Flashback to BlogHer 09. A moment of serendipity or good timing – only the shadow knows. AntiSupermom and I came down the escalator and nearly bumped into a neighbor of ours (that is, if you consider Minnesota and Wisconsin on good terms with the whole Brett Favre debacle).
With my dad sick and eventually passing away earlier this summer, it seems like I’ve been through Wisconsin every direction on my way home to Michigan (up and over, down and around, and through the lake). Back to the serendipity…it turns out www.visiteauclaire.com attended the conference to generate a buzz about their city–a college town nestled along the Chippewa River in the Chippewa River Valley (for us non-cheese heads, it’s a good two hours west of Minneapolis along Interstate Highway 94).
If you click the link to Unexpected Adventures, you can see a variety of weekend get-aways ranging from romance to family fun to sports and nature. Before I tell you about our experience, I must confess that I’ve never really spent too much time in Eau Claire. Because it is only two hours from our home, we usually pop off the highway to stretch our legs or eat. Mother Venture sponsored the Work at Home Career Fair in Eau Claire in March, but those of us running the show were either manning tables or drinking beer (it is Wisconsin, after all).
On our way to the Lake Michigan Car Ferry, we stopped at a place I’ve secretly always wanted a reason to check out. You can see Action City from the highway and if you are on 94, you’ll want to take the exit for 93 (as confusing as that sounds, just keep turning right). From the highway you can see go karts, mini golf, and a human maze, but inside the main building is a giant climbing wall, more go karts, a huge arcade area, rooms for birthday parties, a batting cage, lazer tag, bumper cars, and a toddler area. Quite honestly, I was almost having an epileptic seizure trying to keep tabs on all three kids, but here is a moment where 66% of them were getting along (take more than one adult if you can).
On our way back to the highway, “Yolanda the Honda” Minivan did an abrupt about face as mountain bikers were spotted at what looked like a trail head. More on this later, but they probably were a bit wierded out as we drove slowly buy with our newly-won Peter (thanks giant claw machine) buckled in to the front seat.
