Our long term travels with the 2011 Honda Odyssey continue! (Here’s the last one). This time, it was off to Door County, Wisconsin.
As always, the Odyssey set the standard for carrying kids and cargo. This time, a crew of 6 and a full load of stuff! My youngest two have been watching the Star Wars movies on our trips, it was episodes 6 and 2 for this one. We also appreciated the newly discovered traffic congestion feature of the Nav system to help combat Chicago/Milwaukee construction and crashes!
First (and maybe foremost) on our trip was the food. Fish boil, corn on the cob and ice cream. What’s not to like?
Things to do? Small town festival and a parade, too!
Relaxing with my cousin and her kids-
We brought home plenty of local cherry products, including jams, salsas, sodas, caramels (one pulled off my crown and I’m off to the dentist tomorrow!) and our favorite, Sweetie Pies. But I thought I’d leave you with a photo of some fresh, squeaky Wisconsin curds and a glimpse of the fine arts in Door County.
As for the 2011 Odyssey, it’s still the best family truckster out there. It’s not without its drawbacks, however. Fuel economy is still somewhat below expectations, running about 16-19 mpg in town and 23-25 mpg highway so far. That’s a bit less than my 2006 in similar conditions, but probably not a statistically sound enough sample to make a conclusion. Granted, I’ve been spoiled lately by my Highlander Hybrid that gets close to 30 mpg highway and over 30 mpg in the same type of driving around town. Still, it doesn’t come close to matching the Odyssey for flexibility, especially in regard to third row seating comfort.
On the other hand, the Odyssey also falls short of my Highlander in terms of road noise and well short of some luxury cars. It’s more refined than my 2006 Odyssey was, but still not class-leading. Finally, we were a bit disappointed that the 120V outlet has slots for only 2 prongs, one less than the grounded plug of our PlayStation 3. We had hoped to make a sporty video touting the HDMI input for Blu-Ray video and games from the PS3, but our hopes were dashed as soon as we went to plug it in! I guess they don’t want people blowing fuses left and right by trying to plug-in a 1500 Watt hot air popcorn popper before enjoying a wide screen surround sound DVD!
We’ve only had one issue with the Odyssey so far, a 3rd row seatbelt that somehow caused the retractor to be stuck. I brought it in for service, but it didn’t take long. The advisor who checked me in had it fixed in about a minute and sent me on my way! That’s something I really miss about owning a Honda, the local dealer’s service department was excellent.
The cool box hadn’t impressed me previously, but with a couple bottles of cold water in it, it kept them and our precious cheese curds cold on the way home! Don’t expect it to make a warm bottle into a frosty beverage; it really is just to keep cool stuff from warming up very much.
For anyone interested, I previewed the 2011 Honda Odyssey here and here and Kecia had a full review here. Also, if you have any questions on carseats in the Honda Odyssey, please check out this forum thread.
Curds are basically randomly shaped hunks of cheddar cheese. Fresh ones do have something of a “squeaky” texture, especially as you first bite them. Usually the local cheese makers deliver them to gas stations, touristy stores and elsewhere. You can buy fancy packaged ones in the grocery stores, too, but they are basically just plain ‘ol cheese. We got ours from the source at the Renard’s store, made the same day;-)
Sounds like you had a good time! But those cheese curds must be an acquired taste ’cause they look really gross. Give me some Indian fry bread or sopapillas with honey anytime!
What exactly does one do with cheese curds? Do they really squeak? Do they squeak when you BITE them? Like creamy Pop Rocks? I don’t know if I could handle that.
Darren, STOP MAKING ME MISS THE MIDWEST!! Between your adventures and the past couple of days of ice water at the beach and a thunderstorm instead of fireworks, after being away for almost 11yrs, I’m feeling a bit homesick for it.