Had a group of friends who all wanted to go this season to Miracle at Big Rock…read more Frankly though, I wouldn't refer to it as a miracle... $22/per person entry fee definitely felt steep for what it was... a small RV campsite dressed up in holiday lights with the occasional firepit burning low-grade wood and hot beverage cups. (I watched as countless guests discarded their cups on the ground rather than in appropriate trash bins... despite there being plenty of trashbins around for use... if they'd been willing to carry their empty cups just a few more feet... like seriously, are you teaching your children to litter? Then I watched as employees took those cups, plastic covers and all, and tossed them into the fire... Idk about you, but breathing burning plastic into my lungs doesn't sound too wonderful to me. Maybe we could teach our employees proper disposal of materials too?) The campgrounds were loosely divided up into themed zones, such as Frozen and Whoville and Ice Age (did they have the rights to use these characters? I'm guessing not from the low-budget costumed characters they had roving about... To be clear, I'm not against copyright infringement of large corporations that have too much money already, but frankly, I'd like to have seen more creativity in creation of zones that didn't rely on the crutch of media that's overpopularized... doesn't risk a lawsuit that way, and is way more unique and special). One of the themed zones was a military zone that felt... cultish and made me distinctly uncomfortable. Using the holidays to celebrate war and death with lit up displays of tanks and guns is a big no-thanks, imo. We've got holidays like Memorial Day and Labor Day to celebrate these things... it doesn't need to be dragged into winter festivities too. The string light covered fire truck was cool though. I did like that they had a free-for-all style sledding area (nothing too steep) that you could enjoy without paying extra. It was a little too chaotic with tiny bodies for me to partake in though. I also appreciated the port-a-johns available around the site. There's a food court area with trucks serving stuff like sausage, BBQ, pizza, mini donuts, kettle korn, and shaved ice. In addition to the several hot beverage stands across the park serving up hot cider, hot cocoa, and various hot alcoholic beverages. Prices were actually what I would consider reasonable, taking into account their location (where the rules are no outside food or beverages). There's a big heated "barn" where you can browse vendors; none of them caught my fancy, but it's stuff like candles, ornaments, apparel, bread, and randomly, all-terrain wheelchairs. There are toilets available in the barn too, which had an insane line because everyone was being really prissy about doing their business not out in the 9° weather with the outhouses, LOL. Reasonable number of photo-op worthy light displays, so I got a few pictures as we ambled around. It was all okay, just not really up to the hype they gave it, y'know?

This was a REALLY fun experience! I was skeptical at first, but as we walked down the hill into the…read moreforest of lights, it was really neat! There are wood burning fires all over so you have the opportunity to warm up along the way, and half way through the mile and a half walk you come to the beautiful barn that contains an event center, with food, crafts and good drinks!! Bring the kids, let them enjoy while you enjoy too!!

We try to come every year for the Barrels and Bluegrass festival and this year was a blast!!…read more The festival always has several bluegrass bands, which adds to a perfect setting to kick back enjoy the music while sipping on a cocktail or some whiskey neat. There are usually two or three food vendors and a kettle corn tent. This year the food options included pizza and pulled pork sandwiches. As far as the drinks go, 45th Parallel always has a cocktail tent and of course the whiskey tasting, which includes a plastic tasting shot glass(the cost for tasting is a few dollars, which gets you entered into the raffle as well). 45th Parallel has greatly expanded the property, so the festival now includes their newly constructed bar if you would like a brew along with your whiskey.

My girlfriends and I went to check out the great pumpkin trail. Tickets can be purchased online or…read moreat the door. This trail was really cool, a mesmerizing trail, illuminated by over 10,00 0 intricately carved jack-o-lanterns! The trail was a Half-Mile long so it is not too long, we had fun and an enjoyable evening of pumpkin mania and seeing faces on pumpkins we've never seen before. Free parking.

I really loved heading over here - I will say that it's rare to experience something just as fun as…read morea kid as when you're an adult. Walking in, I made a bee line for the little coffee house after the drive from St. Paul out to Wyoming. It was good, and I was on a mission to find the funnel cake food truck. It's been a minute, and since I didn't make it to the fair this year, I was determined. We got the cookie monster, funnel cake topped with Oreo and Chips Ahoy cookies, chocolate drizzle and whipped cream. Pretty sure I had a week's worth of caloric intake, even with splitting it, and I didn't care. Next, we headed over to the apple launcher area. At first I couldn't see where the workers were, but the building is set back a bit. We had a blast launching apples at the farm equipment and barrels. We walked over to the pumpkin patch trailer area and had a great time picking our pumpkins. I immediately grabbed a pretty pink one. I was glad they had little wheelbarrows for us to transport our pumpkins as we continued walking around. Before we headed out, we checked out the farm animals and the gift shop. I loved the variety of jams, pickles, and salsas. I grabbed the blueberry jalapeno salsa, cherry jam, apple butter and dill pickles. I've had a chance to bake with the apple butter and it's delicious! Overall, a great time and something for everyone!

Super crowded, no organization to latern launch... Total overly corwded free for all. It was…read moredifficult to even get to the water with people blocking the way. I'll never do this event again.

This past year (Winter of 2017) I first heard about the Seattle Lantern Light Festival. I'm not…read moresure if the festival was at the Puyallup Fair Grounds before but last winter was the first I heard about it. I have been to a lantern festival about a year or two prior in Spokane and really enjoyed it and so when I heard this one on the radio I jumped at the opportunity to go see it. On top of that this particular festival was much closer so that also made it too hard to pass up. This particular festival was held from November 24th and would have ended around the beginning of January but the festival was so popular the dates were extended to January 14th. The festival started within this time period everyday at 5 p.m. and ended at 10 p.m. on weekdays, 11 p.m. on weekends. I believe some nights towards the end of the opening hours they would set off fireworks as well. There were many similarities to the Spokane lantern festival and it seemed like some of the lanterns I saw at this festival I saw at the Spokane one but there were many other lanterns that were new to me as well. Not only that, at this festival there were performers as well, acrobats specifically which proved to be highly entertaining. There are other activities as well like inflatable buildings to play in, face painting and other activities. This festival also had a market or vendor type section as well where there was a lot of lighted merchandise your could buy, t-shirts, sweatshirts and more artistic vendors that did elaborate and detailed paintings all made with their fingers and hands. There were also other artistic vendors as well but the finger painter is what we found to be really impressive! There was food served here as well but it wasn't terribly authentic. It was the typical vendors that are there when you go to the county fair. But that all may have been during the time we went. The website says they do have authentic food somewhere there. I really do hope that this particular lantern festival returns for future years to come. I got a lot of enjoyment out of it and love taking in the bright, vivid colors of the lanterns as you stroll around in the dark. Tickets for adults for this festival are $23 and children tickets are $18. There are also other ticketing packages as well by checking out their website.

I attended the inaugural Eaux Claires Festival, curated by Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, and it has…read morealready earned it spot as an annual must-do event in my book. It was affordable (~$90 for 2 full days), and within a good driving range where you feel like you're embarking out of the Twin Cities, but you're not really going too far. It's a fun state of mind that's easy on the mileage. I'll get right to the point. My favorite sets: Bon Iver, Sylvan Esso, Policia, Doomtree, Lizzo. There were plenty of porta potties, which were also kept clean and stocked. The scenery was just dreamy - rolling hills, trails through the trees, light-up color-changing forests, and cool art installations. Depending on the times of the sets, I was able to grab drinks at the right time without crazy lines. I loved the local artists and stores that were in the "village" there. I think each of my friends and I ended up buying something. Some cons though: the food, or lack there of. There was like 20,000 people and like 10 vendors. Lots of people waited in lines over an hour long, only for the vendors to run out of food. A lot of the merch sold out quick too. And the crowd leaving at the end of the last set was not managed well, because thousands of people were forced down this one narrow roped off path.

Improvements The first of hopefully many Eaux Claires…read morefestivals, they definitely had some kinks to work out. The first night food ran out and wait lines were 20 minutes or more. Water stations were spaced throughout but only in the main areas and not in the second staging area by the Dells. With some miscommunication on what could be brought into the campsites and festival, lots of folks had to throw out glass bottles and blankets. I hope the communication around camp ground and festival rules is made clear next time. Positives The music itself however was phenomenal. It was amazing having so many folks in one space and a wide variety of music at that. My favorites were Bon Iver, Lizzo, Poliçia, The Staves, and Charles Bradley. I loved the collaborations and how many folks were new to the music festival scene. The bathrooms were also kept extremely clean with the company cleaning bathrooms out at least once a day. A saving grace given the reputation most port-a-potties have. Art installations! Who knew how great they would go with music. Well...the organizers did. It was amazing that the shirt printing was done in Eau Claire and a lot of the artists were Midwest based. I almost wished there had been more art. It was great to see visuals while waiting for the next set to begin. I hope they bring this back for next year. Overall a great lineup and festival. Will attend again if planned.

For people who know what a good Red wine is supposed to taste like, this is the place to come. Very…read moredown to earth people here. We met the wine maker at a few wine Events in MN and finally made it out to the winery, and it's well worth the drive. The wine club is pretty nice too, you're just committed to buying a box of wine on signup and that's it, no more commitment and we definitely enjoyed enough reds to fill the case.

The wine was very good. Very good variety of wine. I had a tasting in which you get 5 for 15. Which…read moreI didn't think was too bad. The service was terrible very unfriendly. They blew us off I am assuming because we are not regulars. We ordered a pizza and they gave it to someone else by accident. Instead of feeling bad, they were dismissive of us. The lady on the table who got our pizza apologized. But the workers seemed to ignore us. Nice place but if you want a friendly easygoing experience skip it and go to another winery. Gave it a two because the unfriendliness brought down our night. Then my husband went up to the counter to ask a question she ignored him and talked to others behind us. Very disappointing.

I want to support my neighborhood and last year was a five-star day, so that's why I went with four…read morestars rather than three. It has soooo much potential since it's not as enormous as the other summer block parties, but this year was more of a three-star experience. I hope they learn some things this year and really knock it out of the park next year. I don't clearly remember the first year of the Lyn Lake Fest, but last year, it was packed, it was easy-ish to get a beer, Har Mar Superstar killed it. This year (year three), it felt kind of empty and nothing grabbed my attention enough to stick around for very long. The beer "garden"/parking lot was full, but not the street, at least not when I was there around 4-5 p.m. Plenty of cute dogs though. The local lineup on the mainstage was awesome this year (Koo Koo Kangaroo, Black Blondie, Peter Wolf Crier, Haley Bonar, Heiruspecs headlining), but I think they could have done without the second stage. One band was playing on that northernmost stage with almost no people paying attention. I felt bad for them. The food options were improved this year, with the Chef Shack and Magic Bus Cafe on-site with the Lyn-Lake restaurants. Heidi's also had some burger specials specifically for the event. Summit had their beer truck out and I also saw someone with a to-go Bloody Mary. I never figured out where it came from though. Damn. Lots of other Lyn-Lake and local businesses had booths, like Nice Ride, Hair Police, The Loft Salon, some crafters selling cute jewelry and other odds and ends. Both salons were doing feather extensions. Maybe that should have been discussed among the salons before go-time, because they were just a couple of tents away from each other. And what was up with the poodles (with NEON-dyed fur, the poor things) being groomed right there in the middle of it all? There were little balls of pink dog fur blowing in the wind blocks away. Gross. Absurdly gross.

Zimmermans annual "Wild West Days" is held every year, rain or shine, at a public park off Main…read moreStreet. The theme of course as the name suggests, is a olden days western theme, with A parade, soap box car derby races, All weekekend long carnival, talent show, petting zoo, camel and pony rides, Fireworks and much more. In a small town where everyone knows almost everyone, and they are all busy with the family life and children and such things like that, It is a nice way for the community to get together and overall have a great time. Put together anually by the Zimmerman Civic Club, It is a great 3-4 days of family fun, games, carnival food, and quality time. With a Kareoke contest/Bar/Bowling Alley right across the street as well, It makes for a good time for all ages. The pony rides are suprisingly cheap, we let our daughter on one and i think it was only 5 or 10 bucks and it was actually a pretty decently long ride. The camel rides I believe were 20 dollars and lasted quite a while too. Maybe when our daughter is a little bigger, we will let her on there. Of course, carnivals nowdays are much more expensive than they used to be, with tickets for rides now being charged at $1.25 a piece (Insane!) and carnies trying to scam you outta money left and right throughout the place. So thats kind of a Debbie-downer, plus the greasy, fattening (delicious) food being no less than $3.50 really takes a toll on the sanity of ones self not to mention, the size of ones wallet as well. The parade is insane, the streets are packed and that, unlike everything else besides the petting zoo, is free. Its very very hard to find parking though during this weekend. And the traffic waits on 169 and especially in town can sometimes cause you to rip out your hair. But all in all, it is a fun weekend, for adults and kids alike.

This was our first visit to Baker Orchard. One of our favorite activities in the Fall is to visit…read morethe apple orchards. Let me tell you about Baker Orchard. Baker is location in Centuria, WI. The last census for Centuria listed a population of 948. The day we visited, I bet most of the town was there! Baker Orchard is set up a little different than any orchard that we have visited. There are a couple of small parking areas on their land which is very scenic and surrounded by trees. Then across the street there is a large field that holds much more parking. This is where we parked. You then take a short walk from the field, across the street and down a path to where all the fun is. Its kind of enchanting especially on cool crisp Fall day. The day that we attended they were also hosting an art festival. There were additional venders with food and items. The first we noticed was a small sitting area around a fire pit. I love the smell of a wood fire outside. The only thing that would have made that better is if I had some hotdogs and stick! One thing we really liked about Baker is how open the Orchard is. Other orchards we have visited, everything is inside a building. At Baker the apples, cider and some food was set up on the porch. The lady that helped us was very friendly and allowed us to sample several apples including one special to their orchard. We picked up plenty of goodies. One tip for visitors. Bring a bag to help carry your goods. It helps when you find more than you can carry with your own hands. There are tours available, pick your own apples, hiking trails and more. One of the more beautiful and scenic orchards that we have visited.