State #14 Wisconsin (1st half)

That’s right, Wisconsin; known for the Green Bay Packers and cheese!

But first, a little interesting info for you that I found at the rest area.

For this next one, I feel like taking a cue from the late great Paul Harvey and saying, “And now you know the rest of the story. ”

The rest stop was nice and parklike.

I could have titled this post the day we almost wrecked but I didn’t want to sound like an alarmist. Here’s how it all went down. We are driving down the road happy as larks, when all of a sudden Tuck says, “Uh, Mason just passed out!” I look back and see Mason slumped over against the window. Trev looked in the rearview mirror and doesn’t see Mason’s head. He swerved trying to look back to check on Mason. Then Mason pops his little head up and started to smile until he saw how scared we were. I mean scared!

Apparently, they were playing some game they made up and when Tuck made an awesome move, Mason was so shocked he acted like he passed out. It was supposed to be just between them which would have been fine but when mom and dad think you’ve passed out for some unexplained reason, the tension in the car gets thick. I mean, Trev and I liked to have lost five years off our lives; it scared us so much. Luckily, there were no cars close to us when this all went down. Praise the Lord. Boy, did they get some kind of lecture when it first happened though.

I felt bad later because Mason didn’t mean for us to even be a part of it. He wasn’t trying to scare us. He was just being silly with his bro, who just happens to have a big mouth. Good grief. Afterwards, everyone was eerily quiet in the car until Trev and I looked at each other and burst out laughing.

A couple days later…imagine this: You are driving down the interstate behind a tractor trailer. All of the sudden the truck is abruptly slowing down and getting over. So you abruptly slow down. As the truck swerves over to the shoulder, you see it; the propane like gas tank (think the kind you exchange at gas stations except red). The tank goes flying in front of you and into the next lane. Yep, that happened. We, thankfully, missed it. However, the car beside us did not and we hear it hit the car and then the screeching from where the car is dragging it. The car pulls off the road behind us and I see from the side mirror that the tank is hung up underneath the car scrapping the road. Now, I’ve lost another five years off my life. Good grief.

Cheese house. We plan on taking a cheese making tour later during our stay in Wisconsin.

Lots of large dairies.

We have been going nonstop since we left, so we budgeted in a little downtime. Our first full day in Wisconsin was spent in the hotel. ALL DAY! It was a welcomed change. No bags to pack up, no reason to get up and get going; just a nice chill day. The boys got a lot of screen time while Trev and I nailed down some more trip plans. But you know my water babies, the best way to relax is to jump in the pool and hot tub. I, on the other hand, did laundry. Don’t feel bad for me, though. I don’t like to swim so I was perfectly content to have something else to do.

The next day, we got up and had a slow morning and then grabbed haircuts. We were dreading a non-Annie cut but it wasn’t terrible. Don’t get me wrong though, no one cuts their hair as good as Annie. We grabbed a few things from the store while we waited on haircuts and then headed for a tour of Jelly Belly. The boys were super psyched!!

You are required are wear a hat in the warehouse. Poor Trev, it’s a one size fits….most.

Tucker with his “menu”!

You take the tour via “train.”

JELLY BEANS!!! Ha! The boys really thought I was going to let them eat all that on the way back to the hotel.

So Mason’s favorite flavor he sampled was Island Punch and Tuck’s was Very Cherry. Mason didn’t care for S’mores but he said grass didn’t taste as bad as real grass. Not sure how to take that but I wouldn’t put eating grass passed him. Bless his heart. I love him though.

Mason loves the Bean Boozled game. I am not a fan. Why take a chance at getting a jelly bean that tastes like spoiled milk, dog food, rotten eggs, and other gross stuff? No, thanks but such is life with boys.

A few notes about the tour. It is a warehouse tour not a factory tour. This was my mistake. I guess I just glossed over the wording. You ride the train around the perimeter of a warehouse and watch videos of the candy making process. You don’t get to actually see that process. Again, not knocking Jelly Belly. They advertise a warehouse tour. I just didn’t catch that so I was expecting to see jelly beans actually being made. My mistake. But they had a neat waiting area and everyone gets a free sample bag of jelly beans at the end of the tour, which is free, by the way. So none of my crew complained.

Then it was back to the hotel for a little swim and then out to dinner. We are in southern Wisconsin and when you’re this close to Chicago you have to eat deep dish pizza, right? Thank you Gino’s East of Chicago!

Can’t you see that I’m a little excited.

In case you don’t know, deep dish pizza takes about 45-50 minutes or so to cook after you order it. But that’s ok, we came prepared. I would highly recommend this tactic if you are eating with kids because that’s a long time for little ones to wait before food comes.

The first three nights we stayed in Lake Geneva. It’s a little resort town for Chicagoans. It’s cute and we decided to stroll along the lake one evening.