What I did on my vacation...

[WestwayKid]

I visited the House on the Rock this weekend. It was my 4th visit and I will probably keep going back for the rest of my life. What is the House on the Rock you say? It is (in my opinion) the greatest (and definitely the most unique) roadside attraction America has to offer. Essentially, this guy built a house on top of a rock in southwestern Wisconsin in the 1950's. People got curious, so he started offering tours for a small donation. That business model eventually morphed into the sprawling, claustrophobic, shag carpeted attraction we have today. The house itself feels like some really creepy 50's bachelor pad designed by Stanley Kubrick for a James Bond villain's lair. Lots of shag carpeting, narrow passageways, low ceilings, and not much natural light. There is a soundtrack of creepy music played by machines (it really is machines playing actual instruments). It's dusty and musty and smells like a basement, but it's incredibly fascinating. You then enter in the "museum" part of the attraction: room after room of collections of collections: guns, dolls, coin operated banks. It's so much stuff. There is a gigantic indoor carousel. It's really impossible to describe, so I'll offer up this funny (but accurate) review from the Boston Globe: https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/t ... story.html

Also, Neil Gaiman used it as a central location in American Gods:

Another clip from Atlas Obscura (a GREAT website if you're into offbeat attractions):

BTW, my partner and kids had never been and all 3 LOVED it. I tried to describe it before we got there, but my words could not do it justice.

[Dr. Medulla]

Holy crap, that is amazing. A remarkable expression of postmodern design. I'd never heard of it before, but now I want to visit it. Thanks for planting that bug in my brain!

[WestwayKid]

Holy crap, that is amazing. A remarkable expression of postmodern design. I'd never heard of it before, but now I want to visit it. Thanks for planting that bug in my brain!

I've heard it said that the attraction truly just works as a gigantic art installation piece. I don't think anyone goes for the stuff in the display cases (most is fake anyway), but they go for the immersive experience that is the attraction. It's not built around a central lobby, you buy your ticket and go in and then you keep walking until it's done, like a gigantic carnival fun house. There is very little natural light once you're inside, so you feel like you've been swallowed up and like a casino you lose any connection with time.

[Dr. Medulla]

Holy crap, that is amazing. A remarkable expression of postmodern design. I'd never heard of it before, but now I want to visit it. Thanks for planting that bug in my brain!

I've heard it said that the attraction truly just works as a gigantic art installation piece. I don't think anyone goes for the stuff in the display cases (most is fake anyway), but they go for the immersive experience that is the attraction. It's not built around a central lobby, you buy your ticket and go in and then you keep walking until it's done, like a gigantic carnival fun house. There is very little natural light once you're inside, so you feel like you've been swallowed up and like a casino you lose any connection with time.

Christ, that really does sound like the epitome of postmodernism.

[Sparky]

I visited the House on the Rock this weekend. It was my 4th visit and I will probably keep going back for the rest of my life. What is the House on the Rock you say? It is (in my opinion) the greatest (and definitely the most unique) roadside attraction America has to offer. Essentially, this guy built a house on top of a rock in southwestern Wisconsin in the 1950's. People got curious, so he started offering tours for a small donation. That business model eventually morphed into the sprawling, claustrophobic, shag carpeted attraction we have today. The house itself feels like some really creepy 50's bachelor pad designed by Stanley Kubrick for a James Bond villain's lair. Lots of shag carpeting, narrow passageways, low ceilings, and not much natural light. There is a soundtrack of creepy music played by machines (it really is machines playing actual instruments). It's dusty and musty and smells like a basement, but it's incredibly fascinating. You then enter in the "museum" part of the attraction: room after room of collections of collections: guns, dolls, coin operated banks. It's so much stuff. There is a gigantic indoor carousel. It's really impossible to describe, so I'll offer up this funny (but accurate) review from the Boston Globe: https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/t ... story.html

Also, Neil Gaiman used it as a central location in American Gods:

Another clip from Atlas Obscura (a GREAT website if you're into offbeat attractions):

BTW, my partner and kids had never been and all 3 LOVED it. I tried to describe it before we got there, but my words could not do it justice.

That is so cool, I've got to visit there and tour that some time, simply amazing.