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

LaSalle-Peru, IL, to Spring Green, WI: Left LaSalle-Peru at 10:30 this morning. Mike did all the driving today, heading north on I39. After Rockford, IL, I39 was pretty bumpy all the way to our exit at Madison, WI. At Madison we left I39, thankfully, and headed west on Rt. 14 which started out as a four-lane bypass around Madison and then we turned off on county route 14 which was the best road we’ve been on since we left St. Louis. It was a pretty drive though. After leaving the flat farmland of Illinois we were driving through the lush, hilly, mostly farmland of Wisconsin. We’re staying at WI Riverside Resort—right on the beautiful Wisconsin River. We were set up by 3:30 and then sat outside reading for a while. I’m reading “The Snowball”, a biography of Warren Buffet—a huge tome lent to me by a friend. Mike is reading “The Bourne Sanction”. We’re here for a few days to check out a couple of Frank Lloyd Wright homes in the area.

St. Louis, MO, to LaSalle-Peru, IL: Left St. Louis this morning at 10:00. Mike started driving heading east on I270 and then north on I55. I55 could definitely use some road work in places. Drove through the historic city of Springfield, IL, which is also the state capital. Then though Lincoln, IL, and stopped for fuel and lunch at a truck stop just outside Lincoln. After lunch I started driving, continuing north on I55 and then in Bloomington headed north on I39. Drove through an agrarian landscape of large farms with neatly planted crops. The further north we headed the flatter the terrain. The tallest things around were the grain elevators. At I80 we headed east a couple of miles to the KOA at LaSalle-Peru for one night. Not even going to unhook. Leave tomorrow for Wisconsin. Started out cloudy but cleared by 4:00. 80 degrees. Nice.

Illinois sunset

The wrens are back again this year. The male shows up and makes the nest and then he sits out there by the nest and sings his little heart out trying to attract a mate. He finally got one and they've taken up residence. They sing away all day long. Love hearing them. And they are so tiny and fragile looking with their pert little tails. But pretty feisty as well. Great combination! They really get upset when I sit out on the deck on my chaise and read my latest book. Pretty funny.

We decided to go to the St. Louis Zoo yesterday. The zoo is celebrating 100 years and they had a special exhibit going. This zoo is a great zoo--one of the top in the country. And there is no admission charge. I think that's amazing. It's been six years or so since we visited and we were happy to see a lot of great improvements. We headed out in the early afternoon and it was hot--about 96 degrees or so. Had a late lunch at the Lakeside Cafe there. Everything was closing up when we left at around 5:00. A fun afternoon.

Sculpture at one of the entrances

Flora on display

Hippo pool

One of the tigers cooling off