If you're only going to Wisconsin to visit the Dells, then you will miss out on some unique experiences! Yes, the Wisconsin Dells is filled with amazing places to eat, tons of roller coasters, water parks, and tours to Ride the Ducks. Instead of focusing on the Dells, I have listed 4 activities that you MUST do on a 3-4 day trip to Wisconsin in October.
1. Cranberry Boggin'
Want to throw cranberries in the air like you're shooting an ad for Ocean Spray? @oceansprayinc You know you do! It's the best $10 you'll spend for a selfie. You can visit a cranberry bog early September-October. But at Warrens, Wisconsin's Wetherby Cranberry Co., you need to visit the first weekend in October in order to don those thigh-high boots and wade in the bog. You'll get the photo op of the season (https://freshcranberries.com/). The cranberry harvest season is a memorable moment for family vacations, a solo-trip, or a father-daughter weekend get-away.
Every tour will be different than the next farm, but I genuinely recommend making a trip to Wetherby. When we first got to the farm, there were kids serving warm cranberry cider for $2 a glass. Can you say yum? After buying cider, we hopped on the big yellow bus with a group of other anxious tourists. While on the bus, the tour guide (a member of the family owned farm) told us all a story about how the farm first became an idea. We also learned how cranberries were harvested: the fields are flooded with water to raise all of the cranberries off the the vines.
2. Salmon Fishing
I know what you might be thinking: oh, it's just fishing. Sounds easy and fun, right?
Never in my life did I sweat so much due to trying to reel in a smelly fish! I was told by my fishing instructors from a local and tourist favorite, Jack's Charting Service, that the average weight of live salmon is around 15-19 pounds. That sounds pretty light weight until you are trying to reel in a very angry, feisty fish with a tiny string and bendy rod!
We met captain Jack and his first mate Joe at 4:30AM to get the boat ready. We stayed on the boat in the bay of Lake Michigan. Jack's Charting Service had a fish locator, depth meter, homemade bait, tons of fishing reels and other automated devices. The "secret bait" that the charting service uses is cell membranes and eggs from the female salmon. The secret bait attracts so many fish that the locals were wanting to buy some off of our charting guides!
By the end of the day, we had caught over 10 salmon! We were told by Jack and Joe that females taste better, so we only kept the girls. They even helped to filet the salmon once we were done! We ended up taking home 7 salmon worth of filets (and we are still eating them). Surprisingly, the road trip home only slightly smelled like fish.
3. House on the Rock
I have seen a lot of crazy weird sights in my life...until I visited the House on the Rock located an hour away from the Wisconsin Dells. Hundreds of chandeliers on a merry-go-round, numerous animal statues, antique dolls, large cannons, automated machines, a massive room stuffed with elegant and detailed dollhouses, and a room full of organs. No picture online does justice for how astonishing this site is.
At first, this attraction started off as an ordinary house owned by a man named Alex Jordan Jr. During his lifetime, he collected many antiques and circus themed pieces from locations around the world. He arranged all of this findings on his land and eventually started to invite people to view his collection. Now, people all around the country and world come to take in this mesmerizing tourist attraction.
If you plan a trip during the cranberry harvest season, you should definitely make a trip to the "House on the Rocks". Around that time of year, the attraction will only be open 8 nights out of the month of October. Since Halloween is right around the corner, the attraction sets up the site for the Halloween season by opening as the "Dark Side". Employees and volunteers dress up to scare you throughout the attraction!
4. CHEESE
Wisconsin: The Dairy Capital. Everybody knows Wisconsin is famous for the country's most delicious cheese. But have you ever had cheese in Wisconsin? The drive or flight to Wisconsin might be completely fulfilled by stopping at one of the numerous cheese shops along the highways and in local towns.
Cheese curds, cheese spreads, fried cheese, aged cheese, shredded cheese, cheese shaves, cheese with beef sticks, chunks of multi-colored cheese, different cheese flavors, etc, etc, etc. Do I sound like the Bumba Gump of cheese? I think I have made my point!
Go cut some cheese in Wisconsin....without anyone judging you for it!
Thank you for being awesome,
