Now what we really found in Wisconsin Dells was water parks and water parks and more water parks. I think there was one connected to every hotel and resort. There were three at our resort. It was very busy and hectic on the weekend but became much quieter during the week. We did go to the water park one day. I did the lazy river which is really just my speed and I enjoyed it. Bob tried one of the slides but did not do well afterward so he won’t try that again. It whipped him around too much in the tube.
We explored the downtown area, stopped at fudge shop and a popcorn shop and stopped at a couple of cheese and wine stores. We were looking for cheese curds but they were really high priced.
The highlight of the week was our trip to the House on the Rock located about 1½ hours from where we were staying near Spring Green, Wisconsin.
I loved the gardens and the plants. I don't think I had seen Chinese Lanterns before.
Coleen’s dad and her brother Eric were there last year which is how we found out about it. Dad talked about how exhausting it was and we hadn’t been there more than 15 minutes and we could understand why. By the time we finished 5 hours later we were tired but utterly amazed at the enormity of what is there. It is something we would recommend that everyone see but we don’t think it is good for children. They would become too bored.
The House on the Rock originally opened in 1959 and is a complex of architecturally unique rooms, streets, gardens and shops designed by Alex Jordan, Jr. The house is atop Deer Shelter Rock, a column of rock approximately 60 feet tall and 70 feet by 200 feet on the top. Many additions have been made to the original structure and other buildings have been added over the course of several decades.
First we toured the museum which gave the history and explanation of the house. Then we toured the house itself.
It has actually never been lived in but could be. There was a very nice kitchen and the house consists of room after room, some up a couple of steps, some in small nooks and others with walk through passages.
The walls in one area were filled with books. Another area had stained glass lamp shades.
Most of the walls were still rock. It was just unbelievable. And then there was the Infinity Room which is designed to seem like it goes on forever.
It is actually the part that protrudes from the building with no external support.
Bob was not comfortable being here to have this picture taken.
After the house we toured The Streets of Yesterday which is a re-creation of an early twentieth century American town.
Then there was The Heritage of the Sea which had nautical exhibits and a 200-ft model of a whale-like sea creature. There is a huge collection of automatic music machines that still play. These were extremely fascinating and fun to watch. With your admission ticket you received some tokens to play the machines but could also purchase others or if you were around some other folks you listened when they played them.
There was a large indoor carousel with over 200 animals none of which were horses and all of which were original pieces.
The walls around it were filled with horses. It was lit by more than 20,000 lights.
Even the bathrooms were decorated with strange objects, including mannequins and flowers.
There was also a doll carousel and 250 doll houses. We decided that anything that could be collected could be found here. I couldn’t count the number of organs in the music building.
I still just shake my head as I think of all that was there. What a sight and a very unusual place.
We left Wisconsin on the 18th and stopped for one night in Bartlett to visit with Cindy, Ron and girls. We thought we would get in a couple more softball games but the weather didn’t cooperate and we headed home on Sunday after attending church with Cindy.
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