ven though I’m only 7 years old, I can tell you that Lodge at Cedar Creek Resort and Waterpark IS as “Big-Big-Big as the Northwoods”… maybe even BIGGER!

I was holding on to Mom’s hand when we walked into Lodge at Cedar Creek. I could hear a bunch of birds chirping in the tall skinny trees before we got into that HUGE lobby. I looked around… I couldn’t see any of the birds, but I did see a big Black Bear, a raccoon up in tree, a bunch of geese overhead, AND the biggest White-Tail Buck I ever saw! They all looked so real! They also have this big old fashioned water wheel right in the Lobby. Dad gave me a few coins to toss in the pond for good luck. WOW, I sure was lucky to be at this fun place!

Dad told me that Lodge at Cedar Creek was like an old logging mill. I wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but I believed him! There were all these neat old pictures of loggers and a bunch of other cool stuff. Dad told me that it came from the Marathon County Historical Society. I knew this place was special, it was like a museum!

Mom checked us in at the big Front Desk. It was now time to go explore our room. Rooms are so special at the Lodge that they have to call them “suites” and they have 140 of them! When we opened the door to our suite all I could say was WOW! We had a Loft Suite. It had a big fireplace, balcony, Nintendo Game Cube™, a bunch of TV’s, and a living room with plenty of room to goof around. Mom liked that it had a refrigerator and a microwave so we could make some buttery popcorn later on. My little brother and I chose to sleep in the upstairs loft. It was so cool! We had a big bed with our own TV and even a little bathroom, all to ourselves!

Our suite was great, but I needed to get into this Big Big Big indoor waterpark I’d been hearing so much about. Mom said to put on my trunks. Wouldn’t you just know it, I forgot them! Lucky for me the Sugar Maples Gift Shop in the Lobby had a really cool pair, and Mom said they were a great bargain! Mom was even happier to learn that she could get her favorite cup of Starbucks™ coffee down there too! Sugar Maples also had stuffed animals, games, and really neat sweatshirts, not too mention some real good lookin’ candy and ice cream.

So off to the big indoor waterpark we went. The first thing I noticed was Chip the Beaver, the Lodge mascot. He was in the waterpark shaking hands and playing with all the kids. I smiled real big when Mom took my picture with him. He’s a lot of fun. After that, I found myself under the huge Lodge at Cedar Creek Tree House. It had 2 big waterslides and all these fun ropes, triggers, and pulleys to spray and splash people with. Best part was the 800 gallon water bucket that dumps all that water every 7 minutes or so. I was soaked! Dad headed to Powder Keg Puddle with my little brother, and Mom, Sis, and I decided it was time for a trip down “the big slides.” And BIG they were. I was a little scared about going down Sasquatch the first time, but I got over it and went down over and over again. I was getting pretty tired so we all decided to go on a relaxing trip floating around the Lazy River. It turned out to be a great idea.

That waterpark can really make a little guy like me hungry. For lunch we had some great pizza from the poolside Cookhouse Snack Bar. Later that night we ate at The Sawmill Grill, which we all could describe in one word, “Yummy!” It was really nice that we didn’t even have to leave the Lodge to eat.

Right after dinner Dad took me and Sis down to Bull Whackers Game Room. They had skee-ball, air hockey, and all my favorite arcade games. I kept playing until we ran out of tokens and had a big pile of tickets in our arms. I gave my tickets to the friendly employee behind the counter and he helped me pick out some really cool prizes!

That night we headed to the Lobby for Chip’s Storytime. Chip gave us some fun pictures to color and then invited us to join him at the big fireplace. This really nice lady read us some funny bedtime stories, while we had cookies and milk with Chip. Wow, what a fun day we had! I was really looking forward to heading back to our loft suite for some sleep. The best part of going to sleep was knowing that tomorrow morning we could get up and do it all over again. Mom and Dad said we were defiantly coming back later this year! I sure am a lucky guy? I can’t wait!

Excerpts from an article written by Enid Cleaves for Fun In Wisconsin Magazine – Winter 2004.