We love to have fun with Aunt Marie!
Yesterday we drove to the famous (relatively speaking, of course) Wisconsin Dells for a tour of the very Dells themselves! And in what better vehicle than a WWII DUKW?
Wondering what an "army duck" is? Here ya go...
David has been looking forward to this day for months. (He loves anything even remotely related to guns--something I'm desperately trying to take in stride--so an amphibious vehicle on which you can mount guns? He was all over that.)
David enjoyed learning about how the army ducks worked.
Mary enjoyed making faces.
Does your vehicle have this gauge?
(How cool is that? Oh, hey, I'm driving on coral, allow me to adjust my tire pressure accordingly.)
Our vehicle had that gauge!
Even though it was broken.....
Mary was scared at first. She almost refused to go. This is Mary showing me how she was scared.
But once we got going, she loved it!
David, not surprisingly, loved it.
What a handsome kid.
During the one hour tour, we entered and exited the water twice. Here is what it looks like when one of these things leaves the water. (This vehicle belongs to the other tour guide operators in town.)
Six wheel drive, baby.
Anyway, the whole point of the tour is to see the Dells.
Almost there...
Drum roll...
Ta-duh...
Try not to pass out from excitement...
This, my friends, is the whole reason for the existence of the Water Park Capital of the World.
Okay, so it isn't Hawaii or New Zealand. But it is quite lovely. Definitely worth cruising by and snapping some pictures.
Some scientists believe that the rock formations may have been formed in just two weeks by a massive post-Ice Age thaw and violent flood. Crazy.
Usually you can see much more of the formations, but the river is super high right now. (Like many other rivers around the country.) I think on a more normal, less swollen day, our duck would have circled this island.
Also, under the ledge on this rock are the nests of some birds that migrate up here from Venezuela. They eat three times their body weight of mosquitoes each day.
I want these birds to know that they are welcome in my backyard anytime. Especially in August.
Mary wanted to pose for me in front of the natural beauty, so here ya go.
Soon enough, it was time to leave the Dells behind. Up, up, up, and
out of the water. (Six wheel drive, baby. And 1 mpg. Three on land.)
These here are our army duck rescue boats. (The river was so swollen that rescue ducks were on alert.)
Fortunately, we required no rescue from a duck or any other water fowl.
Army ducks were usually used to transport supplies from ship to shore. Our duck did a fine job transporting us folks from loading dock to dells and back. As expected, it was a little cheesy and underwhelming. But it was a great outing! We had a lot of fun. (And David left ready to send a postcard to his bff about it and determined to build an army duck out of Legos. So I know the adventure was a success!)
Before we left, we of course needed a picture with this helicopter on site.
And Mary insisted on a few more poses...because there is no better background for cute little girl pics than a beat up army helicopter.
Aww, but she's cute no matter what the background.
Good night. More fun awaits us tomorrow! (And I'm pretty wiped out from today...pictures coming.)
