On the morning of Sunday, July 5th I took a look at my calendar and saw that it would be our only weekend day that didn't have plans until after school starts! EEEK! Andrew and I decided we were going to make it a fun family day!
We got the kids up and dressed, made a run through Dunkin Donuts and were on our way! We didn't tell the kids where we were going, we just told them that we were going spelunking! Once they started seeing signs they were able to figure out that we were heading to the Cave of the Mounds!! They also learned a neat new word! ;)
While we were waiting for our tour the kids had some fun in the gift shop. Hard hats anyone?
We started our tour and found some amazing sights in the Cathedral Room!
Along our walk we were reminded not to touch the cave. The oils on our skin will stop the cave growth. This is the one and ONLY place you can touch the cave!
Such a beautiful sight!
Daddy & our little spelunkers!
Cave of the Mounds has been open for 75 Years! It was discovered during a routine dynamite blast in the limestone quarry above.
"The parrot"
It usually takes around 1,000 years for a stalactite or stalagmite to grow 10 CENTImeters!
Will the stalactite reach the stalagmite?
So amazing to see what water can do after thousands of years!
After we exited the Cave the kids did a little panning for gems.
Mads found a pretty big bunch!
Nate was working hard, but came out with less than his sister!
It was a fun experience!
On the park grounds is the Brigham Farm - the Brigham family are the people who owned the land on which the cave was discovered. Such a gorgeous prairie field around the barn:
Since we had gotten to the cave for the 10:00 tour, we were out at a reasonable time. We still had lots of day left, so we decided to hit another stop - House on the Rock! I hadn't been there since I was a kid, maybe 4th grade, and Andrew knew nothing about the attraction. We were in for quite an adventure!!
We drove into the gates and down a path lined with these "planters." We ended up parking next to one, so of course we had to take a picture!
After we entered into the park and purchased our tickets, we made our way through one of the Japanese gardens that are on the grounds. Postcard perfect!
We cruised through the Alex Jordan Center (the architect of HotR) pretty quickly. (You can get most of the information you need in the pamphlet - or this CBS news clip) We were on a mission to get to the House! First stop - the Gate House! Now this is a 1960's Dan Draper type haven! Check out that sofa the kids are sitting on!! Shaggy!
I like the kitchen the most. Built into the rocks - Andrew is at the stove looking out the kitchen window.
Everybody's living room should have an automated music machine!
After the Gate House, we went to the Original House on the Rock, and into the Infinity Room. Andrew and I didn't mention to the kids that the room gets progressively smaller - we wanted to see what they would say. Neither said anything about it! Apparently it's no biggie to have a room shrink down on you when you're a shrimp yourself! :)
156 feet above the tree tops below!
From HotR publications, The Infinity Room from outside:
Sitting by the window, with a view of the trees below.
The Original House itself seems to be more of a crazy 60's bachelor pad. Lots of couches, low ceilings and minimal windows. One big downfall to building a house in a rock is lack of natural light!
Then it was on to the Streets of Yesterday. This was the beginning of Section Two of the tour. Basically by this point you've gone beyond the House and into the crazy mind of Alex Jordan. To sum it up, he seems to have been a man with a lot of money and a lot of eccentric ideas!
However, the Streets were very neat. A recreation of a 19th Century Main Street with a red brick center street and a multitude of shops along the sides.
After walking down one of the Streets, you break into the Heritage of the Sea section. In this section is Jordan's last piece he worked on, This 200 foot sea creature is fighting an octopus....
all while the sea creature has a row boat in it's mouth. Because, you know, why not!
We went through a few more sections and came into the Music of Yesterday full of music machine after music machine. Just look at this one - three stories worth!
We turned back through another Street of Yesterday and found some Hamm's preferred stock...
and the Optometrist's office!!!
Now - some of the other collections might be a little bit out of hand, but this one was FABULOUS! :)
Look! We have that picture of Sir Isaac Newton hanging at Stateline Vision Center!
Super neat old specs:
I would like those giant eyes on our office wall too!
Spirit of Aviation was up next. We saw some war planes, but the kids thought this old time gas pump was pretty neat:
We made it to the end of Section Two! And the piece de resistance - The World's Largest Indoor Carousel!
269 Animals on this bad boy and not a single one is a horse!
You couldn't ride the carousel, though. :( (Although the band 10,000 Manics rode it when they filmed their video for More Than This)
This dog was at one time an animal on the carousel:
Next it was on to the huge Organ Room. I was digging this chandelier made of chandeliers! :)
and clocks will always catch my eye. This one definitely takes up some space!
Next we walked quickly through the creepy Dollhouse Room and onto the Circus Room. Over a MILLION little pieces in these circus scenes!!
Through the Galleries, which had replicas of British Parliment buildings and quickly through the Doll Carousel Room (not the same as the Carousel Room - this one is for dolls ONLY!) and it was back to an upper deck view of the Carousel before exiting out into the sunlight after a 2.5 mile walk through all of the displays!!!!
Our path out lead through another beautiful Japanese garden.
Lily pads and Koi!
Another crazy dragon planter, but now we have the understanding of why they're there... simply because Alex Jordan dreamed it up! :)
Group shot! Apparently the ground is tilted... or the camera wasn't straight! :)
On July 21st there was an article posted on Yahoo about the Strangest Tourist Attraction in the World... Here I am making sure the kids get to stop at the Salt & Pepper Shaker Museum, the Colonel Sanders Muesum, Park of Tiny Bridges, and Vistakon, among others and we have the Strangest Tourist Stop IN THE WORLD - right here in Wisconsin!! Has my search for crazy stops ended with this information? Oh no way! :) There is so much more planned for the kids... Wall Drug, Mitchell Corn Palace, Carhenge, and Ramen (if we go international!) LOL!
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