Fourth of July 2008: What to Do on Your 3-Day Weekend

This year the fourth of July falls on a Friday. Looking for something to do on your three day weekend?

With the soaring price of gas how about sticking fairly close to home? We live two hours away from Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. Wisconsin Dells has many attractions. There are a lot of hotels with indoor and outdoor water parks for you and your family to enjoy.

One hotel, Kalahari, is even offering $40.00 back to hotel guests to help pay for gas! The management does not want guests to pass up coming to Wisconsin Dells due to the high gas prices at this time.

There are so many delicious restaurants in Wisconsin Dells. You can find just about any type of food you are hungry for. From big fat juicy bar burgers to Italian saucy dishes, to hearty grilled steaks. You may also enjoy a meal at one of the fine restaurants along the Wisconsin River. Great food with picturesque scenery.

Throughout Wisconsin Dells you can find two helpful magazines. The "WDIH Company Presents Guide Book Wisconsin Dells Area" magazine offers coupon discounts. The "2008 Travel & Attraction Guide" is also very helpful. You can find both of these magazines at the grocery store, liquor store, most hotels, and at information booths throughout the Dells. Both magazines offer information on hotels, restaurants, and attractions. These are very helpful guides for pricing and amenities offered at the hotels.

Feeling lucky? Try winning back your gas money at Ho-Chunk Casino! Ho-Chunk has shuttle buses from the hotels to the casino offered throughout the day and evening for free. Yes, free! Many slot machines, craps, Russian Roulette, card tables, drinks to buy (not free like Las Vegas), a few restaurants throughout the casino, scheduled shows and more! Babysitting is even offered if you and your loved one want some alone time. The cost is a little pricey but your children are handled in a safe manner.

Walk the busy streets and shop. Beach stores, antique stores, trinket stores, an Amish store, you can watch homemade taffy and fudge being made before your very eyes through a window or inside the store and then purchase the delicious items, leather stores featuring moccasins and purses, and more!

Make sure you stop at Goody Goody Gum Drop for a dose of sugar. You will find old~fashioned candy from your childhood at this store! Your kids can make their own colored sugar stick. Thick pieces of different flavored fudge await your taste buds.

Test your skills at the arcade. Win a prize! Or walk one of the huge miniature golf courses.

Take an Army Boat Duck ride along the beautiful Wisconsin River. You will see many amazing rock formations all explained by a tour guide. You will even have opportunities to get off of the boat to walk a few nature trails for more amazing sites. A must to bring your camera.

Pet wildlife at StoryBook Gardens Park. Have a fun time riding the train and see more exotic birds. You will even see a giraffe, zebra, tiger, and kangaroo.

Enjoy a real train ride that takes fifty minutes through the gorgeous land. Contact Mid-Continent Railway Museum.

At Dells Mining Company you can pan for your own gemstones and keep them! I bought two pairs of painted glass earrings at this shop for under $4.00!

Have a vintage photograph taken with your family! My family and I did this last year and the prices were reasonable. We had this photo taken with our three boys and plan on going back there in twenty years. Another family did that and it was priceless!

On a romantic getaway? Tour the Wollersheim Winery. The stone cellars are underground. Take in the view of the vineyards.

Spring Brook Golf Course is a very challenging course for all ages! Cold Water Canyon Golf Course is also for all levels of golf ability.

Dells Comedy Club will surely laugh away your stresses while the Broadway Dinner Theatre will impress all! The dinner theatre show is a family show.

Feeling adventurous? Take a horseback ride! There are so many gorgeous sites to soak up. When my husband and I took a horseback ride, I ended up with a very tall horse (which scared me to death!) named Tequila! My husband had a short, stocky, grumpy, old horse appropriately named "Grandpa!"

Go on an actual Monster Truck ride! Fun for the entire brave family ages four and up. Or sit and relax at the Monster Truck show.

Wisconsin Dells is a mini vacation with so much to do.

Drive (or fly) to Wisconsin Dells or find a small entertaining area close to home.

Don't feel like leaving town?

How about a picnic at a park with your immediate family and/or extended family. Set up games. Most parks have horseshoe pits. Bring horseshoes or borrow them from a neighbor.

Make easy food such as pre-made turkey and lettuce sandwiches, baked beans, pasta salad, pickles, olives, potato salad, and potato chips. The point is to be with family having fun. Don't make a huge menu and stress yourself out making the food.

Pack a Frisbee or two. Bring a football to toss around.

If you are at a park with a beach, take a cool dip in the water to feel your cares wash out of your body. You are on vacation. We are celebrating America's birthday. Think of the soldiers. Before eating say a special prayer for our soldiers fighting and away from their loved ones. Leave an empty spot at the picnic table in memory of those not able to share the day here in America.

Rainy weather? Bring your picnic indoors. Do something different. Spread blankets on the floors and eat your food in the house on festive paper plates. Your kids will love it! Look at the bright side: No bugs!

Play cards or board games to entertain each other. If you feel like it, ahead of time go to the Dollar Tree and buy a few children's prizes and/or adult prizes for extra added fun. There is no reason rain should ruin your family picnic!

Bless you and your family this 4th of July.