The House on the Rock

Good Evening,

It is currently 6:40pm on a Tuesday in March… but not just any Tuesday, it is Pi Day. For those of you that know me, you might know that I’ve struggled with chronic pain and issues with my left arm ever since breaking it when I was 13. That day was NINE years ago today. Breaking a bone isn’t a super significant thing to most people, especially when you’re young. You heal quickly and move on with your life- at least that’s what I’ve seen and learned. Unfortunately for me, the breaking of my arm (elbow, specifically) brought on a lot of issues for me. For starters, I never regained full motion of my elbow and wrist. On top of that, it also began the years of chronic pain that I have been dealing with. I’ve had two surgeries on it- the initial one to fix the break, and a second one when I was 17 to hopefully alleviate some of the pain that I was experiencing. Yeah, that didn’t work out. Oh, well, we live on anyway. It’s interesting to me reminiscing on that day almost a decade ago, I could have never guessed how a simple day at the roller rink would change my life forever.

On Sunday, I took off with my partner on a small getaway to one of my favorite tourist attractions ever: The House on the Rock in Spring Green, Wisconsin. We took of Sunday morning and got a room for the night in Madison, WI. After a long day of driving, we didn’t do a whole lot other than eat and relax. It was nice to get away from “real life”, even just for a night and I couldn’t have asked for better company. We watched a movie on the hotel TV and, well, you’ve gotta love cable! The movie was on Lifetime and it was called From Straight A’s to XXX. You can only guess how much of a cinematic masterpiece that was.

Moving on, Monday morning we got up bright and early to seek out a yummy breakfast. I was thankful to be able to find a restaurant, Pancake Café, which to my delight offered gluten-free pancakes. Stuffed with pancakes, eggs benedict, and mimosas we set off to browse an antique store before heading off to our final destination, The House on the Rock itself. There’s quite a lot to be said about that place. This trip was my third visit, my first having been a solo trip last summer. I can safely say that I have never seen anything like it before. Chock-full of, for lack of a better word, shit, it’s a massively interesting place to waste a few hours. You start out walking through the initial pull of the place, the house built up and into the rock. That part is pretty self explanatory. Now, this house has the normal things, a few different living spaces, bookshelves, stained glass windows, and a LOT of decorations. Now, here’s the thing that this house has that most houses do not- an Infinity Room which overlooks the forest below. Not only is this room impressive to look at, it is overwhelming for the mind. Walking all the way to the end of it, you can feel the building sway in the wind. An employee we spoke to after visiting the infinity room told us that many years ago when he began working there, he walked out to the end of the room one day and looked down at the forest floor to see a doe delivering her baby.

After leaving the infinity room, you move on to section two which two major draws are “The Streets of Yesterday” and “The Heritage of the Sea”. The Streets of Yesterday is basically an indoor reconstruction of a 19th century street, complete with windowed storefronts to look into. At the end of the street is when you’ll encounter a huge calliope, playing the loudest music you’ve ever heard. Now, at this point we’ve seen self-playing pianos, and heard smaller machines making music, but nothing like this. The thing is so huge and elaborate, it has to be seen to be believed.

Leaving the Streets of Yesterday, you move on to something else that is utterly breathtaking: Heritage of the Sea. Walking into this room literally took my breath away the first time I went. The sculpture that is the draw to this room is a 200 foot tall image of two sea creatures seemingly engaged in battle. The website says that not only is it that tall, it is as long as the Statue of Liberty is tall. This thing is absolutely massive and incredible. Now, I’m a smaller person. I’m short, there’s no denying that, but even so, I have never felt smaller than I have standing next to that thing.

I feel as though I’m rambling on a bit here, so I think I’ll speed-run the rest of the tour. After leaving the Heritage of the Sea you move on to see many more incredible music machines and rooms. There’s a room full of old cars and more interesting storefronts, there’s several different musical machines, some that fill an entire room and some that are much smaller and more “quaint”. No matter the size, they are nothing less than impressive. You’ll sit and enjoy classical music played right before your eyes by robots, but you don’t feel as though you’re in some futuristic world, you feel as though you’ve been transported to some sort of opulent parallel world where everything looks as though it was made for a king. Perhaps that king is you.

Once you make it through the plethora of musical rooms, that is when you reach my favorite part: the Carousel. This was my initial draw to the place, as it is a location in my favorite novel. I first read American Gods by Neil Gaiman when I was 15 and it has had an incredible and lasting impression on me. I’ve read it several times now, listened to it on audio book, and even watched the show. I’ll admit, though, I sort of fell off on the show. I enjoy the book much more. Anyway, leaving the musical rooms you’ll come to a smaller room full of history of aviation and model planes but just around the corner, there it is. The largest, most incredible Carousel I’ve ever seen. I could sit and watch it for hours and see new things. It is truly something to behold. My only complaint is that it’s not ridable, but I suppose that would ruin it’s appeal. Another interesting thing about the Carousel is that none of the animals on it are horses. The horses adorn the walls.

Following the Carousel, you head into a labyrinth of more… shit. It’s cool shit, don’t get me wrong, I love looking at it. It’s like a rich hoarder decided to put all their things on display. There are seemingly endless dollhouses and dioramas, mannequins, pictures, walls and walls of elaborate weapons, and even recreations of the Royal Jewels of the Royal Family of England. It’s a unique and very enjoyable experience. Like I said, my first trip was solo and I fell in love with it. In the fall, I was grateful to be able to take my brother there, and he enjoyed it just as much as I did. This time I was able to take my partner and when asked what he thought, he said: “I have truly never seen anything like it.” Truer words were never spoken.

Now I am home and back to the grind, thankful to still have my partner visiting. We are long distance, so every day we’re able to spend together I am endlessly grateful for. I don’t currently have any future trips to the House on the Rock planned, and it seems my time in the Midwest is nearing its end, for now. We’ll see. Even still, the House on the Rock will always hold a special place in my heart.

Thank you for being here.

Kayti