Pit Stops, Day 3

#1--Chatty Belle, Talking Cow in Neillsvielle, WI
Meet Chatty Belle...the world's largest talking cow!  Quite possibly the world's only talking cow...  Let the laughing commence!  This lovely bessie was quite the charmer, let me tell you.  As long as you have a quarter, you'll have a chance to have this dairy cow whisper sweet nothing in your ear.

#2--Exact Center of the Northern Half of the Western Hemisphere in Poniatowski, WI
That's right my friends, you have the chance to stand on a dot that places you in the exact center of northern half of the western hemisphere.  Just another feather in our cap for the Arundels. 

#3--Forest of Chainsaw Totem Poles in Medford, WI
I will have to say that I was speechless upon seeing this.  It is so bizarre that all I could do was laugh and go "What the...?!"

Dollies Riding Down the Railroad Track

Little Falls Railroad & Doll Museum

That's right.  Dolls and Trains.  One thing Eric really LOVES and one thing that Eric really HATES!  Eric took one for the team again so we could experience another Destination Weird.  Eric always shares with me how he's going to have troubles if we have a little girl that likes to play with dolls.  Well, hopefully our daughter won't be a doll collector. 

This lady had thousands!  Literally.  And they all weren't displayed.  I will say one thing about the dolls.  They weren't all that creepy.  And I think what made it less creepy, particularly for Eric was they weren't all sitting at a couch staring out at you.  Rather they were put into different groups by themes...because this lady liked her themes.  So, she changes it twice a year to make new themes.  We got to see the Japanese themes, including some Geisha dolls.  As well as some of the permanent displays.  We couldn't take pictures, otherwise I'd definitely show them to you.  What was impressive was the condition all the dolls were in and the variety. 

On to Eric's favorite...Trains.  I shake my head every time he talks about trains...because he's one step away from being the guy that sits in the middle of the basement with his little conductor hat with trains going all around him..."No kids...that's daddy's toy.  Don't touch it...you'll lose all your train riding privileges."  I love him, but I get worried sometimes.

It is kinda fun to see, not gonna lie.  He had a whole room filled with 3 huge train displays and one going around up above you.  The guy who was giving us the tour of both museums was a wonderful old man.  He was funny and had a lot to share.  We learned a lot about the dolls and the trains.  Eric asked how he knew so much about trains and we learned that he used to be a telegraph operator for the railroad.  He even has an old telegraph office inside.  So, he shared with us where the phrase "You could hear a pin drop" came from and how the 4 time zones were determined by the railroad system. 

Now if we came during the summer season, we'd probably see him operating the 12 gauge train for kid rides.  Pretty cool.  Visiting with this man was by far my favorite thing with visiting this place. 

Our Ratings:
Educational:  We gave it a 5.  Mainly because of the doll place.  Unless you're a doll collector, the information you gain from there doesn't do much.
Weird:  Just combining dolls with trains, which we love those combo-museums, we upped the weird factor to an 8.
Fun:  It was kinda fun, especially if you have the old man as your tour guide.  So we rated it a 6.

Barbies, Space and Bikes! Oh My!!!

Deke Slayton Memorial Space and Bicycle Museum in Sparta, WI

What can I say, the Arundels really like combo-museums.  When we say combo museums we are talking about places that put together a couple of things that just don't seem to make much sense, but for our Destination Weird purposes, they make WONDERFUL sense!  Of course Space and Bikes go together, duh?  "From sprockets to rockets" is their catchphrase associated with the museum. 

But really, it wasn't just two museums, we were pleasantly surprised with a 3rd when we entered.  You can imagine our excitement when we walked in!  The third was a nice display of Monroe County's history...plus a Barbie display.  That's right.  There's a Barbie display as well in the back corner displaying Barbies from the 1960s.  Again, makes complete sense, right?  This was my favorite stop of the day.  It was so odd and so bizarre with all the things combined that this place was the iconic and classic Destination Weird location.

Now, this is a shout out to all my Gilmore Girls fans.  This place made me think of Stars Hallow and the historical society and one of the places Taylor would put together.  I almost half expected Lorelei and Rory walking in mocking it and doing some witty banter.  So, it made me all the more happy to be meandering through this museum...or museums...

The bikes were pretty cool to see.  They had some pretty rare bikes.  The reason they house a bike mueseum, Sparta, WI is the biking capital of the world...self-proclaimed of course.  There are hundreds of them, probably provided by locals.  There are pictures of cyclists all around dating from the mid-19th century.  For all my Spoke Folkers out there, this would be a cool thing to check out!  We certainly enjoyed seeing all the bikes.  There was even a bike that turned the front tire into a lawn mower!  Haha!  Can't afford a riding mower?  Well, attach a lawn mower to the front and voila!  How would you like this as your biking attire?  I think I'll stick to my spandex biking shorts...Thanks.

Now, who is Deke Slayton?  Well he was an astronaut, duh?  And he's from Wisconsin.  So of course they are going to honor him.  There was a video for us to watch, but we really didn't want to sit for 20 minutes...so we probably missed some info about Deke.  What was cool was they had a piece of the moon there!  There was a REAL moon rock in that place!  That was pretty cool.  And you could also stand on a scale to see how much you would weigh on other planets.  Ha, yeah, I don't think I'll try that.  I feel insecure enough already, I don't need to feel insecure on other planets.  The other space stuff was fun.  Including a place to stick your head to look like an astronaut...with our personal favorite...ET flying across the moon in the corner. 

Our Ratings:
Educational:  Well, this place was pretty informative about Deke Slayton, although we didn't spend much time learning about it...Plus they had many varieties of historical bikes, so we rated it an 8.
Weird:  This was a classic weird destination, so we would rated it a 7.

Fun:  We had fun looking at all the different bikes and just taking in the splendor of all the things you could see, so we gave it a fun rating of 6.

Moldy Molds

FAST: Fiberglass Statue Mold Yard

 

This was a cool place!  Mainly for the fact that we made a connection to our "Pit Stops" that we like to do.  It was the birth place of many of our "Pit Stops."  One mainly being the Surfer dude we found in southern Minnesota!  We found his mold!  Other molds include one for Big Boy restaurants, the Sinclair dinosaur (which was the largest one he's ever made) and many other ones.

There were acres and acres filled with old fiberglass molds of many things.  "Why save them?" you may ask...well, I guess it's easier to repair and reuse old molds than create a new mold.  I believe our Sinclair dinosaur from a previous post was also present in this mold yard.

A warning though...which is their warning you see when you drive up to this place--watch out for bees...I guess they make their hives among the molds and watch out for sharp edges!

Our Ratings:
Educational:  Not too educational really...just interesting to see.  So we rated it a 3.
Weird:  It's pretty strange place to go around and drive...it feels like a graveyard...rather strange and spooky.  So we gave it a 7.
Fun:  It could have potential to have fun...great photo opportunities.  It's like a big playground almost if you let your imagination run with ya!  We had fun just seeing molds of things we've seen before.  So we rated it a 6.

"Crane"berries!

Wisconsin Cranberry Discovery Center

Well, let's just say, we really liked this place!  However, it wasn't all that weird.  We expected it to be weird because it was titled a "Discovery Center" and we weren't too sure how you discover cranberries...being that they are known all over the world...But it was more a historical and educational place, so we felt it should be titled more appropriately.

Despite that, we got to sample foods with cranberries...but pastries and cookies and ice cream with cranberries.  So, if you don't really care about the educational side, at least stick around for the food!!!

Did you know that 60% of the world's cranberries are provided by Wisconsin?  And did you know how cranberries got its name?  The blooms of the flowers of a cranberry vine look just like a crane...so they were "Crane"berries...now Cranberries!  That was Hillary's favorite part.

Eric's favorite part was learning about how they were harvested.  He's nerdy like that.  Mr. Horticulture. 

Overall it's a great stop for families and people of all ages!

Our Ratings:
Educational:  We rated it high for it was extremely informative of the history, harvesting and uses of cranberries!  We gave it a 9.
Weird:  It really wasn't all that weird.  Even though we thought it would be...so we rated it a 2.
Fun:  It was somewhat fun, but mostly educational.  So we gave it a 4.

Holy Mother of God!

 Note:  Are you dressed properly?  If you are not fully clothed at this time, please stop reading and put on more clothes.  Clothing should conceal, not reveal.

Queen of the Holy Rosary Mediatrix of Peace Shrine in Necedah, WI

This was our first time visiting a religious destination that was classified as "weird."  In fact, Eric was not sure if we should even go, but the story was odd enough that he felt we should.

Here is the story.  Basically, in the spring of 1950 the Virgin Mary appeared to Mary Ann in Necedah, WI.  But not only did she appear, but she appeared as a blue mist among the Ash Trees outside her house.  She started spreading her tale that the virgin Mary would come back to visit on August 15th at Noon.  Over a 100,000 people came to the farm to see the Blessed Mother.  And nothing happened.

In subsequent visits, the virgin Mary told Mary Ann to build what is on the site today, which is a bunch of shrines and the workings of a LARGE church...which has been in construction for over 60 years.

The shrines were old and not in good shape, there were bugs all over, which made it seem rather creepy...and instead of a place of prayer and worship it felt like an awkward and uncomfortable place.

The shrine to Michael was the most bizarre.  First he was a statue with his foot on the face of a demon.  And in the background you had a mural of people and children in suffering...ONE of the children was sitting on his knees crying...probably because he had this HUGE hole in his chest/stomach and his whole stomach was now outside of him...What?!  Why would you paint that?

The group that ended up following Mary Ann and her cause were eventually excommunicated from the Catholic Church.  So, this whole shrine is not part of the Catholic Church.

Our Ratings:
Educational:  We gave it a 1, solely for the fact that they were shrines...and it was based on an apparition over 60 years ago. 
Weird:  This was pretty bizarre place.  Awkward.  Uncomfortable.  So, we rated it a 9.
Fun:  Really was not fun.  And we usually can find fun anywhere.  Plus, I don't think it was intended to be a "fun place" either.  So we gave it a 1.

Not So Top Secret...

Here's the big disappointment from the day.  Top Secret, Inc. in Wisconsin Dells.  This was just a MAJOR disappointment...Like, "I just wasted that money and time and want that part of my life back, please" disappointment. 

Let's start with the good.  The outside is cool.  And that's it.  Obviously it draws people in from the looks of it.  And you get all giddy and excited like a kid does when they realize they're going to Disney World.  Disney World, it is not.

Now on to the bad.  Oh my.  Where do we start.  First of all, the cost was a bit much.  But we expected that being that we're in Wisconsin Dells.  But after going through this tour...we felt robbed.  From start to finish, NOTHING made sense.  Our tour guide was supposed to guide us...but sometimes he'd lead, sometimes We'd lead...sometimes he wasn't even there at all and he'd appear where you were supposed end up.  And then he'd scream at you and run away.  I'm sorry...What?!  Why?!  I don't know, I suppose it was supposed to make it spookier...?  But I didn't know this was a spooky spot...?  But that's the whole point, I guess.  Through out the whole thing, you never knew what the point was, and really, to be quite frank.  We still don't get it.  And we're pretty open to the weird and unusual, but this place felt like it was reaching...and I mean REALLLLLLYYYYY reaching. 

Our Ratings:
Educational:  None.  Nothing whatsoever.  In fact we wish we could do like -17.  But since we are trying to stay true to our scale, we gave it a big ol' ZERO!
Weird:  Very weird.  So weird, WE didn't even get it. We rated it 8.  For to classify it as a 10 would be too big an honor.
Fun: We tried to have fun, but really we were TRYING.  So, it's a 2. 

Beam Me Up Scottie!

May we introduce you to Tommy Bartlett's Exploratory.  Upon entering, we really didn't know what to expect.  Notice the joy and happiness on our faces prior to entering and you'd probably see us look confused after leaving.  Not that this place disappointed, but just created such suspense to the final destination and it wasn't all that and a bag-o-chips...



The funny and weird things were the robots...which, let's be honest, were cheap imitations of C-3PO and R2-D2.  REALLY cheap imitations.  So, of course, with the two of us being huge Star Wars fans, the mocking ensued.  It was also weird how it was all jumbled together.  There was an overlying story with these robots, which made you giggle...but then you'd walk down a ramp...get "radiation"....and then you had science experiments.  Mostly optical illusions.  Like..."HEY!  Let's mess with your brain!  What do you see?  OH!  Nope...that's not it at all...you're a loser for seeing that.  Here's what it really is...isn't that neat?"  No.  It's not.  Thank you for making me feel dumb.  Then you get more story line...and more science experiments...go through stars (that was kinda cool), then a room of mirrors that made you want to throw up and then a whisper station...and then the MIR Space Station!  THAT was why we really went there. 



Once you got to the MIR space station, it was cool, don't get me wrong.  Really neat to see an actual space station.  But, unfortunately it hasn't even been in space.  In fact, one of the "space suit" guys looked depressed.  Probably because his dream was never fulfilled.

But by the time you got to the MIR space station.  You had about enough science.  (Keep in mind this is coming from someone who really doesn't care much for science...)  And you really just wanted to go home....

Our Ratings:

Educational: Definitely educational.  Great for field trips. You learned a good amount of science.  We rated it an 8.

Weird:  How it was all put together and the robots themselves made this definitely a weird destination.  Therefore, we gave it an 8.

Fun:  There were times that it was fun and we played with the toys...and it was neat seeing the MIR station.  But, not too exciting.  So, we rated it a 4.

Pit Stops, Day 2

#1--Muffler Man Cowboy in Wisconsin Dells, WI
Howdy partner!  Don't be bashful around this cowboy stud.  Although he holds a pistol, he's really quite harmless.  Across the country, there are many "Muffler Men."  We found one of them today.  And he was pretty big. 

#2--Sinclair Dinosaur in Wisconsin Dells, WI
You know one when you see one.  Sinclair's giant dinosaurs!  Gotta love that big green guy, but this one goes above and beyond.  He's large and in charge...of your gassing, pit stop needs!

#3--World's Largest Bicyclist in Sparta, WI
This guys is really cool!  He was by far my favorite I've ever seen!  His name is "Ben Bikin" and he's sitting upon a Pennyfarthing.  This big boy sits 32 feet in the air!  It fits Sparta's claim as Biking Capital of THE WORLD...the world...the world...the world...

You're a Wizard, Hillary!

Wizard Quest in Wisconsin Dells, WI

Ok, this was an amazing visit!  Not gonna lie, this was weird, fun, and adventurous all in one!  Great place for kids to go, but to be honest, why not adults?  Oh yeah, probably because you're one step away from being a LARPer...  It was one of the more spendy of the places to go, but you get about an hour and a half of "adventure."  You have a quest to Free wizards of 4 realms, Air...Earth...Water...Fire.  What you are freeing them from, we're not too sure..Perhaps the TVs they're stuck in?  Or perhaps their terrible acting skills...?  Who knows, it was still fun. 

There is an easy quest or hard quest.  Since this is geared towards kids (at least we think so), we figured we could handle the Hard Quest.  AND WE FAILED!!!  We only freed 2 wizards...which we later found out only gave us a 10% discount at the Gnome store later.  Lame.  For those who may be pondering checking this place out at their next visit to Wisconsin Dells, you might want to bring knee pads as you actually spend a good chunk of time going through tunnels to find clues and such.  Which some are pointless tidbits that don't even help you find the wizards.  Again, Lame.  BUT, we still had a ton of fun.  I will attempt to load a couple video clips of us traipsing around the realms...I will say water was the toughest to find the wizard and earth was the toughest to answer the questions!  This destination is worth your while.  Hopefully you'll do better at accomplishing the quest than we were!

Our Ratings:
Educational: Eric and I disagreed, he thinks since we had troubles and didn't complete the quest, we got dumber and it should be -1...however, if you are seeking to be a treasure hunter or CIA agent...spy or whatever...it might be good practice!  So we decided on a rating of 2.
Weird: It's definitely strange!  So we rated it a 7.
Fun: This was LOADS of fun!  Sure we joined the strange and unusual and the families there for their kids, but it was still a lot of fun!  GREAT place for kids to check out!

Under the Big Top

Eric took one for the team on this one (knowing his strong hatred and fear of clowns).  How could we pass up a destination called Circus World Museum?!  It was just calling us to visit.  As it turns out Baraboo, WI was the winter headquarters for Ringling Brother Circus...really cool, right?  Now not only did they winter here, but they were squatters!  Of course they were. 

Now this place has a rather large collection of circus memorabilia, possibly the largest, but pretty impressive.  There were many, many posters for ALL kinds of circuses, mostly Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey, which in our opinion was the best part.  

They also had a number of train cars...costumes...and a freak building that shared about Barnum and Bailey's freak show...Chang and Eng Siamese twins, the bearded lady, the dog man, etc.

 

It's a pretty crazy, strange place, but not too fun-except in one part you can wear some of their old costumes around and try walking the "tight rope" or "ride" a unicycle--not really, just sit on the seat and peddle on a stationary unicycle...However, I think they do live shows during the summer and perhaps that would up the "Fun" portion of visiting the Circus Museum. 

Overall, the Circus World Museum was very educational and interesting to learn about circus life, but that's about it.

Our Ratings:
Educational:  As you were learning a big part about circuses and the life of the owners and performers, we gave it a rating of 8.
Weird:  Since circuses are rather strange on their own and now you have a museum for it in the middle of Wisconsin, we gave it a weird rating of 6.
Fun:  To be quite honest, it was our least fun destination of our day today, so we gave it a rating of 3.

Pit Stops, Day 1

Now, you may be wondering, "What's a Pit Stop?"  Well, on our Destination Weird trips, the odd things we encounter along the road that aren't necessarily a place to take tours, but just cool to see...that, my dear friends, is a pit stop.  Today we encountered two.

#1--Strange Giant Farmer in Portage, WI
All we have to say is that this is hilarious and creepy.  We ask, "Why is he holding a sausage?" and "What's up with the creepy eyes?!"

#2--World's Largest Flamingo

Who knew that Wisconsin has the World's Largest Flamingo?  We aren't sure how tall it stands, but it sure is strange!

Dr. Evermor's Forevertron

Our first stop today did not disappoint!  We drove out to North Freedom, WI and came across a classic Destination Weird locale.  As we were driving through backwoods Wisconsin we stopped at Delanys Surplus store, meandered to the back and opened a door to the wonderous world of Dr. Evermor...Eleanor Every is his name. 

In talking with Dr. Evermor, we learned that after years of scrapping and running a demolition company, he decided that he didn't want to destroy things anymore, he wanted to create things.  He wanted to take old historical things that were torn down and create new things.  His most famous project and largest, was creating the Forevertron...that's right.  A piece that looks like it was from the hands of Tesla to create time travel!  Ha!  The rest of the grounds was filled with tons of mechanical creatures and a Bird Band.  Some would call it creepy, some would be mystified with the creations.

When we first entered this place, we had no clue what we would encounter.  It was rather weird, but amazingly cool at the same time.  Everywhere you looked, your eye would catch something new.  If you ever choose to explore this place plan to spend time and keep your eyes peeled to what is around.  Oh yeah, and you can buy anything that you see!

Now for our Ratings:
Educational:  4--unless you're an artist seeking ideas for folk art, not too educational.
Weird:  7--Let's be honest, it's pretty darn weird to see all of this folk art in one place, Cool.  But definitely weird.
Fun:  7--You couldn't help but have fun like a little kid running around a toy shop.  To see all the materials he used and make silly poses with the artwork, definitely fun!

When In Rome...

Eric and I are currently relaxing in our perfect little hotel room.  You may be wondering why so perfect...well, knowing that this a trip of "weird" destinations and odd features in our country.  Well, we drove to Wisconsin Dells and decided to reside for the next couple days at Hotel Rome at Mount Olympus.  That's right.  We are partying with the gods.  In fact, as we speak, Poseidon is looking over my shoulder defending my very honor.  Tomorrow we may visit Medusa, ride through the belly of the Trojan horse, plus many other great destinations I am currently unaware of!

My only confusion, yet amusement with this place--we are mixing Greek and Roman history...we have Hotel Rome with the main feature being the Colesseum... among the Greek gods...?  I'm not too upset, I like it all the same, however you question the judgement and knowledge of the ownership and if they truly understand the difference between the two?  Now that my true nerdship has been revealed, I'll let you ponder...

All I know is that it's not every day that you get to chill with deities.

On the Road Again!

In a few short hours, we (Eric and Hillary) will be off again on our 4th Weird trip we take every year.  We will be tracking our trip here on this ol' blog.  People always like hearing our stories of all the places we visit, so I thought I would share the love with you all and take you on our trip this year.

It all started when we were first married and we ran into the Greyhound Bus Museum in northern Hibbing, MN.  We thought that was rather random and decided to check it out, but alas, we couldn't...why you might say?  Well, it's a seasonal place.  And during this trip, we often run into that issue, but we don't care! That a whole other story.  Now what made this Greyhound Bus Museum special was that it was created by the Greyhound Bus Company itself.  No, no, no, that would make too much sense for one of OUR destinations.  It was created by a fanatic of the Greyhound Bus Museum.  I giggle every time I think of it.  This individual loved those busses and the company so much that they wanted to spread the joy and you can now see all that they have collected.

WARNING:  If you decide to journey north to this unique, Weird Destination, please do not be alarmed when you peer into the window.  That is not a real person inside...it's just a manakin showing their love for Greyhound! 

Stay tuned for more of our trip: Destination Weird!!!