Day 1, 1K Country Adventure: Minnesota to Wisconsin

Whew, what a day — our official start to our 1K Country Adventure!

We “only” covered about 300 miles by car, but I feel like we got a nice glimpse of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area and the lovely rolling hills and green farmland of northwest and central Wisconsin.

It's always so much fun to meet online friends IRL!

Our day began this morning with a visit from one of my family-travel blogging buddies, Debbie Ferm. She’s the funny voice behind Travel Dither, and she lives only 10 minutes from the Mall of America. It was so great to have her around while we read our very first video clue via our Sprint Samsung Moment smart phones.

Gathering around our Samsung smart phone to watch the clue that will lead us to the next Suite Stop.

Here’s how it works: Via the phone’s messaging feature, we send a note to the “Adventure Hotline” to say we’re ready for our first clue of the day. In return, we get a brilliant, professionally made video telling us where to go and what to do.

After we reach each “Suite Stop” we take a photo of our family and upload the photo to the “Adventure Hotline,” then we get our next destination! It’s terribly fun, and always a thrill to find out “what’s next”!

Here’s an example of the clever videos (see them all here on the Country Inn & Suites You Tube Channel; seriously, they are so entertaining, you may just want to click on them all):

Making cars out of LEGOS to race down the track at the famous Mall of America.

We were so happy that today’s agenda included returning to the Mall of America this morning. In fact, we were there at 10:30 a.m., right when the Nickelodeon Universe rides opened, so there were no lines. My daughter said the SpongeBob SquarePants Rock Bottom Plunge was the best roller coaster she’s ever ridden, and my son wanted to go on the topsy-turvy Brain Surge more than once. But he also could have spent the entire day at the LEGO store, where there are tons of LEGOs on hand for the kids to play and build with.

Steep plunge then a loop-de-loop... my daughter loved it!

For meals throughout this trip, we’ll be using DiningCash.com coupons, finding restaurants along the way, searching the website via zip code. Today we used our certificate at Darby O’ Regan’s, a new, casual bar and grill just a few blocks from our third Suite Stop of the day, Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins.

After eating a burrito as big as my head, and downing a Bloody Mary (hey, I’m not driving), I left the sunny deck of this sports bar quite content. Husband gives the restaurant a big thumbs’ up for its playlist; Jimmy Buffet, Meatloaf and Queen just set an upbeat tone for the day.

I absolutely loved the bucolic, lush farmland we passed as we drove along the interstate into Wisconsin; the landscapes were dotted with big red barns and tall silos with domed roofs. These farms look nothing like the ranches I regularly see in mountainous Colorado, nor like the farmland I grew up with in New Hampshire. So it was a real treat to just sit back and enjoy the pastoral scenery pass by today.

I snapped this photo of one farm as we whizzed along I-94 in Wisconsin.

My daughter was dressed perfectly to match the moose!

Another highlight: While at this crazy big orange moose statue in Black River Falls, Wisconsin (a practical joke turned permanent fixture), I heard a voice across the pond: “Kara! Kara!” I’m looking around like a ding-a-ling, wondering who the heck I know in Wisconsin. Indeed, it was the daughter of my fellow 1K Country Adventure Participant Ross Sveback. It was so fun to see them along the way: since we’d taken our time at the Mall of America and during a lovely laid-back lunch I thought for sure he’d be miles ahead of us. It was such a pleasure sit with Ross and his family and compare notes about our busy day.

So, now we’re hunkered down at the Country Inn & Suites By Carlson West Madison – we got in so late tonight, I’ve promised the kids they can swim in the indoor pool tomorrow.

Last night’s property: Country Inn & Suites By Carlson, Bloomington, Mall of America

TwinCitiesGal detailed this hotel when she visited last year, so I won’t go into too much detail, if only to say that I agree the bed is quite comfy. Our family spread out in a king suite, which had a bedroom with a door that closed, and a sofa bed in the living room for the kids. (The sofa bed was so awesome — it just took one strap pull to open the entire thing.) I appreciated the Pantene hair products in the bathroom and the super-firm water pressure in the shower (plenty of hot water, too).

All of the Country Inns & Suites properties have a homey feel.

Like all of the properties in the Country Inn & Suites brand, this hotel has a homey feel, with a fireplace and bookcase (with lending library) in the lobby, and carpeted steps leading up to the second floor (with an elevator to get there as well, of course).

Breakfast was great, with hot items like scrambled eggs and sausage; the kids loved the waffles with chocolate sauce (no, we’re not letting them have those daily). If I had one suggestion for this hotel, or perhaps the brand at large, it’s to get rid of the Styrofoam cups used for coffee. I personally can’t stand drinking out of Styrofoam (I always pack a travel coffee mug) and we all know that Styrofoam isn’t great for our landfills. Also, I found it strange that there weren’t plastic cups – or better yet glasses – for the pitchers of ice water. My two cents!

I’ll let you know tomorrow about the breakfast buffet at the Country Inn & Suites Madison West – and how the kids enjoy the pool! (Because, trust me, if they don’t get to swim tomorrow, we’ll have two very disappointed children.) But I will tell you this, Dan, the manager who greeted us at the front desk when we arrived tired and more tired at 10:30 p.m. tonight could not have been more welcoming or cheerful. He was just so delightful and he put such a smile on my face; he’s an asset to the hotel, for sure.

Day 1 Suite Stops:

• Photo in front of the Mall of America, Bloomington, MN
• Home plate marking the former Met Stadium, in the Mall of America
• Target Field, downtown Minneapolis
• Cross the state line to Wisconsin
• Cady Cheese Factory off of I-94 (Exit 28), WI
• Carson Park, Hank Aaron Statue, Eau Claire, WI
• Big Orange Moose in Black River Falls, WI
• Country Inn & Suites By Carlson, West Madison

Travel Kiddy's activities were a big hit on our road trip today.

Finally, in every forthcoming post I’ll be highlighting at least one piece of gear that we’ve used during the trip. Today the kids dug into their Travel Kiddy activity bags, which the company so generously provided each family. My children each received the BIGKiddy Sport Pack full of activity books, puzzles, stickers and games.

Frankly, I thought the items might be too “young” for my 8- and 10-year-old — I have always equated Travel Kiddy with preschooler entertainment. But both children love their bags; the big hit is the 9-square-with-one-missing-piece jumble puzzle, where you change the order of the squares and then have to make the puzzle “right” again. These are some fun items, and I highly recommend them for your next trip!

Previous posts:

• Pre-Trip Excitement
• My Family is Going on a Mystery Road Trip

Disclosure: A significant portion of the costs and resources for my family’s participation in the 1K Country Adventure was provided by Country Inns & Suites by Carlson.