I chose this feature photo because I thought it fitting. It reads: “Fernweh — German word meaning an ache for distant places; missing places you’ve never been. ‘Craving for travel.’” I have definitely experience Fernweh!

50 days. I’ve been on the road for 50 days (minus the Ranch days)! That seems like a big number, but it has both flown by and taken forever. Kim and I talked about how each day was like 2 days in one. Driving in the morning and playing in the afternoon/evening. It is fun!

Murphy and I had coffee and breakfast on our patio, and I left to pick up my sister Whitney from the Madison, WI airport, about an hour away. She will be accompanying us as we head to Noblesville, IN, where she lives. After a successful pick up, we drove back to the Dells. We did a lap up and down the main drags to get an idea of what’s around. Lunch was quick at a local place (B-Lux), and we parked to explore on foot.

We discovered the Torture Museum. For $8 a person, you can tour a 3 room museum with different torture devices on display, placards explaining what they are and how/why they were used, and even had a serial killer corner. It was… memorable? It is disturbing that humans can come up with devices whose sole purposes are misery and pain, but also fascinating. I am glad that I went, especially with Whitney. We had several good laughs that you can only have with family/spouses/old friends (morbid, I know).

We also found the flying simulator type ride at the Wilderness Resort. It is very similar to Soarin’ at Epcot. You sit in a chair buckled in and then the whole bench moves out until your shoes are hanging off the edge of the balcony. You are in front of a massive screen and you fly through national parks and other world famous sites. The benches move with the video so it feels like flying.

The absolute highlight was going to the Rick Wilcox Magic Show. Rick has been performing in the Dells for almost 25 years, and he has his own theatre. He and his assistant (his wife) amazed the mostly sparse crowd with sleight of hand and big illusions. He had a really good audience participation illusion involving folding and ripping up a few playing cards, trading the pieces with your neighbor, discarding them until you had one half left. Then you swapped with your neighbor and the cards matched. It worked for both Whitney and me! If you like magic shows and are in the Dells, I’d recommend this show for sure.

We found a local Mexican restaurant for dinner and discussed how we thought he accomplished the tricks. After eating too much chips and salsa, we headed back to Crystal to hang out for the rest of the night.

I grew up in southern Indiana, where a local radio station had a morning show called the Bob and Tom Show. My mom LOVED that radio show, so I listened to at least some of it every morning of my childhood. They had comedian guests who would do bits, wrote and performed their own sketches, and laughed the entire time over all of their stuff. Multiple times a year, they would release a CD with the highlights since the last CD. My mom would then gift us these CDs for whatever holiday was next. It was awesome.

I have saved these CDs (some are probably 30+ years old) because they are hilarious and provide a lot of memories for me. Whitney brought a portable CD player, and we listened to these CDs for a couple of hours. We laughed and laughed at how we could remember the songs and punchlines, and also at the jokes we never got as kids because they were over our heads (they can get very racy). We were also amazed (and horrified) at the some of the content that they never could/should do today as it is mysoginistic, homophobic, and racist.

Looking forward to our full day in the Dells tomorrow!