We’re happy to introduce you to a new business in Wisconsin Dells, Accents With Taste!.  Perfect timing too.  Accents With Taste is a perfect location to visit when shopping for holiday gifts.  Accents offers Unique gifts, Wines and Cheeses and much more.  I’ve been helping them out with their new website so I’ve had a chance to browse around a bit and have been pretty impressed.  Another thing they do is customized gift baskets for business or holiday occasions.  You’ll be amazined by all the unique little tidbits they find.  You can visit their website at www.accentswithtaste.com.  The site is pretty new so there is lots more to come.

Accents with Taste is located on Highway 13 just west of the highway 12/13 intersection on the south side of the road.  Here is a google map to help you find them.

It’s getting to be that time when we say, “it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.”. Well, without the snow anyway.  After a couple weeks in Israel I’m back in front of my desk and getting back up to speed.  Tomorrow evening the Holly Jolly Light Parade is being held in Downtown Baraboo just minutes from Wisconsin Dells.  I write more about that here.

Which brings me to my next bit of info.  I tend to post at this blog more often in summer, however if you are interested in the goings on around here I invite you to visit my blog, “The View From Here” which is regulary updated over on BarabooNow.com

Now is the time when everyone starts asking about fall colors.  Well, it’s awfully hard to pin it down.  I read recently that the first week of October is always too early and the last week is aways too late.  That’s probably a good rule of thumb.  The photo above was taken at Devil’s Lake State Park near Baraboo on October 22nd of last year.   You can check regularly on the Devil’s Lake Blog as I will be posting images over there as we get closer to the peak.  Also a good website to visit is the Wisconsin Department of Tourism’s Fall Color Report Here.

Here’s another great option for lodging in Wisconsin Dells.  Sunset Bay Resort is located on the former (and soon to be again) Lake Delton.  The resort is located just a few blocks off the main strip, nestled in a beautiful cover of old pine forest. They have indoor and outdoor pools, play areas and much more but you can read about that at their newly updated website.   Just Click Here.

You’re right! This is not an image from Wisconsin Dells.  It’s actually in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan up around Grand Marais.  I just returned this week and am just getting through the stacks on my desk and the emails and messages from WisDells.net and other sites I manage in the area.  I’ve also noticed a very large increase in traffic over the last couple weeks, so I can assume that lots of you are new to the website.  I certainly appreciate you taking the time to visit and hope you are finding what you are looking for.  .  .

If you’ve never stayed at one of the many vacation homes in the area you may be missing a great alternative to the big motels.  It all depends what you are looking for.  When we think of vacation homes we often think of  "high-end" real estate that many of us could never afford.  However, if you snoop around a bit you’ll find some wonderful little rural retreats and bed & breakfast inns all around the Wisconsin Dells area. and many are quite affordable  The newly opened Old Century Farm House is one nice example of a rural vacation home that offers real peace and quiet in the Wisconsin countryside while still being only minutes from Wisconsin Dells.

If you are looking for a bit of pampering while getting away from it all you should check out Antiques And Lace Bed & Breakfast. When I first went to Antiques and Lace to take some photographs I was floored by their classy themed rooms, artwork and general atmosphere.  Besides where else in the Wisconsin Dells area can you take a peddle boat out on a quiet country pond and feel like you have the world all to yourself?!

Well, the downside of all the press about the flood is that it get’s people to start thinking the whole state of Wisconsin has been destroyed.  Of course it’s not.  In fact as I’ve said before Wisconsin Dells is pretty much un-scathed other than it’s missing a lake.  Meanwhile around the area things are getting aback to normal as well.  Baraboo has cleaned up and Circus World Museum is open again.  The river is back to it’s normal self.  Devil’s Lake State Park has opened again today.  Today I visited the Spring Green Chamber of Commerce who are getting  buried in calls wondering if this event or that one is still on.  The answer is YES!  Yep, you will see water still standing in fields here and there and in low lying areas, but the truth is everything is pretty much back to classic Hot humid Wisconsin in the summer time!

This from Channel3000.com

. . . Baraboo’s Circus World Museum is back in business after shutting down temporarily from the floods.

Luckily, Circus World didn’t get hit too hard. Officials said that only 10 of the circus world’s 200 historic wagons were in danger. Many antique musical instruments were also saved from ruin, WISC-TV reported.

Meanwhile, Mount Olympus, Wisconsin Dell’s only mega-park, announced that it’s giving all future guests of all resorts located on Lake Delton free water park passes.A representative for the park said that since guests aren’t able to enjoy Lake Delton anymore, they should be able to enjoy the water park for free, WISC-TV reported. - Read Full Story

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Now, you have to give them some credit for this one!

Ok, so with all this talk of flooding or draining away as the case my be it’s also worth telling you a little story. I grew up here in Baraboo just a few miles south of Wisconsin Dells. Of course when you live so close to something you don’t see it the same way as occasional visitors will. But one interesting thing is that for the many, many years that I was growing up here I didn’t even know there WAS a Lake Delton. As a kid I did not grow up in a family of boaters, or swimmers for that matter. When you went to the Wisconsin Dells it was for all the other stuff, the super slides (gone now), to ride the ducks, eat fudge, or get shot at by Black Bart. It was not until years later that I knew there was a little lake just a few blocks of the Wisconsin Dells parkway. That comes to mind now, when I’m getting so many emails asking things like, “should I still come to Wisconsin Dells?”. Well, the answer is “Of course!”. For the folks along Lake Delton the loss of the lake has been a major disaster. However, almost everything you come to Wisconsin Dells for has been totally unaffected. Just like when I was young, most visitors will never even see the empty lake bed unless they go a bit out of their way. That’s just the way it is. So unless you planned to do some fishing buzzing around on Jet Skis you’re vacation will probably go off without a hitch.

For vacationers there is even a bit of a benefit. There is a good chance you can get discounted lodging up to 50% at some resorts near the lake. Which more than being a great deal will of course, give you a front row seat to a very rare moment in Wisconsin Dells history. Something I’m sure your kids will tell their kids in years to come.

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By the way, if you are interested in seeing more pictures of the lake and County Highway A, the News Directory of Fox News Chicago sent us this link.  Thanks for that!    I’ve also got some video of the flooding in Baraboo that I will be posting in the next day or so as well.
 

Today it’s storming and raining again.  We are under flash flood warnings for most of the day.  This will not affect Wisconsin Dells as much as it does the rest of the area.  Baraboo, Devil’s Lake, North Freedom (home of the Mid-Continent Railway Museum) Reedsburg and other communities in the area are taking the brunt of the high water.

I have a feeling there is going to be a lot of explaining to do over this story. . . .

- Lake Delton Officials Didn’t Renew FEMA Flood Insurance. from Channel3000.

Thing is bickering over such things seems like a wise thing to do if you don’t think anything will ever happen to you.  Opps!