Steven Helmer Publications

  My wife and I celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary this weekend and decided to change things up a bit by having an overnight trip out of town. As luck would have it, there was a Michael Jackson tribute concert at Ho-Chunk Gaming and Resort in Baraboo, WI so we decided to go there. We've been here before, but the last time was when they were still going through a major remodel. Unfortunately, our most recent stay wasn't as enjoyable as we were hoping. To start, for the record, yes, we did gamble at the casino and did not do very well on the slot machines. However, we also went to the casino fully expecting that as a possibility and because of that, kept to a very strict limit on what we were willing to lose. So, as far as that is concerned, it wasn't a positive nor a negative as far as my overall opinion is concerned. I'll start out with the good. The concert, which featured tribute artist Barry Dean, was better than expected. The sound quality probably could have b...

It's been a couple years since we went to Circus World in Baraboo, WI so I decided to put it on the calendar and take the family before school starts up. I was a little worried it wouldn't be as entertaining without the elephants (they retired after the last show we saw) but it was still a fun event with the Big Top Show featuring everything from jugglers to trapeze artists (the latter provided a warmup show outside about an hour before). We all had favorites and left with smiles on our faces. The multi-building museum was a nice way to kill time before the shows, full of educational exhibits and fun-looking wagons and train cars. Our daughters, one a teenager and one who is now 21, went on the $1 carousel twice (easily the oldest ones on it). It was a bit pricey at $23 each (the teenager category is the same price as adult), $92 total. I do think we got our money's worth though. My only real complaint was the concession stand was a bit more expensive than I would have pref...

Our daughters' birthdays are coming up later this month so, before it becomes all about them, I decided to take a day off and do something with just my wife. We wound up taking a day trip to three of Wisconsin's wineries. It wasn't originally going to be three. I had only planned on going to Baraboo Bluff and Balanced Rock wineries in Baraboo. However, it's road work season and when we got to Portage, we discovered getting to Baraboo required a major detour. As a result, our return trip went through Sauk Prairie and since it was right there, we made a return visit to Wollersheim. I think it ended up being a fun trip despite the unexpected detour. We had brunch at Log Cabin Family Restaurant in Baraboo, which was very filling. I had some of their fresh-squeezed lemonade along with a western omelet, hashbrown casserole and a giant cinnamon roll that I shared with my wife (half of it still came home with us). Our first stop after brunch was Balanced Rock Winery since it wa...

We made a long-discussed family trip to Circus World in Baraboo, WI, the first time we have been there in about 14 years. This was motivated both by my oldest daughter turning 19 (she loves circuses) and because this is final season their elephants will perform. They are being retired later this year (and they are the same elephants that were there when we visited last time). This is something I would highly recommend. In addition to a one-ring circus, a music review and a highwire motorcycle act, there were a ton of circus artifacts throughout the property, housed in some original circus buildings. The circus wagons are must-see. Just make sure you have plenty of space on your camera memory card. I took a lot of photos today. Here are a bunch of them. Sorry in advance if some of the circus photos are a little blurry. I didn't bring my camera because I didn't want to carry it all day, just my phone.

My wife wanted to do some sort of family activity this weekend and, after some consideration, I decided to visit the Oeschner Park Zoo in Baraboo. Part of the reason for this was the fact it was free (I didn't want to spend our grocery budget). Plus, it was only about an hour away. Overall, we enjoyed ourselves. It's not a huge zoo but there was a decent selection of animals. Plus, we enjoyed walking the river trail afterwards. My only suggestion, if you visit, is to make sure you have cash with you. I ended up putting what was left of my cash in one of the donation boxes before realizing I could use quarters to buy food for the goats and the souvenir stand didn't take credit/debit cards. We'll have to remember that the next time we go. Here are some photos I took: