Day 5: THE WISCONSIN DELLS (Wild Rock and Trappers Turn)
Wisconsin Dells. I guess I kept hearing about waterparks and waterparks and it being a great place to bring the family. And water parks. But, in my mind, I had it a little quaint Traverse City, Petoskey. You know, a casino down the road, but cute little boutiques and art galleries, punctuated by ice cream parlors and wine bars. WRONG! As we pass the Wisconsin Dells sign and then head onto what I will call the main drag... you encounter a tourist area like none other. The biggest touristy, cheesy, Wally World (and yes, there is a Wally World) type of experience (with a lot of water parks). We drive down the main drag and pass Famous Daves (yes, that's where we'll have lunch), every kind of tee shirt, vintage photo, candy store you can imagine. I could never have imagined this as Wisconsin Dells.
Tom and I want to go to Paul Bunyans for breakfast (we have a thing for doing touristy, non chain restaurant kinds of experiences and why wouldn't you want to go to a place with a huge Paul Bunyan outside). It doesn't open until 7 am, so we drive around -- past water park after water park. The best is Rome -- it has a Trojan Horse, the Parthenon, and about as much Roman cheese as you can handle. Right next to the upside down White House (that's themed Top Secret). Discover that Pete HATES eggs scrambled, as omelets, in any way except fried. So, when we find out that Paul Bunyan is family style only, with only scrambled eggs, we bypass it and go to Dennys (no, not the chain, but the Elvis Denny's) with it's world famous cinnamon rolls). What a way to start a morning before golf. Wondering if Wild Rock is going to be themed like the Flintstones, or something wacky. Pull into Wild Rock and you can tell we'll probably have a pretty decent experience. GPS in the carts, people at the bag drop.
Well, the wheels definitely fell off this morning on Wild Rock -- and it wasn't the course. We really liked Wild Rock (yes, they accept American Express). Felt like Michigan. Farm Houses, rolling woods, carry over canyon-like things. But, I happened to have a case of the dreadful s***ks (yes, the word I can't even bring myself to type in this blog). And I couldn't seem to cure it. And I couldn't get my driver to behave. Didn't help when you're having a mental kind of morning to have someone (Pete) tell me getting up to the teebox (I see a woodie coming on this shot) with trees all of the way down the right side. Just god awful. But, decided to do the seven wood play. See how many different shots I could pull off with that club. It ended up working for me (along with drinking three beers when the beer cart came along) enough to salvage a 43 on the back (with three pars in a row). And, they have a barn that was turned into the restrooms on the course. How cool is being able to pee in a barn?
Well, the wheels definitely fell off this morning on Wild Rock -- and it wasn't the course. We really liked Wild Rock (yes, they accept American Express). Felt like Michigan. Farm Houses, rolling woods, carry over canyon-like things. But, I happened to have a case of the dreadful s***ks (yes, the word I can't even bring myself to type in this blog). And I couldn't seem to cure it. And I couldn't get my driver to behave. Didn't help when you're having a mental kind of morning to have someone (Pete) tell me getting up to the teebox (I see a woodie coming on this shot) with trees all of the way down the right side. Just god awful. But, decided to do the seven wood play. See how many different shots I could pull off with that club. It ended up working for me (along with drinking three beers when the beer cart came along) enough to salvage a 43 on the back (with three pars in a row). And, they have a barn that was turned into the restrooms on the course. How cool is being able to pee in a barn?
After golf, we have some time to kill and decide to head to the main drag to go to Famous Dave's for lunch (BBQ). I'm not Texan so I'm not picky about BBQ. It was pretty decent. Then, a couple of tee shirt shops on their way to find ice cream. With lots of inappropriate tee shirts. Everyone knows I haven't been party to most of the Tiger jokes circulating, but this one was pretty funny. Don't need more than a couple of hours on the strip to be maxed out. Even though, it was great people watching and pretty amusing. Off to Trappers Turn (yes, they accept American Express)-- still wondering if this is going to have some crazy theme to it. On the range, I still have my issues and realize it's just going to be that kind of day that I probably don't fix it and the next day, with new shoes, a different hat, a different ball marker, different clothes, different golf course -- that I should be fine (yes, I'll blame just about everything even if I know it's all me, not my ball marker). So, rather than donate my money to charity (Dave), I decide not to play in the game (yes, you can do that if you want). Could have picked up a whole lot of trash when I chipped in for birdie on the second hole (that'd be birdie, net eagle, chippie, skin). The mosquitos were definitely biting at Trappers Turn. Great course, but clearly need to play it a couple of times before you know where you should (or should not) be going.
Wild Rock (http://www.wildrockgolf.com/)
Trappers Turn (http://www.trappersturn.com/)
Comments