Invasion Of The Body Snatchers

I never saw that movie ... but it just seemed fitting.

So last week I actually took three days off of work ... in a row ... it's the longest I've been off since I started my new job over a year ago. Man, was I ready for a vacation! Our mini-vacation took us to the Dells. We stayed at the Kalahari Resort and it was fabulous ... we got a great deal on a suite and we thoroughly enjoyed the water park and amusement park.

But that's not really what I want to discuss ... nope. After we left the Dells we took a detour and headed for Marshall, WI. Anyone ever heard of it? Anyone know where it is? Yeah ... I didn't either. So we had these certificates for free admission to this amusement park called Little Amerricka. Check out their website here. I know what you're thinking ... so cute! Little amusement park with plenty of rides for the kids ... what great family fun!

So here we are when we first arrived at Little Amerricka ...

Just a few things to note ... my dad is actually smiling in this picture. I took several pictures of him over the course of our trip and noticed that he doesn't really smile for photos ... not that he wasn't having a good time because I know he enjoyed himself ... just something I guess I never noticed before. So there is clue number one that something was amiss ... dad was smiling. Clue number two ... what ... what is Brian doing there? Do you see it? Here ... take another look ...


What ... is he plugging his nose??? Oh yes ... yes he is. Are you wondering why he would be plugging his nose? Probably because of this ...



Little Amerricka is located next to a 1,000 cow farm. There were seriously so many cows on this farm that you couldn't even see the dirt ... or manure ... they were stepping on. So the smell ... ummm ... how can I put this ... was less than appealing. I spent most of my time at Little Amerricka looking something like this ...


Seriously ... it was that bad. I don't think I can accurately put into words how horrible the smell really was. Imagine having your whole shoe covered in manure and having that smell follow you around for hours. Now multiply that by ten ...

Everywhere we looked there was something weird. Like these little boats ...



You can see the kids enjoying their boat ride ... out next to the park was a family fun ... cemetery ... it was just creepy. Add who can forget the creepy carnies that you get at every carnival type place. Except these carnies where well past their prime. I think it was a retirement retreat for carnies ... you had to have greasy gray hair and a pot-belly to work there.

The best part by far was the train ride. I think the train was the only ride assembled before the 70's and with the exception of taking us into a giant field and making a sudden stop ... almost as if those old carnies were going to rob the silly tourists blind ... it was a fairly enjoyable ride.

One definite positive about Little Amerricka is you seriously get your money's worth on the rides. They let you ride for a l o n g time. I think Brian and Kadin were on the bumper cars for 20 minutes ... and little Bella must've went around this roller coaster 10 times.



So ... if you're ever in the Madison area and want to veer off the beaten path ... grab a gas mask and head on over to Marshall. At least we didn't bring home a gold fish ...