Ever since my parents moved our family out of Wisconsin, we've been driving back to the great state multiple times a year. Although we've been gone for 24 years now, it still feels like home every time we cross the state line.
A strange thing happens when you cross over the border of Wisconsin on the interstate. Mixed in with the signs reading rest stop, gas and food, you'll find even larger signs that simply read, "CHEESE." (The word CHEESE must always be written in all-caps when you're in Wisconsin. It's a rule.)
The image of one particular "CHEESE" sign is forever seared into my memory from years and years of drooling gazing at it from the backseat of our family minivan. It's the Mars Cheese Castle sign that is ever-so-visible from I-94. But, never have we actually pulled off the freeway and gone inside to smell the cheese.
Damn shame, if you ask me.
Look! There it is!
It's coming, it's coming, it's coming ... (can you handle the excitement?)
IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE!
... And it's gone.
Gone, gone, gone.
Bye-bye CHEESE Castle! Will I ever stand below your yellow and orange backlit sign? Will I ever know the bounty that lies behind your plywood doors? Will I ever taste your sweet cheese? (I'm only guessing that's what they sell BECAUSE I HAVE NEVER BEEN THERE.)
Anyhoo.
On Sunday we drove up to Wisconsin to pick apples at the Apple Holler orchard, a Wisconsin hotspot I've also driven past a million times, but somehow never noticed. (Because HELLO. Where's your big-ass sign, Apple Holler? Get with the program.)
The cluster of people there was unreal. It was the Mall of America of apple orchards. Incidentally, I don't think people from Wisconsin actually go to these kinds of places. No. I'm pretty sure places like these exist purely to capitalize on the FIBs who are wantin' to come to the country and pick 'em some apples gol-darnit! ... and are willing to spend $40 per bag doing so.
Nevertheless, it was great!
Ya. You betcha.
Well worth the $40 we paid to pick them. Well worth it. (Shhhh, Gramps, I don't want to hear it)
We brought Kate's sweet little nephew with us. He and La got along marvelously.
They both had their faces painted:
A unicorn for La ...
And a goal post and football for E.
AND GUESS WHAT GUYS. I was so good at the Apple Orchard that we were allowed to stop at the CHEESE Castle.
That's right.
As I entered the Castle, I was involuntarily drawn like a zombie toward the troughs and troughs of CHEESE. Upon recovery, I looked up and gazed around the chalet and discovered that the store is really a unique mesh of all things Wisconsin. It's a restaurant, a bakery, a knick-knac shack, and above all, a haven of GLORIOUS CHEESY GOODNESS. All wrapped up in one rickety old Castle. Amen.
And now I can sit here with my string cheese rope and happily check one more item off my life's list.
4 comments:
I LIVED in Wisconsin for 24 years, and have yet to visit Mars. But, I'm quite smitten by that sign too. Looks like a fun day.
you are one CHEESE-LOVING, APPLE-PICKEN', DRIFTWOOD WREATH-MAKIN', hot mama :) mars cheese castle: where dreams really do come true :)
I've lived in the Milwaukee area for almost 38 years and I've never been to either the Mars Cheese Castle or Apple Holler! Thanks for pictures, now I feel like I've been there and don't have that driving need to go myself.
Aunt Kat
Okay I was born and raised in Wisconsin and I ALWAYS stop at the Mars Cheese Castle. They make the best sandwiches! Perfect for eating in the car...
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