Steven Helmer Publications

My wife's birthday is this coming week and, as part of that celebration, I took her up to Ripon, WI to see one of her favorite bands, Hinder. The concert itself was free but I struggle driving at night now so we needed a place to stay the night. After some consideration, I booked a suite at the Mapes Hotel on Watson Street. There are a couple reasons why I chose this hotel. The first was it is located only a block or two from where the concert was held, meaning we could just walk over rather than worrying about a place to park. The second was it was surprisingly affordable. I paid $172 after tax, which was comparable to most of the other hotels in Ripon.  I had some doubts about this decision because all I really knew about Mapes was it was a historic hotel (dating back to the 1850s) that had been remodeled. As I told my wife, it was likely either going to be a beautiful hotel or a dump. As it turns out, it was the former. One of the things I found somewhat interesting was the way ...

  I'm not a huge fan of staying at hotels but have been doing so more frequently now that my oldest daughter is in college. We first stayed at the Radisson Hotel, located at 100 Spring Street in River Falls, WI, a few months ago, when she toured the college campus there. We've been staying at a different hotel each time since but decided to switch things up on our last visit. It will be our first choice from now on. Cost-wise, this is slightly more expensive than the other hotels in the area, but not by a whole lot. This last visit, for example, it was about $5 more. It's worth the extra money. For one, the location couldn't be better. It's right across the street from the college campus and within easy walking distance of one of the grocery stores and most of the downtown businesses. The hotel also has a parking garage, something that is very handy when it's cold outside. The rooms are much larger than the other hotel we've been staying at. A room with two ...