# What to do in Wisconsin? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 15, 2015, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-in-wisconsin/717736 "2015-04-15T14:54:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-in-wisconsin/717736/21 "2015-04-16T11:58:24Z")
> [@solost](#): > > I want to get a nice balance between city/museum and natural sights, so what would you guys recommend as the best, most scenic state park in Wisconsin to visit? We’ll probably have time to properly visit only one or two. Very subjective, I know-- I’d have a tough decision recommending the best Michigan state park. Second to Devil’s Lake, I’ll recommend [Wildcat Mountain State Park.](http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/parks/name/wildcat/) ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-in-wisconsin/717736/22 "2015-04-16T15:00:55Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > Have to mention I worked at the WGI for three summers. (dishwasher for 2, prep cook for the third) My brother was Kitchen Manager before and after, he claims he came up with the Good Morning America best breakfast cherry stuffed French toast (I did work with the chef GMA interviewed) God bless you, your brother, and the entire kitchen staff because that breakfast is the stuff of dreams. I bet you spent a lot of time hanging out at the good ol’ Bayside Tavern as well. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-in-wisconsin/717736/23 "2015-04-16T15:31:04Z")
For great breakfasts and brunches (and dinners) I’d have to mention the [Rittenhouse Inn](http://www.rittenhouseinn.com/bayfield-wi-restaurant.html) in Bayfield, WI overlooking the Apostle islands of Lake Superior. Eating there after spending time kayaking to the ice caves or hiking around the islands is a true treat. The Apostle islands are an overlooked gem, to be sure. And Bayfield a wonderful place to jump off from to explore them. ---
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-in-wisconsin/717736/24 "2015-04-16T16:49:11Z")
The Saturday morning tapings in Madison of Public Radio International’s [Whad’ya Know](http://www.notmuch.com/wyk/notmuch-ticketing-and-shop) can be fun. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-in-wisconsin/717736/25 "2015-04-16T17:05:31Z")
> [@Personal](#): > > The Saturday morning tapings in Madison of Public Radio International’s [Whad’ya Know](http://www.notmuch.com/wyk/notmuch-ticketing-and-shop) can be fun. I’ve been a guest on that show! OP. if you get as far as Madison (about 2.5 hours from Manitowoc), PM me. We can have lunch or something. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-in-wisconsin/717736/26 "2015-04-16T17:08:24Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Second to Devil’s Lake, I’ll recommend [Wildcat Mountain State Park.](http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/parks/name/wildcat/) I find the campsites a bit to close with little privacy (but should not be a big deal if you are used to MI state parks). The views are great though. I bike caped there once - I remembered the step entrance road but forgot about the hilly roads to get to the entrance. Brian ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-in-wisconsin/717736/27 "2015-04-16T17:10:20Z")
> [@SaharaTea](#): > > God bless you, your brother, and the entire kitchen staff because that breakfast is the stuff of dreams. I bet you spent a lot of time hanging out at the good ol’ Bayside Tavern as well. I did lay lots of bacon and sausage on baking trays, and did separate egg yolks for hollandaise sauce, but can’t claim much more for breakfast. Brian ---
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-in-wisconsin/717736/28 "2015-04-16T17:24:09Z")
[WI Cheese Map](http://www.eatwisconsincheese.com/assets/pdfs/WisconsinCheeseMap.pdf) (pdf) [3 Sheeps Brewing](http://3sheepsbrewing.com/) in Sheboygan [Rowland’s Calumet Brewery](http://www.rowlandsbrewery.com/) in Chilton (not too far from Sheboygan). [State Park Map](http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/parks/findapark.html/) - Pretty much all the state parks have camping but they can fill up on the weekends. Many county parks also have camping but they are harder to find/reserve online; you might have to call. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-in-wisconsin/717736/29 "2015-04-16T18:02:00Z")
If you like architecture, you can do better than a double-header tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin and House on the Rock. Conveniently near each other, you can experience the tasteful high and tacky lows of Twentieth Century architecture all in one stop. The carousel at House on the Rock will live in your family’s nightmares for years to come. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-in-wisconsin/717736/30 "2015-04-16T18:03:58Z")
> [@typoink](#): > > The carousel at House on the Rock will live in your family’s nightmares for **years** (bolding added) to come. You mean decades. My kids are still scarred 20 years later. As am I. ---
**Author:** ![tenacious\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/439d5e/32.png) [@tenacious\_j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tenacious_j)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-in-wisconsin/717736/31 "2015-04-16T19:36:54Z")
—begin hijack— > [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > You mean decades. My kids are still scarred 20 years later. As am I. Oh no. I’m only a year and a half out of it. Are you saying the dreams aren’t going away any time soon? :eek: It started out so well, with the groovy carpeted walls, and the cantilevered overlook. Then the lovely collections… then more and more and more collections. So many collections… Then the ice cream. There, that’s better. Until the old lady told me the only way out was an hour-long walk through the hall of haunted scary dolls. Oh, the dollllllls… (Crazy person smiley) Make them stop, mama! —end hijack, I need to go get Xanax now.— ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-in-wisconsin/717736/32 "2015-04-16T21:52:34Z")
> [@tenacious\_j](#): > > Oh, the dollllllls… (Crazy person smiley) Make them stop, mama! > —end hijack, I need to go get Xanax now.— Don’t forget the mannequins in old prom dresses with styrofoam angel wings, hanging from the ceiling as the horrible music blared from the carousel. You don’t get over some things. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-in-wisconsin/717736/33 "2015-04-17T01:36:15Z")
> [@typoink](#): > > The carousel at House on the Rock will live in your family’s nightmares for years to come. Heh…I thought “how crazy can a carousel be?” I briefly googled images on my phone at work- saw small thumbnails of something that looked very complicated and ornate with lots of lights. I just now googled it again on my desktop at home-- what the effing eff? That’s like the fever dream of a mad scientist serial killer :eek: Yeah, the sheer madness of the place is intriguing, but I don’t think I’ll scar my kids for life by taking them to see that. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-in-wisconsin/717736/34 "2015-04-17T02:15:05Z")
> [@solost](#): > > I just now googled it again on my desktop at home-- what the effing eff? That’s like the fever dream of a mad scientist serial killer :eek: The worst part is that the carousel gets picked on because it’s easy, but it’s _not_ close to the weirdest / creepiest thing there. One of the next rooms over is a _massive_ interior space that’s underlit and full of old circus memorobilia, a bunch of pipe organs, and the skeletons of steamships. It’s one of the weirdest spaces I’ve ever been in. It genuinely comes closer to anything I’ve ever seen to being inside a depiction of Hell from an old cartoon. House on the Rock is like taking a stroll inside a macabre, developmentally-arrested hoarder’s mind. It would genuinely not surprise me if the House on the Rock wikipedia page eventually has a section titled “After the discovery of the bodies.” ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-in-wisconsin/717736/35 "2015-04-17T02:44:34Z")
> [@typoink](#): > > The worst part is that the carousel gets picked on because it’s easy, but it’s _not_ close to the weirdest / creepiest thing there. One of the next rooms over is a _massive_ interior space that’s underlit and full of old circus memorobilia, a bunch of pipe organs, and the skeletons of steamships. It’s one of the weirdest spaces I’ve ever been in. It genuinely comes closer to anything I’ve ever seen to being inside a depiction of Hell from an old cartoon. > > House on the Rock is like taking a stroll inside a macabre, developmentally-arrested hoarder’s mind. > > It would genuinely not surprise me if the House on the Rock wikipedia page eventually has a section titled “After the discovery of the bodies.” Yeah, I really meant the whole place, since once I went down the rabbit hole and started clicking through image links I saw plenty more than the carousel. Thing is, I really do find at least parts of it really intriguing, like the infinity walk (or whatever it’s called, I shudder at the thought of looking the place up again). It all terrifies me, yet calls to me at the same time somehow… ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-in-wisconsin/717736/36 "2015-04-17T02:54:58Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Heh…I thought “how crazy can a carousel be?” I briefly googled images on my phone at work- saw small thumbnails of something that looked very complicated and ornate with lots of lights. We’ve had these conversations on these boards before. While I recommend seeing the House on the Rock I warn people that a lot of it is weird as hell. ---
**Author:** ![tenacious\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/439d5e/32.png) [@tenacious\_j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tenacious_j)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-in-wisconsin/717736/37 "2015-04-17T02:59:13Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Yeah, I really meant the whole place, since once I went down the rabbit hole and started clicking through image links I saw plenty more than the carousel. > > Thing is, I really do find at least parts of it really intriguing, like the infinity walk (or whatever it’s called, I shudder at the thought of looking the place up again). It all terrifies me, yet calls to me at the same time somehow… Well, if you get over to that part of the state, you can buy tickets to just “phase 1,” as long as your will to resist the crazy is strong. That includes the actual house on the rock itself, which is like Fred Flinstone’s bachelor pad, the infinity walk, and part of the self-playing instrument collection. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-in-wisconsin/717736/38 "2015-04-17T03:04:07Z")
The House on the Rock has been on my road trip bucket list for years. I hope to make it there before too long. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-in-wisconsin/717736/39 "2015-04-17T03:19:52Z")
There’s the Harley Davidson Museum in Milwaukee. There’s a Mir Space Station on display in Wisconsin Dells that you can go inside (it was never launched, obviously, and a guy bought it for a million dollars after the Soviet Union collapsed). ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-in-wisconsin/717736/40 "2015-04-17T03:28:17Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > There’s the Harley Davidson Museum in Milwaukee. It seems like the OP is going to stay north of here, though. Otherwise there are a zillion things around here I could suggest. Theres the [museum](http://www.wisconsinmaritime.org/index.php) they can go see as soon as they get off the ship. > [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > The [Badger Ferry](https://www.ssbadger.com/) is a giant antique coal-fired steamship that takes four hours to cross between Ludington and Manitowoc. If it suits your speed/taste/budget/location, then that’s a fine thing. For a modern high-speed alternative, you might consider [the Lake Express.](http://www.lake-express.com/) This is more expensive, but it takes you from Muskegon to Milwaukee in about two and a half hours. Why not do what we did one year and take both? Take one here and the other back? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-in-wisconsin/717736.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-in-wisconsin/717736.md?page=3)