Wineries of Wisconsin II Tour

Don't Bog* Me Down:

Cranberries of Wisconsin Tour

Friday, October 5 thru Sunday, October 7, 2007

(an early Columbus Day weekend)

	*Registration is closed.*
	*Rooms have been released to the public.*
	*The final count has been given to the caterer.*

The information below is for those who had previously signed up.

Join the Windy City Miata Club and your hosts, Phil & Pam Landers, for their sixth, and sadly, their last tour**. It's a 3-day and 2-night tour to the cranberry country of west-central Wisconsin.

Friday -- If you are able to get the day off from work (recommended) you can

	"Boogie to the Bog" with other Miatas (a pre-tour tour led by John and Kathy Voirin). Meet in N. Aurora at 8:30am or Wisconsin Visitors Center at 10:30am. The Landers' will be doing this.
	Or spend the afternoon riding a boat in the upper dells at Wisconsin Dells (open 9am to 4pm) or visit the the only place you can see all 15 crane (a bird) species in Baraboo (open 9am to 5pm) or visit attractions near our hotel in Tomah, WI. Our hotel has a small indoor waterpark with one good waterslide and a very large hot tub.

In the evening, we'll have dinner at a local restaurant followed by appetizers & drinks in our own conference room at our hotel. Join us when you arrive.

Saturday -- We will have our own private tour of cranberries being harvested. We will stand on the banks of a cranberry bed -- flooded so that the cranberries float to the top. We will learn how cranberries are grown and harvested. Then, we will tour a sorting shed that uses an antique sorting machine, where a good cranberry is one that bounces three times! Next, we will drive to a cranberry museum with an amazing gift shop to learn more and taste more. We will drive by more cranberry bogs and then on to twisty, scenic, paved roads of west-central Wisconsin. We will drive to a bluff 590' above LaCrosse, with views of the Mississippi River, Minnesota and Iowa. We have a decent chance of seeing some pretty fall colors, especially on the bluffs. In the evening, appetizers and drinks, then dinner, will be served in our own conference room at our hotel.

Sunday -- After breakfast in our own conference room at our hotel, we will drive fun roads south towards Illinois. Another day of driving some terrific Miata roads. Home in time, hopefully, for the Bears at Green Bay game at 7:15pm.

We will stay at the Cranberry Country Lodge with a small indoor waterpark with one good waterslide and a very large hot tub in Tomah, Wisconsin -- "the gateway to cranberry country". Tomah is 257 miles northwest of Chicago, 45 miles northwest of Wisconsin Dells and 45 miles east of LaCrosse.

Friday, Oct. 5

If you can get off work, or leave work early, join us. If not drive the 257 miles after work. Due to the early morning Saturday departure, you must be at the hotel Friday evening.

Option #1: "Boogie to the Bog" with other Miatas (led by John and Kathy Voirin). Leave from N. Aurora at 8:30am or Wisconsin Visitors Center at 10:30am. Click for details. The Landers' will attend this pre-tour tour.

Option #2: Friday afternoon activities, on your own, or, better yet, in smaller groups, in and around Tomah, WI:

	Ride a boat in the upper dells at Wisconsin Dells (Open 9am to 4pm). 45 miles southeast of Tomah, on your way north, just off of I-90/94
	Visit the the only place you can see all 15 crane (a bird) species in Baraboo (near Wisconsin Dells; open 9am to 5pm) 60 miles southeast of Tomah, on your way north, just off of I-90/94
	Visit the Antique/Cranberry Country Mall & Wildes Art Gallery in Tomah, with more than 60 dealers offering a wide selection of antiques, seven unique shops and an art gallery.
	Tour Fort McCoy. Groups of 15 can get a free one hour tour. Or do your own driving tour. 13 miles west of Tomah
	Visit the Deke Slayton Memorial Space & Bike Museum in Sparta, "the bicycling capital of America" (Open 10am to 4pm) 18 miles west of Tomah, off of I-90
	Visit Burr Oak Winery for tastings, see the beautiful stained glass windows and visit the art gallery. (Open 11am to 5pm) About 25 miles southeast of Tomah, on your way north, just off I-90/94
	Enjoy the smallish indoor waterpark with one good waterslide and a very large hot tub at our hotel.
	Go to the 6-screen movie theater a few blocks west of our hotel.
	Click here for Tomah tourist information and then click on "attractions" for other ideas. The hotel suggests, in a general way, these area attractions.

Check in is 3:00pm.

At 5:45pm, we will meet in the lobby and then drive together a few miles to the excellent Burnstad's European Cafe for a 6:00pm dinner. We will have our own private dining room. Order off the menu, pay for it directly to the server. Entrees are $10-$20. Everyone is getting the wonderfully delicious cranberry bread pudding with hot butter sauce for dessert. It's normally $4.50. Since everyone is getting it, it's discounted to $3. If you don't want it, share it with a neighbor. Stroll their European Village shops afterward. Most but not all of the shops will be open.

At 8:00pm, gather together in an NEW! enclosed room in the lobby -- not labeled but informally called "the Stone Hearth" -- which is just for our group, at our hotel. Our own bartender will serve us:

	wine: 3 sweet wines -- Weathersby's cranberry-apple wine ($11.59 with tax and hotel's corking fee), 3 Lakes' cran-raspberry and cran-blueberry wine ($14.09). 3 dry wines -- Burr Oak Winery's chardonnay and two reds ($12.58).
	NEW! beer -- Miller and Miller Lite ($3.16 per bottle, including tax and "corking fee".)
	coffee, iced tea and hot apple cider. There is a full bar in the lobby, if you want to purchase other drinks.
	appetizers -- fresh fruit, crackers and cheese.

All food and drink is pre-paid. It's "free" that evening. Just want you to know how much things cost.

Saturday, Oct. 6

Breakfast will be served from 6:30am to 7:15am in the Blossom conference room at our hotel. The Sunrise Buffet will consist of scrambled Eggs, seasoned breakfast potatoes, crisp bacon and sausage links, cranberry breakfast breads, orange and cranberry juices, milk, coffee, hot tea.

7:30am be ready to roll. We will drive 14 miles northeast to the Weathersby Cranberry Co, just east of the tiny town of Warren. This small community of approximately 300 people is home to the largest concentration of cranberry marshes in the state which harvest an average of 285 million pounds of the ruby-red berries.

8:00am is our own private tour of cranberries being harvested at the family owned and operated Weathersby Cranberry Co. Their annual Public Harvest Day begins at 9:00am that day. We get to beat the crowds. We will stand on the banks of a cranberry bed -- flooded so that the cranberries float to the top. We will learn how cranberries are grown and harvested. Then, we will tour a sorting shed that uses an antique sorting machine, where a good cranberry is one that bounces three times! Their gift shop sells cranberries and their locally grown cranberry-apple wine, which we will have Friday and Saturday evening in our conference room at our hotel.

Then, we will drive to a cranberry museum, the Wisconsin Cranberry Discovery Center, (the modern name for a museum) to learn more and taste more. They will have a snack for us -- a cranberry chocolate chip cookie and a beverage (choice of cranberry coffee, cranberry tea [hot or iced], cranberry cocoa or cranberry juice). They also have an amazing gift shop carrying a huge variety of cranberry-related items. This is the place to stock up.

Bog 1

Then we're driving! We will drive by more cranberry marshes and then on to twisty, scenic, paved roads of west-central Wisconsin. We will drive to a scenic bluff 590' above LaCrosse with a view of the Mississippi River, Minnesota and Iowa. We have a decent chance of seeing some pretty fall colors, especially on the bluffs.

Lunch will be at the food court at the Valley View Mall in LaCrosse. They have Coney Island (never heard of it), Flamers (never heard of it either), Panda Express, Rocky Rococo Pizza + Mrs. Fields Cookies and OJ/DQ Treat Center.

Then more twisty, curvy, paved roads!

The average high for this date is 63°, the average low is 39°. The records are 84° and 23°. Sunrise is 7:06am and sunset is 6:33pm. For the month, they get 2. 33" of rain -- half the amount they get in the summer.

When we get back to the hotel freshen up by going swimming, sitting in the oversized hot tub, or taking a shower.

6:30pm is an open house -- come when you feel like it -- to an enclosed room in the lobby. It is not labeled but informally called "the Stone Hearth". It is just for our group, at our hotel. Our own bartender will serve us:

	wine: 3 sweet wines -- Weathersby's cranberry-apple wine ($11.59 with tax and hotel's corking fee), 3 Lakes' cran-raspberry and cran-blueberry wine ($14.09). 3 dry wines -- Burr Oak Winery's chardonnay and two reds ($12.58).
	beer -- Miller and Miller Lite ($3.16 per bottle, including tax and "corking fee".)
	coffee, iced tea and hot apple cider. There is a full bar in the lobby, if you want to purchase other drinks.
	appetizers -- fresh fruit, crackers and cheese.

All food and drink is pre-paid. It's "free" that evening. Just want you to know how much things cost.

8:00pm is dinner in the same Blossom conference room at our hotel.

	The dinner buffet will have cranberry chicken breast and whiskey peppercorn sirloin tips plus a pasta salad, cottage cheese, mashed potatoes, chef's choice vegetables, rolls and butter. You can have more of the fresh fruit and veggies.
	Dessert is Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cobbler.
	The same beverages as the open house (above) -- wines, beer coffee, iced tea and hot apple cider -- will be served. Our own private bar closes at 10:00pm. Grab a last drink just before that.

Afterward, stay and visit. Or swim. Soak in the large hot tub. Or go to sleep.

Sunday, Oct. 7

8:00am to 9:00am, breakfast at the Blossom conference room in our hotel. The Daybreak Delight buffet consists of ham/egg/cheese/hash brown casserole, French Toast casserole (half with cranberries, half without), fresh fruit served with coffee, milk, hot tea, orange and cranberry juices.

9:30am be checked out and ready to drive. Brief meeting of everyone in the Blossom conference room. Any leftover wine or beer -- we paid for it -- will be given out by a random drawing. On the road by 9:40am.

Then drive more wonderful Miata roads -- curved, scenic, paved -- towards Illinois via some terrific roads. We will hit the highway near Madison mid-to-late afternoon. From there, we will drive highways the rest of the way home (there are almost no good roads at that point, so we're going for speed). You will arrive in Chicagoland by late afternoon/early evening. Back home in time, we hope, for the Bears at Packers football game at 7:15pm. (The game is not subject to the flex schedule.)

FYI: Monday, October 8 is Columbus Day -- earlier than usual.

The final costs -- at last

2 receptions (with appetizers, wine and beer). 3 meals (Saturday breakfast, Saturday dinner, Sunday breakfasts). Admission to two tours. Plus, booklet, mailings, etc. Details are below.

	At least one person is a member of the Windy City Miata Club
	$210 for one Miata with two people.
	$114 for one Miata with one person.

	Neither person is a member of the Windy City Miata Club. Click here to join
	$220 for one Miata with two people.
	$119 for one Miata with one person.

Make the check payable to "Windy City Miata Club" (not the Landers).

Mail it to Cranberries of Wisconsin Tour, Phil Landers, 836 S. Arlington Hts Rd. #302, Elk Grove Village, IL 60007 (not to the Windy City Miata Club).

General

	Mailings, bound booklet, $7 per Miata
	Goodie bag, $3 per Miata
	Defray part of the cost of lodging for one of Landers' two planning tours, limit of $100 payable to them (we spent much more), $3 per Miata
	Fudge factor -- the tour must not create a deficit, the not-for-profit Windy City Miata Club can't cover it, $5 per Miata. If there is extra money at the end of the tour, it goes to the club.

Friday

	Appetizers, iced tea, hot apple cider, $4 per person
	Wine, beer & coffee, $7 per person (includes tax and corking fee)

Saturday

	Conference room for Saturday, $6.50 per person
	Linens, and tablecloths $1 per person (includes 15% service fee to hotel)
	Breakfast, $11 per person
	Private cranberry marsh tour, $4 per person
	Cranberry museum + snack, $5.30 per person
	Appetizers, iced tea, hot apple cider, $6 per person
	Wine, beer & coffee, $12.50 per person (includes tax and corking fee); any leftover beer or wine will be given out in a drawing on Sunday morning.
	Dinner with desert, $20 per person

Sunday

	Conference room for Sunday morning, $6.50 per person
	Linens and tablecloths $1 per person (includes 15% service fee to hotel)
	Breakfast, $11 per person

Additional expenses, on your own

	Friday dinner (at the excellent Burnstad's European Cafe, Tomah, WI)
	Saturday lunch (in LaCrosse, at a mall's food court, while out driving)
	Sunday lunch (while driving towards Chicagoland)
	Gas
	Hotel
	Souvenirs (you will be amazed at the variety of cranberry items to buy -- jams, wine, soaps, etc, etc.)

It is too late to sign up for the tour. Sorry.

Questions? Call Phil Landers at 630-628-3500. Or e-mail him.

	Wisconsin was the top cranberry-producing state in the nation for the past seven consecutive years.
	The five major states cranberries are grown in are: Wisconsin, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, and Washington.
	Cranberries are Wisconsin’s number one fruit crop. Some marshes in the state have been successfully producing a crop for over 100 years.
	Only three major fruits are native to North America - the cranberry, blueberry and Concord grape.
	Although it may take three to five years for a new cranberry bed to produce a large enough crop for harvest, the vines will continue to produce a crop for several decades.
	American recipes containing cranberries date from the early 18th century. Legend has it that Pilgrims may have served cranberries at the first Thanksgiving in Plymouth. Today cranberries are used in approximately 700-800 products throughout the world.
	In early times, cranberries were shipped to market in wooden barrels, transported by train. Each barrel weighed 100 pounds. Although many years have passed since cranberries were shipped in barrels, this unit of weight remains the industry standard.
	During the days of wooden ships, American vessels carried cranberries because their generous supply of Vitamin C prevented scurvy.

* Technically, Wisconsin does not have bogs (which are God made), they have marshes (man made). I dunno', in honor of the Brady Bunch, should we call the tour "Marshes, Marshes, Marshes"?

Thanks to Anne Osburn, the godmother of this tour, for the clever title "Don't Bog Me Down". She also came up with the witty title for our 2004 tour, "Fine Wines & Arts Tour."

** Phil Landers is a full-time wedding minister who married nearly 100 couples in 2006. Check out his web site, "I Do" Weddings, Ltd. with Rev. Phil Landers. That means he works a ton of evenings and weekends. That is why you haven't seen the Landers at many Windy City Miata Club events :>(