Tuesday, July 20, 2004 (Part 2)

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Velkommen to Westby, Wisconsin

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American Legion Veterans Memorial Flag Park

Richland Center is Wisconsin's Purple Heart City. The American Legion Veterans Memorial Flag Park is located here, on Purple Heart Memorial Highway, where each summer state and local dignitaries part in a ceremony to give the awards to the men and women who have earned that high honor. Richland Center is also the birthplace of architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

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Maybe next time

The House on the Rock, in Spring Green, Wisconsin: In the 1940s Alex Jordan, a self-proclaimed architect with no formal training, decided to build a house for himself on a sandstone spire called Deer Shelter Rock. People kept wanting to see what the oddball was building, so he started charging admission. As visitors paid, he kept adding on, and more visitors came. His obsession with building his retreat on the rock turned into an obsession with collecting, and as the collections grew, yet more people came. Mr. Jordan never did live in his house, instead moving into his imagination. The result today is beyond description. It's almost a museum, but more fun and less informative. We spent three and half hours walking two miles of walkways through dozens of rooms of ecclectic collections. The most striking room is the Infinity Room, a glass-walled room extending over the valley 218 feet, with no visible means of support. A glass window in the floor provides a view of the forest floor, more than 150 feet below. We also enjoyed the Music of Yesterday, the greatest collection of automated music machines in the world.

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House on the Rock, Spring Green, Wisconsin

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Infinity Room

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Infinity Room from above

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Musical automaton

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Nice A$$!

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Apocalyptic horseman

A billboard on the way to Madison adverised The Mustard Museum, Home of Poupon U. We didn't have a chance to stop for a pic, but I just had to mention it.

We stopped a little earlier than usual tonight, around 6:00, because our heads were spinning from the House on the Rock experience. Spent the night at a Comfort Inn outside Edgerton, Wisconsin, and utilized the lovely heated indoor pool and jacuzzi. Take-out dinner from Cousin's subs down the road - not a lot of choices around here, but it was fine. In the midst of researching Chicago hotels for the next couple nights, we decided just to skip Chi-town and move on. Chicago will still be there later, and we want to be able to give it the time it deserves. The remainder of our trip should be a bit more leisurely now. Just 185 miles today, but it was more than plenty.

Continue to Day 5

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