A Very Full Day
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Day 3: June 6, 2019 A Very Full Day Comment via blog |
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This was the first of two conference tour days. The group was on board a
pair of big busses at 9:00 AM and we stopped in downtown Wisconsin Dells
shortly thereafter. On the ground Kevin Patrick shared knowledge that few
others possess in a way that no others can. I wish I remembered more of
what he told us about that bridge. It was built around the beginning of
the twentieth century with an upper deck for trains and a lower deck for
pedestrians and horse powered vehicles. It eventually turned into the
primary automobile entrance to the Dells and somehow kept the job until
1956. The railroad deck remains active. A train passed over it while we
were there.
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Saturday would be our longest day, but this one, packed full of stuff
nearer the Dells, would be our busiest. Before leaving Wisconsin Dells, we
stopped at Parson's Indian Trading Post. It's an old school
place, established in 1918, where bows and arrows and rubber knives can be
purchased along with Indian dolls and jewelry.
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This was the biggest surprise and my favorite stop of the day. The big
busses had to park next door and we entered
The World of Dr.
Evermor (a.k.a. Tom Every) from the rear. That meant our first glimpse
of the centerpiece Forevertron was through the trees. The good
"doctor" still lives but is no longer able to hang out at the
sculpture park. I did, however, meet his wife, Lady Evermor, and purchased
a book he wrote. I currently don't have the words to properly describe the
park but I'm sure the book will help.
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Our next stop, Baraboo, was once home to the Ringling Brothers Circus, and
references abound in signs and murals. Although the store beneath the
Radio Shack sign that caught our eye was closed, the fellow next door said
it just moved and is still operating in town.
Brothers on Oak was on the list of suggested lunch spots and the hamburgers there were recommended by two different groups we spoke with on the street. They were right.. In this particular case "we" included Carol, Mark, and Fred. |
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Following lunch, the full group came back together to tour the
Al Ringling
Theater. It's a beauty that first opened in 1915. The console for the
Barton pipe organ rose from its pit while being played during our tour.
A dark spot is visible on the curtain directly above the right end of the
music rack. This spot is the result of years of
the theater manager checking the house through a tiny
hole with his heavily oiled beard and mustache pressed against the
curtain.
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Seeing the entire House on the Rock in a hour and a half is quite
impossible, but it was felt we could at least pass through two of the
attraction's three sections in that time. We apparently spent a little
more time than planned at the theater and, when we arrived at the House on
the Rock, we were told that was no longer possible. After some discussion,
we hurried through the house portion then spent time hovering around the
gift shop instead of pushing tokens into music machines. It's hard to say
who was most disappointed, those who didn't know what they were missing or
those who did.
Of course, a rushed pass through the endless collections would have been frustrating in its own way. In 2016, I spent parts of two days at House on the Rock. That visit is documented here and here. |
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We stopped in Richland Center to look over the
A.D. German Warehouse. Designed by Frank Loyd Wright
in 1915, construction costs greatly exceeded estimates and the building
was never quite finished. As we milled around the outside, a car pulled up
and the driver asked "Who's your leader?" He was with the local
preservation group and, after some discussion with Michael (our leader),
he unlocked the door to allow us a look inside.
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Our day ended at the Del-Bar Supper Club where the food and service were
both superb. On the bus, we had been told that the sorta kinda
semi-official Wisconsin drink is the Brandy Old Fashioned so of course
I did.
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