fairs and tubs

June 8, 2007 4:49 AM

I would like to take my girlfriend out for a mini-vacation this weekend (Sat and Sun). I have probably under $150 to spend on it total, and am not familiar with the region. Could you help me find a few things in the lower Wisconsin area?

We live in Madison, and I would like to go somewhere close but still "away" (e.g. Chicago, Milwaukee, the Dells). Here are some things I would like to find:

1) I know she would like to ride bumper cars and a few medium intensity fair rides. (not roller coasters) Somewhere with a place like this would be nice.

2) I also know she would like to spend one night in a hotel with a bathtub large enough for two people. This may be expensive, but perhaps people here know of at least one affordable hotel in this region that provides such a thing.

Other ideas are welcome too, but these are two things we would like to find. Thanks!

posted by anonymous to travel & transportation (8 comments total)

You can check the Tourism Bureau for events going on all over the state this Wisconsin. It may be too early for fair season with rides but here in Milwaukee church festival season has started and they sometimes have basic rides.

Decent places to stay with a Jacuzzi may set you back over $100/night. I've stayed at Cedarburg with my girlfriend at a great B&B and had a great time but there are tons of places all over the state. Find a festival that sounds interesting at the Tourism site and go from there.
posted by JJ86 at 5:18 AM on June 8, 2007

Hey Fucker :)

For the bumper cars and such with the most reasonable price, the Dells is probably your best best. The whole bit is probably easy except a room with a big bath. Try hotwire.com

Lake Geneva is also a nice getaway from Madison if you like boating and such.
posted by Slenny at 7:41 AM on June 8, 2007

To point 1, the obvious answer in the Dells. I don't know if I can recommend specific attractions within the Dells vs. their competition, but almost everything of note is on the main drag there anyway. If you have to split the $150 between attractions and your room, however, you're not going to get a very good room during the season. The next nearest place I can think of that has these kinds of attractions is Adventure Island in Rockford.

A bathtub big enough for two is a subjective thing. If you mean a jacuzzi, then your odds of finding it in your price range probably go up by moving away from population/tourism centers. Again, I'm having trouble nailing down specific places I've stayed in the area during my tenure here, but Madison/Milwaukee/Dells will be most expensive, then Mineral Point/Spring Green/Dodgeville/Monroe/New Glarus, and then probably everywhere else driveable after that. If the $150 has to include gas, however, then again, it might be tricky. Here's the price sheet of a place in Sparta, for instance. If you are in the Madison area for the long haul, I'd recommend just picking a place and going there, and then saving up for another month or two and picking a different place then. There are lots of lovely B&Bs I've stayed at and forgotten the names of; the odds are greatly in your favor of being satisfied with your choice even if you were to just pick a name out of a hat. (Although obviously you'd want to ask specifically about, in the case, the bathtub.)

Moving away from B&Bs, the Don Q Inn is a legendarily ridiculous place to stay -- some rooms have beds hanging from the ceiling, another has a waterbed inside an igloo, another recreates the Gemini space capsule, another is a hot-air balloon. I suspect that the room with the 300 gallon copper cheese vat tub would be big enough for two. This puts you in the Spring Green/Mineral Point axis, which I think is one of the loveliest spots in Wisconsin; Governor Dodge State Park is great for hiking. (Caveat emptor: I've never stayed at Don Q, although my family did pay a few bucks to swim in their indoor/outdoor pool. It strikes me as the kind of place you want to bring your own sheets.)

Speaking of slightly skeevy, if you want to double down on the bathtub thing, there's the Sybaris hotel in Mequon, which is the sort of place that has both afternoon and overnight rates. They have three "swimming pool" suites; here's a listing from the deals site flato.com for a whirlpool suite for $75 (50% off), good any night but Saturday. Again, I haven't been there so I can't recommend it; all I know is that Flato seems to do a brisk business with the coupons.
posted by blueshammer at 7:51 AM on June 8, 2007

For $150, you could probably go to the Dells and find a waterpark resort that includes room and park admission. I'm sure there's tons of jacuzzi suites to choose from, and I'll bet somebody has some bumper cars over there. I know that isn't very "away" from Madison", but the closer you get to Chicago, $150 isn't going to get you much.

Sybaris is nice, but a little pricey - the flato.com deal is only for the afternoon, by the way - and you have to have a membership, which costs extra.
posted by tjvis at 8:00 AM on June 8, 2007

Theme Jacuzzi Suites - Lombard, IL - $99

On the way to/from the hotel: Bumper Cars in Waukesha, wi

Also, why not consider Door County?
posted by desjardins at 11:12 AM on June 8, 2007

$150 will cover maybe a room, and that's about it. Sorry, but you're gonna have to skip the jacuzzi suite.

However, some good lower-wisconsin things that this Chicagoan has done and enjoyed free or very cheaply:
- Miller Brewery Tour
- Jelly Belly Factory Tour
- Mars Cheese Castle (which is, for lack of a better way to put it, quite cheesy, but still)

Last time I was in Milwaukee there happened to be some kind of a fair/festival going on which was free to go through. We poked around the fairgrounds, enjoyed a petting zoo, live music and a number of booths displaying cool artwork, trinkets, foodstuffs, etc... Unfortunately I have no idea what the event was called or when it goes on each year. Also, we rode paddleboats pretty cheaply that day.

While this stuff doesn't seem particularly romantic, part of a good vacation is just doing fun stuff -- together -- regardless of the activity's connotations.
posted by twiggy at 7:33 PM on June 8, 2007

A regular bathtub would be big enough for 2 people. If you're creative.
posted by DMan at 3:13 PM on June 9, 2007

Last time I was in Milwaukee there happened to be some kind of a fair/festival going on which was free to go through

There is ALWAYS some kind of a fair/festival in Milwaukee between Memorial Day and Labor Day (and sometimes before and after, too). They're almost always free, too.
posted by desjardins at 12:27 AM on June 12, 2007