House on the Rock and Ishnala

Goodbye Warren Dunes

We had breakfast and packed up the RV by 10am on Tuesday morning (July 12th). The plan was to drive 4.5 hours to the House on the Rock (midwestern, eccentric tourist spot) and then continue on to the Wisconsin Dells area for the night (another 1.5 hour drive).

At this point, I should mention, Ryan and I were also working on launching our Kickstarter campaign for the Chill blanket. We had the best intentions to finish up the Kickstarter video and launch the campaign before the trip, so we could enjoy our vacation. But as things go, it took longer than we thought. So the day we drove to the House on the Rock, Ryan was tap-pity tapping on his laptop, behind me as I drove. We needed to make it to House on the Rock by about 3pm in order to have enough time to see all the "good" stuff. Luckily, we also gained an hour as we passed into Central time zone. As we arrived, Ryan finished up all the details and pushed the go button on the Kickstarter campaign. 

House on the Rock

House on the Rock is weird, and fascinating, and retro, and impressive and creepy. It was opened as a tourist attraction in 1959. Seems to have started as a pet project of Alex Jorden, Jr., who wanted to impress his idol, Frank Lloyd Wright. The house started as a Japanese style house (with Japanese gardens) perched atop a tall rock amid beautiful Wisconsin forest. 

Walking into the Infinity Room

Infinity Room

It was added to over the years with multiple rooms of odd collections (cameras, dolls, self-playing instruments (full orchestras) and of course an indoor carousel (that you cannot ride!). Another notable addition was the infinity room which is actually cool to walk into (if a bit scary and rickety looking).

Creepy dolls in the Streets of Yesteryear

Kids and Ryan in carousel room.

Model boat room. Giant squid attacks giant ship!

Indoor carrousel with more lights than NYC

Even though the House on the Rock is kitchy and weird, and has not been heard of by many who are not from the Midwest, I'm glad we stopped there. The kids had fun and it broke up the drive. It felt very "road-trip", to stop on something just because it was along the way.

Ishnala

After leaving the House on the Rock, we were headed to the Wisconsin Dells. We figured it was getting too late to stop for groceries and cook dinner, so we looked for a restaurant instead.  So glad we did! We found the MOST amazing restaurant, right outside of the Dells. It was called the Ishnala Supper Club. It was situated right on a calm lake, called Mirror Lake. The interior had an old hunting lodge feel to it with stuffed animals on walls and 1950's decor in the bathrooms.

Asked to kiss Daddy...close enough.

Rex the bear

Mirror Lake

From their website: "Ishnala joins fine dining with nature to create a truly memorable experience." In the language of the Winnebago Indian, Ishnala means "By itself alone".

If you are in that area, I highly recommend going. The food and cocktails are delicious and the view is beautiful. Its hard for me to do it justice here. Such a memorable experience...it even made the coffee cup collection. 

Up Next: Wisconsin Dells!