Bay Beach Amusement Park

Bay Beach Amusement Park in Green Bay is a great place to take the family!

There are rides for all ages, from kiddie rides to roller coaster.

The best part about Bay Beach, though, is the price.  Tickets are only 25 cents each, and most of the rides are only one or two tickets.  We bought $20 for our family of 2 adults and 2 littles, and we brought more than half of them home with us.  (Don't worry - they don't expire!)

Bay Beach Amusement Park
1313 Bay Beach Rd ~ Green Bay, WI ~ (920) 448-3365
Admission: No admission, 25 cents/ticket

Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary

The Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary is not usually the first place you think of when you hear "Bay Beach," but it is a gem! 

Our first stop was the Nature Center.

 It is a really fun, hands-on place!  There are things to climb in, including a mock tree with hidey-holes that show different critters that live there.  There are live animals and animal bones.

This miniature house gives examples of different ways wild animals could invade your home.

 There's also a "beaver slide" into the "otter pond," which does a pretty good job of making you feel like you are under water.

Then we got to explore the animals.  It is like a very natural zoo.  We saw all kinds of animals, but our favorite were the deer.  This guy hung out pretty close to the fence, so the brave one got to pet it!

 We really enjoyed the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary.

 Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary
1660 East Shore Drive ~ Green Bay, WI ~ (920) 391-3671

Apple Valley Park

Apple Valley Park is in Beaver Dam.  It is a small neighborhood park in a subdivision on the edge of town.

It is not a very large park, but there is a covered picnic shelter and a nice playground.  There are swings, monkey bars, and slides.

 

We also enjoyed the rock climbing tunnel.

Their favorite part of the playground was a fake wall with a cut out that worked really well for playing drive-thru.

There were no bathrooms.

Apple Valley Park
Empire Drive ~ Beaver Dam, WI

Dodge County Historical Society

The Dodge County Historical Society has a museum in Beaver Dam.

Admittedly, we did not see the entire museum.  For some reason my kiddo got totally freaked out and would not go to most of it.

Both littles enjoyed the loft area, which has a model wigwam and teepee.  There is also a large collection of arrowheads found in the area.

 

Most of the museum was jam-packed full of antique items.  There was plenty of daylight, but most of the lights were turned off, so it was still a bit dark.

There is a mock one-room schoolhouse set up on the second floor.

It was a bummer that the kids couldn't touch anything.  I was hopeful when a sign mentioned something about playing in the schoolhouse, but there were signs all over once we got up there saying not to touch anything.

There were some easy opportunities I saw for them to make this museum a bit more interactive, but it is really just a very large collection of stuff.  Don't get me wrong, I found it pretty interesting!  It is a place worth stopping by once for an hour.

The curator was very friendly.

Dodge County Historical Society
105 Park Avenue ~ Beaver Dam, WI ~ (920) 887-1266

Woodlawn Park

Woodlawn Park is Neosho's only park.  It features a dock and a boat launch.

 My kiddo thought it was "hilarious" that the road drove right into the water :)

 There is some confusion when it comes to the playground.  Is it part of the park?  Does it belong to the school? I cannot tell.  Google maps shows it as part of the park, the random guy I asked said it was the school's.  Since the park edges right up against the school property, I really don't know where the line is.

 We played there anyway!

There is a nice picnic shelter that is definitely part of the park, as well as permanent bathrooms.  They were nothing great, but they were better than port-a-potties!

Woodlawn Park
Center St ~ Neosho, WI

Hickey Park

Juneau's Hickey Park is definitely a neighborhood park.

 We were the only ones there when we visited, but I felt a little bit like we were intruding.  There were toys left there, so it seems that there are neighborhood kids who play there regularly - which is awesome!  It just made me feel like we were in someone's backyard. 

That being said, no one said a word to us or did anything to make us feel unwelcome.

They had a very nice climber.  It was in good shape, could have been brand new.  It had a small slide, bumpy racing slides, a climbing wall, and two kinds of monkey bars.

 

There were also swings.

The playground is shredded tires.

We did not find any open bathrooms.

Hickey Park
341 Ridge Rd ~ Juneau, WI

River Bend RV Resort

River Bend RV Resort just outside of Watertown is more than just a campground.  It is actually a great place to hang out for a day!  To be honest, we were really only interested in their water park.

Now, if you're looking for a Wisconsin-Dells-caliber water park, this is not it.  But if you are looking for a swimming hole with some fun extras, River Bend is a great place to try.

First off, there IS an old-fashioned swimming hole.  Well, maybe not exactly traditional.

They have a shallow, sandy beach on one side.  Across the buoy line is much deeper with inflatable water equipment, like jumping pads and slides.  We did not venture that far with two little ones, but we did enjoy the floating lounges the resort puts out.  They are pretty sturdy and fun to float around on.

 The main attraction, though, is the pool area.  River Bend has a nice splash pad/kiddie pool.  We had to hold both of our kids (ages 5 & 2) back from racing in as soon as they saw it.  There are fountains, a spray arch, and a slide with a nice pad at the bottom, as well as plenty of open water for playing.

And then we ventured to the big pool!  I would say the main draw to River Bend is probably the big green water slides.  However, both of ours were still too small for those ones.  It is also worth noting that they do not run the entire time the pool is open.

Although the kiddo was a little disappointed she couldn't go on the big slides, they BOTH had a blast flying down the little slides.  There is a smaller frog slide (above, at the right) as well as a pretty decent-sized eagle slide (below, at the left).  We did lots of swimming practice and sliding.  The eagle slide was the definite favorite, but they are both good and fast.

We visited as soon as the pool opened in the morning, so we worked up quite an appetite by the time we dragged the kids out a few hours later.  We opted to order some lunch to-go from their restaurant.  It was reasonably priced and gone before we got home!

One thing I really appreciated about River Bend was that they allowed us to use our own floaties.  For some reason some places don't, but I always feel more comfortable when the kids have them on.

River Bend has nice bathrooms with coin-operated showers.

River Bend RV Resort
 W6940 Rubidell Rd ~ Watertown, WI ~ (920) 261-7505
Admission: 3&under free, Monday-Thursday $5/person, Friday-Sunday $10/person