We did really well moneywise on our vacation. I allocated $138 for gas and $740 for misc. spending, so $878 total. We spent about $121 on gas, and upon coming home Saturday we found we'd spent about $687 of our spending money. Well, we were technically still on vacation until today, so we got takeout from our favorite Vietnamese restaurant for dinner Saturday ($37), and I also paid our State Fair entry fees on Monday from the money budgeted ($33). So we ended up spending $878, exactly what had been allocated for the gas and spending money! We also each spent most of our weekly spending money on vacation, so actual vacation spending was higher than that, but I'm only concerned whether we spent any money we didn't have. And we didn't, so hooray!
We had a great, relaxing time. Both areas were very pretty with lots to do. We ate out a few times, walked around Madison, went to an extremely odd tourist attraction called House on the Rock, (NT) went kayaking and snorkeling, toured a lighthouse, took a ferry, cooked out on a grill most nights, drove around looking at scenery, played minigolf a few times, bowled, read and played board games, and bought tons of souvenirs. Best of all, most of the souvenirs were food, so the enjoyment will continue as we slowly eat our way through them! Door County is known for its cherries and other fruit, so we bought fresh cherries, cherry pie filling, cherry salsa, cherry butter, cherry beer, a cherry pitter, cherry-nut bread mix, cherry cider, and possibly something I forget right now. We also bought fresh peaches and a spiced apple wine. One of the small towns in Door County had a store that sold only items imported from Britain, so we bought a number of NT's favorite snacks and foods that he can't find here. High prices but well worth it to us! Mostly candy and other treats, but we did get some vegetarian haggis that will form the basis for a meal.
Deck of 1st cottage (near Madison, Wis.):
One crazy image from House on the Rock (you have to go there to believe it, but wear comfy shoes--it takes 3 hours minimum to walk through it--and be prepared for the weirdest place on earth):
2nd cottage (Door County) (AS & me sitting out front):
Lighthouse (AS & me standing in front):
On a pier in Door County (NT & me looking over edge):
All our souvenirs (most of them edible):
Vacation spending and a couple pics
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Vegetarian haggis - that will get a chuckle out of the men in my life (DH and bro). We rolled into some small town outside of Edinburgh on a Sunday night and all that was open was a pub that served haggis.
Looks like you had a great time. Just think, next year you'll be travelling with a kidd-o!
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dm, if you're ever near Madison you should check it out. The guy was a crazy collector who also had lots of replicas of antiques custom-made, like crowns and Tiffanyesque lamps and suits of armor. There's very little explanation of any of it, so you just have to drink it in for what it is. Word of caution: Don't blow your tokens on the smaller musical devices--eventually you get to "music boxes" that are an entire room!
apprentice, thanks! I did do a rough calculation about halfway through to make sure we weren't too far off, but I did suspect we'd go over a bit, so I was very pleased.
LOL whitestripe, glad you caught that! I definitely had Cassandra's post in mind when I chose the pics. I feel these keep us anonymous but give you a rough idea at least.
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