friday July 30, 2004

• We had just camped last week, but I am determined to camp as much as possible the rest of the season. I convinced Tracy to go again this week. This time we stayed in Baraboo at the Baraboo Hills Campground.

• I had to be in Rockford for work, so Tracy went with me, and then we left from Rockford to Baraboo. It was about a 2 hour drive. It took us longer than last time to set up the tent. I had tried to set it up sideways. Tracy told me the front door was the side window and I listened. I went and bought some wood at the gas station and we were ready to relax. The wood was green and the fire would not start no matter what I did. I tried for over an hour, got really irritated, and then Tracy took over. She got the fire started within 10 minutes. Finally able to relax, we had some drinks and made smores. This campground is nice and quiet. We watched the fire for a few hours, talked and listened to some music. We had a great night sleep. Perfect weather.

Saturday July 31, 2004

• Woke up around 9:00, and made breakfast burritos. I had cooked sausage at home before we left and froze it.  All we had to do at camp was scramble the eggs, and then we had egg, cheese and sausage burritos.

• After breakfast we relaxed for a few hours and read. We then went to Gander Mountain and looked at camping supplies and then to WalMart. Tracy bought a magazine and “A Widow for a Year” by John Irving. I bought a little electronic Yahtzee game. Tracy set the high score on it her first game and it took me like 2 hours to finally beat it… There was a bead store behind the Park Plaza hotel, and Tracy has been making some beaded jewelry lately so we stopped in there and bought Tracy a bunch of new beads. Once back at the camp we got ready to go running. We only ran about two miles but it was hot out so it was enough. At about 5:00 we showered up and went to Moosejaw again. I had the Prime Rib, Tracy had the Pizza. Good food as always. On the way back to camp I found a place that sold wood for a buck a bundle. They sell it for $6 at the campground so I got 2 big bundles.

Tracy with her new beads

•  We Played Phase 10 for about an hour, then decided to start a fire. I said I thought I could do it with only one match (that’s what I heard the guy camping next to us say he did). I couldn’t… Tracy ended up starting this fire too. She is more patient and fans it to get it started. We listened to more tunes and had some more drinks and relaxed.

Tracy sitting by the fire

Sunday August 1, 2004

• Woke up at about 5:30 am. It was still dark out and there was a bad thunderstorm underway. The tent leaked a bit but not on the part of the tent we were laying on so we were ok. We couldn’t sleep for awhile, but finally the rain let up a bit and we both fell back asleep until about 9:00. We got up, started trying to dry stuff off, and cooked breakfast. We had eggs and bacon. Packing up all the wet stuff was a pain. I had to dry stuff off in the sun when I got back home at around 1:00 that afternoon. Tracy and I counted 254 RV’s or PopUps on the way home.

Final Words

• We liked this campground more than Yogi Bear because the campsites were huge, and they were surrounded by trees so they were private. It was less busy and was much quieter. Less noise from the highway etc. They loan bikes, fishing poles, volleyballs etc for free. The camp store isn't as good as Yogi Bears but it had the essentials if you forgot something.