House on the Rock
Oct. 20th, 2021 05:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brigidI went to House on the Rock with my family when I was a kid. I don't remember how old I was, but I was old enough to menstruate and got my period unexpectedly while there and a kind stranger gave me a pad.
House on the Rock had a really big impact on me, though. It's... WEIRD. It's a weird place. Just this organic collection of detritus, of history and pop culture and ephemera and obsession and shag carpeting just all in one place, sorted by rough category.
And one of the weirdest aspects of House on the Rock is their logo makes the whole thing look like an angular carefully planned Arts and Crafts style structure. Something Man has carefully thought up and measured and put together with straight lines and right angles and big windows to coexist in harmony with nature.
It, uh, isn't. It isn't like that.
Walking through the original House I kept thinking of Hobbits but like if Hobbits were really into claustrophobia.
We made it through most of the sprawl but skipped the very last section. We were all getting over stimulated and I'm not fully recovered from my pulmonary embolism. I was able to walk for 2 1/2 hours (with a few stops to sit and rest, or even just stand and catch my breath) and that's such an amazing improvement over "having to stop and gasp for breath after walking 3 feet."
It's, somehow, a lot different than I remember and I don't know if that's just because I'm older and am not remember correctly or if there's been big changes. Like, I know the big whale sculpture wasn't there when I was, stuff DOES change, but it all seemed just... different. And, of course, smaller.
12 is a pretty great age for Weirdness and Nicky really had fun. The hotel we stayed at was great. I had my period and was bleeding LIKE WHOA because of the embolism related blood thinners I'm on so I didn't go into the apparently great pool. Nicky enjoyed it, though.
It's The House On The Rock Resort and we had a suite with two rooms. The rooms were big enough to actually move around in, not just a sleeping storage with enough space for bed(s) and a tv. There was a mini fridge and microwave and the decor was arts and crafts meets the 80s. It was a little dated but in a way I found charming and very comfortable. It was also clean.
We have plans to go back, to try and visit the last section of House on the Rock and also Cave of the Mounds.
It's amazing to be able to afford stuff like this, to plan a vacation that involves a nice hotel and entrance tickets and eating out etc and not WORRY about it. We're in a good place financially and part of me is worried it could all go away at any second because of course. But I'm trying to enjoy it anyway.
(We also got lost driving up there and wound up on curving hilly back roads in the dark and Nesko was increasingly freaking out because pitch black night time driving on unfamiliar hilly curving roads is so foreign to him. We wound up overshooting the turn for the Resort and I told him it was ok, there'd be a turn around up ahead. He did not believe me. We drove a little further and there was... a turn around up ahead. When you grow up on back roads you kind of have a feel for them.)
House on the Rock had a really big impact on me, though. It's... WEIRD. It's a weird place. Just this organic collection of detritus, of history and pop culture and ephemera and obsession and shag carpeting just all in one place, sorted by rough category.
And one of the weirdest aspects of House on the Rock is their logo makes the whole thing look like an angular carefully planned Arts and Crafts style structure. Something Man has carefully thought up and measured and put together with straight lines and right angles and big windows to coexist in harmony with nature.
It, uh, isn't. It isn't like that.
Walking through the original House I kept thinking of Hobbits but like if Hobbits were really into claustrophobia.
We made it through most of the sprawl but skipped the very last section. We were all getting over stimulated and I'm not fully recovered from my pulmonary embolism. I was able to walk for 2 1/2 hours (with a few stops to sit and rest, or even just stand and catch my breath) and that's such an amazing improvement over "having to stop and gasp for breath after walking 3 feet."
It's, somehow, a lot different than I remember and I don't know if that's just because I'm older and am not remember correctly or if there's been big changes. Like, I know the big whale sculpture wasn't there when I was, stuff DOES change, but it all seemed just... different. And, of course, smaller.
12 is a pretty great age for Weirdness and Nicky really had fun. The hotel we stayed at was great. I had my period and was bleeding LIKE WHOA because of the embolism related blood thinners I'm on so I didn't go into the apparently great pool. Nicky enjoyed it, though.
It's The House On The Rock Resort and we had a suite with two rooms. The rooms were big enough to actually move around in, not just a sleeping storage with enough space for bed(s) and a tv. There was a mini fridge and microwave and the decor was arts and crafts meets the 80s. It was a little dated but in a way I found charming and very comfortable. It was also clean.
We have plans to go back, to try and visit the last section of House on the Rock and also Cave of the Mounds.
It's amazing to be able to afford stuff like this, to plan a vacation that involves a nice hotel and entrance tickets and eating out etc and not WORRY about it. We're in a good place financially and part of me is worried it could all go away at any second because of course. But I'm trying to enjoy it anyway.
(We also got lost driving up there and wound up on curving hilly back roads in the dark and Nesko was increasingly freaking out because pitch black night time driving on unfamiliar hilly curving roads is so foreign to him. We wound up overshooting the turn for the Resort and I told him it was ok, there'd be a turn around up ahead. He did not believe me. We drove a little further and there was... a turn around up ahead. When you grow up on back roads you kind of have a feel for them.)
