writer, editor, crafty gal
Roadside Americana
How great is this sign? And there was a carnival going on right behind it. Good times in Aurora. I only stopped for the sign, however.
Click on photos to enlarge them. Because this is the greatest place on earth.
The House on the Rock is the weirdest place I have ever been. And I lived in Flint, Mich. And Detroit. As much as I love Dale’s photos, I don’t think you can truly experience The House on the Rock in pictures. It doesn’t pick up the dank smells and low ceiling of the main house or the bizarre dark clutter of the warehouses that keep the various collections.
From the house, visitors exit and walk through a garden to the first of several warehouses that house a nearly endless number of collections. One of the first includes a showcase of Faberge eggs. I have no idea if they’re real but they were fancy!
In the nautical room, there is a 200 foot whale with a boat in his mouth who happens to be wrestling a giant squid. The room is filled with small version of famous ships.
Another music machines. Rumor has it that the son of the original architect’s house created these as a way to drum up tourist business. He apparently loved to create these elaborate contraptions.
Finally, at the end of the second section a strange hallway takes you to what they describe as the World’s Largest Carousel. I prefer to think of it as the inspiration for the color scheme of the movie Moulin Rouge. It’s the closest I have ever come to being inside that movie. And I loved it.
The carousel is all strange, mythical creatures, spinning wildly. Nobody gets to ride it, which is a tragedy.
Another room–the Organ Room–is filled with invented electrical machines that are wildly and absurdly elaborate.
In the weapons collection room there is a fake female leg with a gun hidden in it!
These photos represent approx. 1/5 of the display rooms. Seriously, it’s bananas. And there is a giant cannon on your way out! Bananas.
The Don Q Inn in Dodgeville features a plane in the front yard that is open for free tours. She’s a big one!
A giant cardinal in somebody’s front yard in Darlington, Wisconsin.
Moosejaw Pizza in the Wisconsin Dells features a moose climing a tree that serves as the company’s sign.
More amazingly, the company’s pizza delivery vehicle is a PT Cruiser outfitted with a huge ass moose laying on top of it.
The moose is especially detailed–but only up to a point.
I desperately want to eat here. There’s almost nothing I don’t love about Wally’s House of Embers!
I love the groovy stone work, I love the entrance with the fake curtains, I love the neon signs and the entire front porch–not to mention the over the top white wire chairs that adorn the porch.
And I bet this neon sign looks like a real beauty in the dark! *sigh* It wasn’t open the afternoon I was there.
Wacky Ripley’s Believe It Or Not building in the Wisconsin Dells. There’s a large display on top of a strange storefront. I didn’t go in.
Fabulous neon sign in Belvedere, Illinois.