My husband was the best man in his brother’s wedding in September. After looking at plane tickets from Michigan to Nebraska, we decided it would be more affordable to drive. The money we saved on airfare paid for us to plan a mini vacation along the way. We had never been to Wisconsin, and although it was slightly out of the way, this is where we spent a large chunk of our time!

Day 1:

We have a National Parks pin map hanging in our home We have made it our goal to visit all of America’s National Parks. This road trip would have us driving right by Indiana Dunes National Park. We left home and drove a few hours before making it to Indiana late in the evening. We booked a hotel and stayed the night so we could get up early to check out the Dunes before traveling west toward Nebraska.

We got up, had breakfast and put on our hiking gear. I have to be honest, we’ve visited quite a few national and state parks and this was our least favorite. It didn’t strike us as anything special, especially since we’ve visited places in Michigan Like Saugatuck and Sleeping Bear Dunes (which are much bigger and better dunes, in my opinion). We could hear trains the whole time we were hiking Cowles Bog and we didn’t get any real “nature” vibes.

Cowles Bog was the hike we planned because it lead to Lake Michigan. I use All-Trails to plan our hikes, keeping in mind our daughter’s ability and the trails’ length. It’s incredibly useful because it includes information about elevation gain and other hikers’ reviews.

It was sprinkling rain, so we didn’t get to see the Chicago Skyline across Lake Michigan, but this is the spot where you would be able to see it if the weather is cooperating. It’s not like we can control the weather, but this park just wasn’t our jam.

After leaving Indiana Dunes, we traveled southwest around Chicago to make it to Starved Rock State Park. This park was much better (for us) and something I wouldn’t expect to find in Illinois. We easily could have spent more time here.

The Visitor’s Center was large and included a well-stocked gift shop and information about the area.

We started at the visitor center and walked around to the rock that gave this park it’s name.

From the lookout, we could see pelicans and all kinds of other birds hanging out in and around the water. We had no idea Illinois had pelicans 🙂

After learning about Starved Rock, we walked over to the Eagle Cliff Overlook and followed the path around. The paths were easy to follow and much of it was boardwalk.

We found Wildcat Canyon to be very cool! This was in late September, but I can imagine that the groundwater seeps down this canyon much more in the spring.

Walking through the canyons was our favorite part.

After making a loop back to the Visitor’s Center, we had sandwiches at one of the park benches near the parking lot and watched the river.

Just around the corner, about a seven minute drive, is St Louis Canyon. I spent my college years in St Louis, MO and convinced my family we had to go just because of it’s name. This was about a three mile out and back hike.

The sheer rock ledges and holes in the canyon walls were fun!

It was especially nice that we were the only people visiting, so we had the whole place to ourselves!

After visiting the Starved Rock area, we drove a couple hours north to Mt Horeb, IL for the night.

Day 2:

We were the first car in the parking lot the next morning to visit Cave of the Mounds. We bought tickets for the first tour through the cave and learned about the history of this particular cave system.

At the deepest point in the cave, they turned the lights out and we were able to experience the darkest darkness I’ve ever experienced. It was so dark that it gave my daughter the creeps 🙂

After visiting Cave of the Mounds, we drove another hour north to Wisconsin Dells. This area of Wisconsin reminded me of some places in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

We made it just in time to catch the 12:00pm Dells Boat Tour to take a ride through the Dells.

The tour we took with Dells Boat Tours stopped long enough for all of the passengers to explore Witch’s Gulch.

The entire path was a boardwalk that snaked through a narrow canyon. The rocks were covered in moss and the air felt cool and wet. It was super interesting!

After Witch’s Gulch, the boat took us to another area to watch a dog jump across this span of rocks.

The dog is trained and completely safe. There is a net down below in case the dog happens to fall. There is plenty of beautiful scenery on the way, too.

While we were watching the dog jump, they turned the boat around for us to get back to the docks.

After the boat tour, we had lunch on the patio at River’s Edge. We booked one night at the Wilderness Resort Waterpark and that was our final destination for the night. You just can’t visit Wisconsin Dells without staying at a Waterpark!

Their resort was gigantic and there was no shortage of things to do! There were multiple waterparks in different areas of the hotel. They also have a plethora of other indoor activities like the Take Flight Theater that my daughter LOVED, a go-kart track, souvenir shops, laser tag, mini golf and more.

After swimming our hearts out, we settled in for the night. The next morning we were going to make the long trek to Nebraska.

Day 3:

In the morning, we appeased my daughter’s horse-girl heart and took a horse drawn carriage ride. Lost Canyon Tours was just around the corner from the Wilderness Resort. At one point, the guide pointed out some of the massive water pipes above the canyon walls supplying water to the Wilderness Resort.

Some of these canyon walls were so tight, I’m surprised that a pair of horses could even fit through!

After we thanked our guide, we made the 7-hour drive to Omaha. It was LONG, folks. There is nothing to see but corn. There are stops you could (and probably should) add along the way, but we were on a mission to make it to Omaha for the rehearsal dinner that night.

Day 4:

It was a rainy day in Omaha, but the weather was forecasted to improve by early afternoon. The first thing we did was visit the Bob-Kerry Pedestrian Bridge. We found a troll!

Half-way across, there is a line that separates Iowa and Nebraska. The sign says to strike a pose, so we did! 🙂

We spend the rest of the afternoon at the zoo. Holy Moly, guys. This zoo is spectacular. I lived in St Louis for 5 years and thought the St Louis Zoo was incredible, but the Omaha Zoo takes the cake. Our daughter loved it. We could have spent the entire day there and felt a little sad that we only had enough time to go for about 4 hours.

This guy was up here being King of the zoo.

There were so many amazing animals, but our favorite was watching the seals underwater 🙂

I think the Mid-West is a tough place to find things to do sometimes, but we made the most of a road trip from Michigan to Nebraska! There are plenty of hidden gems to string together to create a nice family vacation!