House on the Rock 6/30/2018

We woke this morning to the sound of robins singing and crickets chirping. Even though this is expected to be a scorcher day, the morning was cool, and the breeze brought the scent of mown grass. What a great way to travel!

Last evening we spoke with one of our two neighbors here at the top of the hill. It turns out that they are from St. Cloud, FL, the next town east of Poinciana, and the people in the other rig are from Mount Dora, FL, a town about an hour north of Poinciana. Small world, huh?

Today we visited House on the Rock a strange collection of artifacts in the beautiful setting of southwest Wisconsin. A writer in 1993 wrote an accurate description: "... it is hard not to be overwhelmed by the House on the Rock. The sheer abundance of objects is impressive, and the

warmth most of the objects exude, the way that the toys ask to be played with, for example, makes the displays inherently inviting. But almost from the beginning, it is too much. The house itself is dusty. Windowpanes are cracked. Books are water damaged. The collections seem disordered, not curated. In fact, there is no effort to explore the objects as cultural artifacts, or to use them to educate the passing hordes. If there were informative cards, it would be impossible to read them in the dark. Everything is simply massed together, and Alex Jordan comes to seem like the manifestation of pure American acquisitiveness, and acquisitiveness of a strangely boyish kind, as if he had finalized all his desires in childhood and never grown into any others."

This is a crazy collection of everything from music boxes to miniature circus figurines, from jewelry store diamond displays to musical organs. There is no rhyme or reason to how the objects in the house are displayed. For example, there are statues of Mary displayed near a collection of guns, and a doll house near an industrial wheel?! The house has had additions over the years to accommodate the owner's design wishes. The house has what is called the "Infinity room", that juts out 218 feet from the House

on the Rock, without supports underneath. The room has over 3,000 windows. After visiting, you wonder whether the builder, Alex Jordan, was crazy, genius, or both.

Going both to and from the House, we drove some fantastic back roads that took us by some wonderful Wisconsin scenery--rolling hills carpeted with crops and hay fields.  Absolutely beautiful. Pictures are here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/aU24MLA69z3zBwvd9