More Wisconsin Cheese, and Empire

More jello molds.  It’s a Wisconsin thang.  I like the rainbow one, in case you can’t decide on just one of the many colorful flavors.

The Other Stuff That Comes From Cows, Wisconsin

A Cheese Store, Wisconsin

We proceeded to Spring Green, home of Frank Lloyd Wright‘s Taliesin (also closed–opened for the season the day we left, dammit–Strike Two!) and were made extremely damp by a couple torrential Midwest storms, lightning and rain and thunder and thunderous rain and awe-inspiringly intense.  We stayed at a FLW style inn–as close as we got to Frank Lloyd Wright this trip, though I overheard one guest who was checking in say she had read “Loving Frank” and that’s why she came to see Taliesin.

The Usonian Inn, Spring Green WI. Strong coffee, weak network.

Our innkeeper was Romanian and very stressed and very friendly and very friendly about how very stressed she was (technical issues; we understood, as in addition to the digital TV errors she was complaining about to us, the inn’s advertised wireless internet didn’t have the signal strength to reach our room–our USB wireless network thingy wasn’t picking up any local bandwidth either–so we were SOL and had to sit in the lobby if we wanted to retrieve email.)  The inn had a great modernistic mechanized Miele coffee maker though–best coffee we had in Wisconsin, I would say, and so stylishly made.  It’s fun to watch machines do things, which would become a theme for the rest of the day.

Since Frank wasn’t available, we went to see Spring Green’s other crazy architect attraction, the House On The Rock.

Main house, House On The Rock

The Infinity Room, House On The Rock

It’s hard to describe Alex Jordan‘s maniac design aesthetic and dusty, decadent decor–some of the concepts for which may have been stolen from local artist Tom Every, creator of the Forevertron–but it was an entertaining day meandering through the labyrinth of collected stuff.  It’s not that there were rare or authentic items–much of the collection was knock-offs, chintz, and mass-produced–but there was a LOT, a never-ending chain of dimly-lit rooms like opium dens, filled with sequins, brass, costumed mannequins, and hoarded stuff.

Tea stuff, House On The Rock

Mechanical puppet show, "The Death Of A Drunk"

"The Gladiator," a room-sized music machine

I was disappointed because the majority of the advertised mechanical music collection–Regina disk-operated music boxes, bandwagons, calliopes and the like–were non-operational OR WORSE, were rigged to play a tape-recording while the machine was moving and some of the percussion pieces pounded.

"Mikado" music machine, fakey!! (but the guy in the middle beats the drum and raises his eyebrows)

Still, some of the exhibits–oversized walk-in dioramas like “The Organ Room” or the Carousel–were breathtaking, mostly because they were so HUGE and SO CRAMMED with LOTS OF THINGS.  It’s hard to imagine SO MUCH STUFF packed tightly into ONE MASSIVE DIMLY LIT BUILDING IN WISCONSIN, but there you have it.

WordPress won’t let me center this video and YouTube wouldn’t let me upload the better res version so you could see the figures clearly,  but here’s a quick glimpse of the huge percussive Carousel in motion:

Dimly lit detail, Organ Room

Pouring Rain As We Left House On The Rock

Someday I would like to get back to Baraboo to see Circus World, and muse on the many hills and dales which are–for real–filled with green grass, cows, and red barns with silos.  Until then, We’ll Always Have Cheese.

Red Barns--Yep, Here's Where We Grow 'Em

THE EMPIRE BUILDER, OR

TWO AND A HALF DAYS FROM BADLAND TO PORTLAND

Our Baraboo/Dells/Spring Green adventure done, we drove back to Milwaukee and boarded the Amtrak Empire Builder for Portland.  It was two days of badlands and snow–yes, snow!

Snow, North Dakota

The train got more and more sticky and trash-laden as the days went on–we saw babies being changed on coach seats (yeccch) and stinky bags of trash accruing in the baggage areas waiting to be discarded.  We were grateful we could afford a “roomette” again for the trek–you really didn’t want to be in the coach car for the long schlep.

Samuel, May Day Flowers--both tired

We lunched with a pair of sisters traveling to Portland to care for their brother with cancer, and one time when we were walking through to the dining car we overheard one woman telling her three young children, “…he can’t know where we live when we move.”  Yikes.

We met an uncanny number people who worked in the aerospace industry during our trans-country train lunches, and it reeeeaaallly makes you wonder why these people aren’t traveling by plane.

Many of the other passengers were clearly too poor or decrepit to fly; you can really see how class plays into who gets on the train, and who gets to sit where with or without amenities.

Cows, Storm, from the window of the Empire Builder

The last part of the Empire Builder trip was through Montana’s Glacier Park, and it made all the stickiness and trashiness pretty worth it.  More snow, exquisite scenery.  We’d like to railroad back to a lodge out there sometime and enjoy the natural beauty while standing still (while being mindful not to get et by grizzlies, which can happen up here sometimes.)

The Continental Divide (see obelisk)

Day Two, Montana's Glacier Park

Sleep’s not something that really happens on a train, even in the privacy of a “roomette;” you lie in your bunk and roll around all night as the train shudders past rough switches or grinds into a midnight station.  After two nights of not-sleep and not-shower, one can feel a bit put upon.   However, Amtrak cleverly put the best scenery for last on The Empire Builder, so you are distracted from your misery a little and forget the long miles that came before.

That final morning, we passed through The Dalles (OR) on approach to Portland; a rainstorm and a rainbow greeting us when we crossed the state line like a promise that we’d never have to endure such a grueling train ride again:

The Dalles

The Rainbow

We arrived at Portland late morning and as soon as I deboarded I immediately became nostalgic for my old stomping ground in Seattle.  The rhododendrons and dogwoods were in full bloom and the air was cold and felt nutritious to breathe; it was rainy and glorious, and we had nothing planned but a little R&R (rose garden and renovated hotel) before we ventured home.

Next: McMenamins, and The Starlight Express Home!