If you like antiques, collectibles, long walks and Frank Lloyd Wright architecture among scenic valleys and farms, I recommend you visit House on the Rock in Wisconsin. A dry spell had parched crops at home, so it was time for a little recreation to the north, the land of cheese curds, Culvers and the Green Bay Packers.
The southwest corner of Wisconsin is known as a driftless area. The glaciers occurring thousands of years ago did not scour the hills flat and produce prairies and flat topography like our landscape in Will County. Traveling through Dane, Iowa, Lafayette and Green Counties provided many wonderful views of farmsteads with bank barns and grazing cattle. Even though many dairy farms had been shuttered, in many cases the old barns had been repurposed for other livestock. You could easily see the Karst areas, where the soil profile was very thin over the rock exhibited by the severe stress in the crops that were growing in drought conditions.
It was easy to beat the heat and humidity with a trip into the Cave of the Mounds near the town of Blue Mound. This took us through Mt. Horeb to view the trolls and have a late lunch. Thanks to our phone’s navigation and a desire to go nowhere fast, we took some county roads through beautiful valleys in rural Wisconsin on our way to our overnight stay at the House on the Rock Lodge near Spring Green. That night we checked out many sites associated with Frank Lloyd Wright, visited the Wisconsin River, and ate ice cream at a Wisconsin original, Culvers.
The destination the following morning was to the creation of Alex Jordan, House on The Rock. His house, built on a 75’ tall rock, is best described as a combination of Frank Lloyd Wright, Fred Flintstone, creativity, genius, and determination. I marveled at the infinity room with its 2500 windows and 150’ cantilever over the valley. When tourists paid money for decades to tour his unique house, he used the income to build several large buildings and filled them with some very interesting attractions. They are filled with antiques and collectibles as well as many one-of-a-kind creations.
The giant carousel does not even have a horse. A second carousel was only for dolls. A circus room had too many displays to count. Many displays featured music that played when you inserted a coin. There were countless model ships and even collections of guns for those who support our 2nd Amendment. There were displays of creepy Gnomes, as well as Medieval, Chinese, Japanese, British royalty, art, and history. My curious mind was overloaded with knowledge.
I highly recommend you visit. Perhaps allow an extra day or two. Also use a map and a wingman since cell signals can be spotty. With all the bends in the roads, it is not safe for the driver to view the beautiful scenery, so it is advised to take turns at driving and sightseeing.
Surprisingly, the trip home from House on the Rock in the middle of Iowa County goes right through New Glarus, Wisconsin. While Wisconsin is known by all for their prolific cheese factories, many beer drinkers know you cannot go to Wisconsin and not buy Spotted Cow beer produced by the New Glarus Brewing Company. The tour of their brewery, with massive buildings built to resemble huge barns on top of a hill of rock was the cherry on top of a relaxing 2-day trip to the badger state.
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