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Published: July 29th 2005
Infinity Room
The room with a view!!!!! Floor is a little shakey, but we made it to the end to see what it was all about. There is a glass window in the floor at the end of the room so you can really appreciate how high you are.Today's big adventure was to find Spring Green, WS, and the House on the Rock. I know there are many who have no clue what we are talking about, but even so, if you are ever within a five hour drive, you gotta see this thing!
It is literally a house built on/in a rock formation in rural Wisconsin.
So why is this so interesting??? Well, first off, it was constructed by a guy named Alex Jordan, who has no formal training in engineering architecture. He had a dream, and finally convinced the city to let him do it... once he proved of course that it would not fall down! There is a room that is literally constructed of three steel beams and glass (the floor is now plywood for people to walk on). It is called the Infinity Room, and it is 210 ft above ground and extends 156 ft away from the rock! Yes, that means you're out in mid air... just a little scary. It also moves with the shifting of the earth and cross winds. It is not a comfortable feeling since it is so counter intuitive, but it does provide the most spectacular views.
Love Car
A pick up truck with a hot tub in the back. How cool is that! This will be part of the next collection section that is being worked on now. The house is a conglomeration of a bunch of small rooms full of a wacky collection of things that he either made or bought during his lifetime. It is kind of like a split level house where you go up some stairs or down some stairs to the next room. There is a three story library where his books still are on display. The ceilings are a little short which Eric quickly discovered so he had to duck a lot. We cannot figure out why since Mr. Jordan was actually four inches taller than Eric.
After the house was finished, so many people wanted to see it that the idea of charging money to go in was born. Initially he did that to dissuade the curious. Didn't work so well. More and more people came, so he collected and made more things for them to see. Now there is a museum attached to the house which took almost three hours to go through. It also has the biggest carousel in the world. This guy has collections from all periods that he lived through. Even now, after he has passed away, the staff continues in his tradition of creating
Road Signs
Mr. Jordan collected all kinds of things including advertising signs. These were our favorites from Burma Shave. new things for people to see. There is no way to describe all the different collections in this entry... you'll have to take our word for it and ask us when you see us! We have some pics too.
We drove as far as Madison after our time "on the rock" and have found the best pizza place there is... The Glass Nickel Pizza Co. Definitely a top ten spot for us.
Tomorrow it is off to Michigan to see friends and then we cross back into Ontario and make the trek home. Stay Tuned.... we'll do an update entry when we're home. This will be the last entry from "on the road".
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Chris
non-member comment
I'm glad you made it to the House on the Rock! I hope Eric said hi to Shadow and Mr. Wednesday. Is the Infinity Room an optical illusion or is it really that long? That's amazing stuff. Take care guys!