WI Riverside Resort, Spring Green, WI, to Wagontrail Resort, Ellison Bay, WI: Left Spring Green this morning at 8:30 with Mike driving. We headed east on back roads and just outside of Sun Prairie Rt. 14 turned into a limited access four-lane highway all the way to Manitowac. Stopped at Valders for fuel and had lunch at Mr. Lucky’s Grill Haus. Then I started driving and we headed up the peninsula just outside Algoma and went through the cute little towns of Alaska, Two Rivers, Two Creeks, and Sturgeon Bay. Pulled into Wagontrail Resort at around 3:30 and were set up by 4:00. This is the first time we’ve stayed at a commercial campground in Door County, and this one is great. It has the beauty of a National Forest campground but all the amenities of a commercial campground--well, most of the amenities. We have a really pretty and private site with heavy woods surrounding us. 69 today.

Japanese Garden, House on the Rock

Sun, 6/6/10

WI Riverside Resort, Spring Green, WI: Left about 11:00 this morning for The House on the Rock. We’d seen signs for this attraction all along the highways in Wisconsin but never stopped. Decided to take the side trip this year—and it was well worth it. Alex Jordan used to picnic on this rocky pinnacle as a teenager and then ended up buying the property and started his 14-room house there in 1960.. The house is amazing—filled with Asian artifacts, a beautiful stained glass lamp collection, stained glass panels and eclectic furniture. His collections of the exotic and the whimsical expanded into several out-buildings. He has a huge collection of room-size automated music machines, the largest carousel in the world which is a feast for the senses displaying 269 handcrafted animals and 20,000 lights. There was a collection of antique guns, swords, and other antiques of every description. It took us over 6 hours to see everything. On the way back we stopped and checked out the pretty little town of Spring Green which has several buildings that definitely had the Frank Lloyd Wright look. Stopped at the grill in our park and bought a cheeseburger for Mike and a hotdog for me and took them back home to eat. Not very healthy, but very tasty. Tomorrow we leave for beautiful Door County.

House on the Rock

My house will stand on a rock on a hill,
Overlooking a valley deep and still.

Alex Jordan

Water lily in the Japanese Garden

Waterfall in the Japanese Garden

The beautiful stained glass lamps

One of many little seating nooks

Sat, 6/5/10

WI Riverside Resort, Spring Green, WI: Headed out this morning for Taliesin (tal-e-esson) which is Welsh for “brow of a hill”. This estate was Frank Lloyd Wright’s residence for about 48 years. Started in 1911, it was a work in progress for most of that time. He was constantly changing and improving. It was built tucked into the side of a hill amid beautiful, lush rolling hills near the Wisconsin River. The most amazing thing to me is that it was built in the Victorian era where houses were dark and cluttered with heavy furniture—mixing multiple colors and patterns. Really ugly. And here’s Frank Lloyd Wright with his clean, straight lines and open and airy interiors. He was way ahead of his time. There was also a farm adjacent to the house where they raised their own beef, pork, dairy, and chickens. That’s been turned into the living quarters for the architecture students studying at the school there. They also planted crops and were completely self sufficient. After touring the property we headed back to the park in a light drizzle. Had some lunch and then sat around reading for a while. Italian sausage sandwiches for dinner tonight. 75 today.

Taliesin--The barn

Frank Lloyd Wright

Taliesin--the house

Frank Lloyd Wright