The appeal of a summer road trip, at least if you are a laissez-faire sort of person, is that you don’t have to make any definite plans the way you do when you buy a plane ticket. You can keep revising and postponing indefinitely, until it’s nearly August and you’ve finally decided to request time off from work, and then you realize that not everyone sees the potential of an open-ended vacation and that the world is actually full of planners who have booked up every available campsite within a 200-mile radius.
Of all the wondrous things in Baraboo, though, the most wondrous of all is the Forevertron. Located a 15-minute drive south down Highway 12, it’s the world’s largest junk sculpture, but that description hardly does it justice.
Getting there:
Baraboo’s about a three-hour drive from Chicago. And yes, you will need a car.
Where to eat:
Grab something to grill at the Meat Market. themeatmarket.net. Little Village Cafe: pasta, burritos, and pie in an old-school diner with Chaplin films on the TV. littlevillagecafe.com.
Where to sleep:
Devil’s Lake State Park: an abundance of campsites and hiking trails around a quite heavenly lake. $10 vehicle admission sticker, $15 campsite reservation fee, dnr.wi.gov/topic/parks/name/devilslake. Pinehaven Bed and Breakfast: inn just outside of town with spacious rooms and abundant hot breakfast. pinehavenbnb.com.
What to do:
Spend a day at the Circus World Museum. circusworldbaraboo.org. Then check out the Dr. Evermor’s Forevertron. worldofevermor.com.
