Trip from Minnesota Summer 2025

We had plenty of adventures on our way home from Granny and Grandpa's house in Minnesota. The first day we drove to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where we stayed the night and went to Wisco's for dinner. The restaurant features local flavors and local brews. I had Surly Brewing Company's This Beer Is Niiice, a golden ale that was refreshing. I paired it with the Charred Chicken Bowl from their "Scontrees" menu. That's not "scones" plus "trees;" it is the last half of the state name substituted in for the first syllable of "entrees." Pretty clever, huh? It was a delightful meal.

A satisfying beer!

We got up the next morning and drove to Wisconsin Dells where an uncle was able to get us day passes to Kalahari Water Park, a combination indoor and outdoor water park with lots of slides, two lazy rivers and plenty of other water fun. Some of the slides were really fun, some took a bit of a hit on my back. Those were the "extreme" slides where riders don't use a raft or tube--riders cross their ankles and hold their hands behind their heads. My daughter rode them but her swimsuit is practically a UV t-shirt for the top so she had a layer between her and the surface of the ride. She didn't get dinged up like I did.

Other rides (with rafts or floating rings) were more fun for me. We did a lot of walking up stairs all day. Too bad my wife was not wearing her Fitbit at the waterpark!

The entrance

The lobby

Wave pool and slides

More of the wave pool

"Extreme" slides

Hot tub and lazy river

The resort does have an outdoor water park which is not open all year because they are located in Wisconsin. It had some fun slides (including one where you wound up in what looks like roulette wheel) but waiting in line in the sunshine was not my favorite.

The outdoor park

We spent almost the whole day there, leaving just before dinner time. We went to The Fudgery nearby for ice cream to tide us over until dinner in our next stop: Whitewater, Wisconsin.

The Fudgery

Driving further south, we stopped at Fair Oaks Farms in Indiana. It's a large farm and museum with a convention center. Everything is top of the line. 

Main building at Fair Oaks Farms

We ate lunch there. Since they are a farm, they had a lot of emphasis on cheese and dairy products. I got the 1/2 grilled cheese sandwich and beef chili topped with cheese and sour cream. It was delightful. I also had a local root beer, Triple XXX Root Beer. I am still puzzled why there is three Xs and the word "Triple" before them. Is it supposed to be six or nine?

Lunch!

The transport between farm locations also uses "farm fresh" products 

Another building in walking distance has an indoor high ropes course. Three of us signed up for it but only one of us made full use of all the levels.

High ropes course

Did I really stand like that?

Crossing confidently

Hanging hopefully

Resting...restfully?

Our next stop was Indianapolis where we met our niece to catch up. We went out to a ramen shop and did some geocaching. We had a lot of fun and took no pictures.

The next day was the mad rush to finally make it home. We spent about ten hours driving, with some short stops for gas, food, and geocaching.

Virginia Aquarium, Virginia Beach

The Virginia Aquarium is on the outskirts of Virginia Beach. It has two buildings separated by a nature trail that includes some viewing platforms along Owl Creek and an Adventure Park. We started our visit by trying to find parking in a very full parking lot. Once that was done, we got in line to buy tickets and enter the north building.

Virginia Aquarium (north building)

Welcoming sign

Bypassing the photo room (they take your picture and try to sell you the photo at the end of your visit), we enjoyed the upland river exhibit, with some catfish and other fresh-water fellows.

Catfish

The coastal river exhibit includes some more traditionally land animals, like snakes and turtles.

Too hot to come out

A massive turtle

A ferocious little crab with one big pincer!

Around the corner is the Komodo Dragon exhibit. We saw two of them. The exhibit has a spot to crawl underneath and peek up through a dome. Our youngest did that but did not stay long enough for me to get a picture since the dragon was headed straight for the dome!

Enjoying a rest

Getting a drink before attacking young children

The next exhibit was a two-story tank where visitors walk through a tunnel in the middle. Seeing fish above, to the left, and to the right was amazing.

Under a ray

One section of the aquarium is dedicated just to sharks. In addition to the big tank, side exhibits show the skeletons of sharks (made of cartilage, not bone) and lots of other interesting facts.

Shark and shadow

More rays

A mixed community

Another section is dedicated to sea turtles, massive creatures that move slowly and majestically.

Sea turtle

A dry touching pool let my son feel the hard shells of hermit crabs.

A hands-on exhibit!

We walked south to the other building which had an empty river otter exhibit (bummer!), and a very full area of jellies. While they live in the ocean, jellies are not considered fish and are a separate part of the animal tree, much like mushrooms are not considered plants even though they grow in the ground.

Creepy lighting for creepy creatures

Another touching pool let my son feel the top of the jellies. The curator had visitors (not me, I did not want to touch!) wash their hands before carefully feeling when the jellies flopped right-side up. They spent a lot of time sideways and upside down, though I suppose they don't think about it since they don't have brains, only nervous systems.

Touching a jelly

Another exhibit showed off amazing superpowers of some fish, like eels that live in the sand and rocks, only poking out to get food. We spent so much time talking there, I didn't take pictures.

The walk back to the car, back down the nature trail, took us past the Adventure Park, a high ropes adventure system that we did not try out. It looked very popular and had too many other children for my kids to be interested. Maybe sometime when it isn't spring break week?

Adventure Park (at least some of it)