Road Trip: Let's Head to the Dells and Lake Delton

Last night Sara and I were discussing the Dells area  flooding and subsequent breech and drainage of Lake Delton 

(photo from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

We usually go to the Dells two or three times a summer.

We are going there for dinner and to spend some money as soon as Tom Diehl and the rest of the merchants say they want us, which sounds like it is immediate as The Capital Times reports, Ducks, Tommy Bartlett Show to resume. Like a lot of people, we want to see the bed of Lake Delton in person. We want to see the enormous power of the water.  We want to see the shops, shows and restaurants we frequent.

Last summer when Sara and I went up there for a Dells boat ride and dinner, sans kids, the tour guide said the area was carved out by a massive rush of water from the melting glaciers in only a week or so.

Actually we did two rides.  We had so much fun on the ducks we turned right around and did the boat ride (easier on the back).

I suspect we will do our part in another way.

Some of our taxes will be used to rebuild the area and repair the damage. That does not bother me so long as the taxes are taken proportionately from our state residents and visitors and that when the area is viable again, that all of Wisconsin will recognize the benefit from a healthy Sauk and Columbia County.

When I say recognize, I am not asking for any money back - just acknowledgement that we are all in this together and that my taxes helped pay for the public investment that will compliement the private investment.

Comments

[MilMan]

Per your later post about talk radio. Those guys are all for the free market (so they claim), and usually, it's all about people doing for themselves with little-to-no government "intervention."

But they supported taxing a five-county district to build Miller Park, so will probably say OK to public aid to rebuild Lake Delton.

Worth keeping an eye on, though if I were a betting man, I'd bet they are OK with telling the homeowners without flood insurance that they are on their own.

[PW]

That has to be the most famous house in America.... or the most famous half a house in America. It is uniquely placed to symbolize not only the flood but also the decay of the housing market, as what was once beautiful and sought-after is now a mess and almost comic excess in light of its placement and the aftermath of the choice to put a house there.