Upside Ann

  Wisconsin Dells originally made my list thanks to the Duck Tours of the dells - WW2 amphibious vehicles that would drive a while then drive into the water and boat a while.  I thought Zupe would REALLY like that.  Unfortunately, the Canadian smoke was really bad and we thought it prudent to spend less time breathing it.  The good news - there was still the Museum of Root Beer! As you might expect, displays about the history of root beer - it is VERY old - as they say - "Older than Coke".  Root Beers were made by the founders of our country.  Mr. Hires and Mr. Barq.  OK.  Not them. The other ones. Lots of root beer cans. Recipes for root beer. Root beer ads.  Root beer as it appears in popular culture.  Remember, it was a favorite of the flying ace fighting the Red Baron.  At the end you get a (one, 1!!, only 1!!!!) small 5oz sample of one of the flavors they have on tap.  Kevin tried something a bit exotic - I think it was mi...

Lincoln Home National Historic Sight - but that was obvious, wasn't it? August 2026  

I guess I didn't really take to heart that mathematical truth that the shortest distance between to points is a straight line.  I think our final distance was something like 5,300 miles.  I understand that is greater than a round trip between here and Los Angeles (2,178 miles).  See that?  I fact checked myself.  (Now, I'm wondering if fact check should be hyphonated and, while I'm at it, is round trip a compound word?  Sigh.  The work of Google is never ending.)  The trip is composed of three parts: To camp, While camp is camping, From camp. As She-Who-Plans-The -Road-Trips, it was on me to plan the road trip.  Ready? TO CAMP Indiana Dunes National Park Chicago - Field Museum Chicago - Great Wolf Lodge Wisconsin Dells - Duck Tour and Museum of Root Beer (but the tour got canned due to Canadian smoke) Austin, MN - Spam Museum Blue Earth, MN - Jolly Green Giant Pipestone National Monument, MN Sioux Falls, SD Marshall, SD:  Corn Palace Cha...

  Chicago Field Museum, 2026

Elements of our touring group are big, big Pokémon players.  As a consequence, and because it was also Mr. Level-40's birthday, we included the Field Museum of Chicago where a Pokémon "fossil" exhibit was taking place.  While there are (probably) tons of cool stuff at the Field Museum, given Zupe's attention challenges, we focused on three areas. 1. Pokémon exhibit  2. Egyptian exhibit - I was hoping that June's series of Rick Riordan graphic novels of the Kane Chronicles and rewatching the Marvel Moon Knight series would instill a fascination for pyramids, mummies, ushabti.  Well, I thought it was fascinating though I had to view it all on fast forward. 3. Fossils -dinosaurs and other extinct creatures (which were never residents of a pokeball).  The absolute best element of this area was the poet in residence- who, if you tell him something you know about dinosaurs, will write you a poem.  Right then and there.  Despite Zupe's impatience, I got...

 I figure when your framing/cropping is off to begin with and there IS no way to make it perfect, make the skew extreme.   So, here you have it! Me, Paul Bunyun with his hotdog, and a bag from the gift shop with a miniature version of said giant inside.  Trust me.  He's there. Athens, Illinois  2026