Day 3 - Wisconsin Dells

Today started out sunny, hot with 100% humidity. I've been told that this is the hottest it has been in Wisconsin this summer. Of course, it is. I chose Wisconsin, the Wyndham farthest to the north in the US, for cooler weather, and I get 90 degrees and humidity.

We had coffee on the balcony and watched a group of people zipline past our unit. The zipline is scheduled to open later in the week, but the crew was trying it out this morning in preparation. As I sat watching, sipping my coffee and glancing at the paper I thought how I might venture out of my comfort zone and give it a try. That lasted until one of the crew members couldn't make it to the tower, zipped back, and stopped, hanging in the middle of the zipline suspended over the parking lot. We watched the rescue and all of us clapped when he made it to the tower.

We left the resort and heading into the Dells to ride a jet boat down the Wisconsin River, which Nancy told us was tons of fun. The 50-minute ride covered 12 miles of the river and traveled in excess of 40 mph.

We were seated in the third row behind the front of the boat which sported a huge sign that read, Hold on to the railing. Our captain told us he would do the following:

• Periodically slam on the brakes (so to speak) so that the boat would come to a stop giving us a good soaking to either wake us up or relieve us from the heat. 
• Spin us around so that the back of the boat would catch the front of the boat. 
• Educate us on the history of the upper dells. 

He was a man of his word. Although his spiel about how he didn't believe we would get very wet because "there wasn't a breeze" turned out to be false. We were thoroughly soaked at the end of the trip.

The views of the river were beautiful and the boat ride was awesome. I love being on the water and I really love being on the water where there are zero alligators!

After the jet boat ride, we had lunch at the snack shop adjacent to the tour shack. It was probably the best meal we have eaten since arriving. The sandwiches were toasted and handmade and we all raved about them the rest of the day.

We left the Dells and returned back to the resort where we hit the rest of the waterparks. Each park offers something different. This third indoor waterpark, with a special roof designed to tan indoors, was a wave pool. You could ride on rafts or swim free every half hour while the waves rolled.

There was also a family tube ride with up to four riders that carried you through tubes that went outside the building, back inside, looping you around at a rapid speed until you spit out into the whirlpool at the bottom. I rode with Madison and Joey and got seated going down backward which was fine with me as I don't like to see what horror is coming next. I thought the ride was quite tame compared with the other rides I'd experienced, and I was enjoying myself until I saw Joey's eye widen and we went airborne for what seemed like an eternity.

The third outdoor waterpark, The New Frontier, had 110,000 square feet of water rides with a lazy river, several slides, a play area, and three pools. The slides at each pool were either tube slides or body slides, and despite my better judgment, I did attempt several rides. By the end of the day, I was a tad sore from all the riding around and was quite thankful to rest in the waterpark with the massage pool area complete with a water bench and jets to soothe aches and pains.

I left the parks earlier than the rest of the crew, showered, and made a spaghetti meal which we enjoyed outdoors on our balcony. Nancy and I watched a movie, Tom listened to the Rays game, and the rest of the clan passed out by eleven. Another relaxing, yet entertaining day.