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Saunter Across Southern Wisconsin

Norwegian Heritage

Madison and Middleton make a convenient hub, with several interesting sites within an hour away. Twenty miles southeast in Stoughton, the two-year-old Norwegian Heritage Center is a delightful surprise.

The center, known as Livsreise, Norwegian for “life’s journey,” uses imaginative, cutting-edge technology to trace the journeys of hundreds of thousands of Norwegians who immigrated to the United States between 1825 and 1910.

“We are telling the story of Norwegian immigrants from the slant of the people who came through this area,” said center manager Marg Listug.

Traditional artifacts augment the exhibits, but it is the technology that captures you. Turn the pages of digital storybooks to see photos and stories of families from Stoughton, see social and economic conditions that contributed to mass emigration on a mixed-media wall and learn about Norwegian culture and heritage at five interactive kiosks.

At “Map Your Journey,” you choose a vocation, pack your trunk and buy a ticket from options on an interactive table; then a large multiunit map on the wall traces your journey from Norway on Google maps.

Contrasting Individuals

Some 40 miles west of Madison, the small town of Spring Green offers two contrasting examples of iconic individualists.

Taliesin is the 800-acre estate, home, studio and school of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who transformed American architecture in the first half of the 20th century.

Nature inspired Wright in his visions of free and open floor plans and horizontal designs, and you see that in the beautiful rolling farmland where Wright spent his childhood summers helping his Welsh grandparents on their farm.

“That hill was his favorite as a teenager,” said Aron Meudt-Thering, communications coordinator for Taliesin, pointing to where a section of the main house is located. “He went there to get away from farm work.”

Wright began construction of the house in 1911, naming it Taliesin, Welsh for “shining brow,” and continued building and modifying for the next half-century, making more than 200 changes as he developed his ideas of organic architecture, a departure from his earlier Prairie School works.

“This was his sketchbook,” said Meudt-Thering. “He would try out designs for his clients. He was always experimenting.”

Wright started a school for architects, which still operates from the separate Hillside complex. Tours include the assembly hall where students still gather to have meals, their working studio and a theater.

The main house includes a living room with sweeping views of the countryside and Wright’s personal studio.

“We have a nice mix of stories and architecture; we try to keep it engaging for all audiences,” said Meudt-Thering.

Just five miles up the road, the House on the Rock challenges description, sort of a Frank Lloyd Wright meets “American Pickers.”

When Alex Johnson started construction in 1945, he intended to build only a weekend retreat atop a 60-foot rock formation.

However, Johnson said “one thing just sort of led to another,” passersby became curious, and he opened his house to the public in 1960. But it didn’t stop there. Johnson worked nearly every day on his project for the next 28 years, adding more buildings to house his burgeoning collection of eclectic, exotic and whimsical items.

Johnson sold the house in 1988, a year before his death, to collector and businessman Art Donaldson, who has continued to expand the attraction.

Tours are divided into three sections and include many ramps, stairs and uneven surfaces. Groups can select any or all of them, although all three would be demanding.

One section is the original 14-room house, with its unsupported Infinity Room that stretches 218 feet from the House on the Rock. The house twists and turns with its rooms innovatively tucked in and around the rock.

The other two sections include a cornucopia of displays on just about anything you can imagine, from dolls and suits of armor to massive whimsical musical machines designed by Johnson to what is billed as the “world’s largest carousel,” with 269 exotically handcrafted figures, 20,000 lights and 182 chandeliers.

Acrobats and Lumberjacks

We experienced the excitement of the circus about an hour north of Madison at Circus World in Baraboo. This sprawling museum not only has a huge collection of historic circus buildings and memorabilia; it is also alive with a variety of shows and animals.

Located where the Ringling Brothers Circus began in 1884 and had its winter headquarters for years, Circus World’s centerpiece is its collection of more than 200 carefully restored circus wagons, with an array of designs and bright colors.

Another highlight is the twice-daily, one-hour show under a large red-and-white big top that features an equestrian act, jugglers, aerialists, a balancing act, clowns and two elephants.

Fifteen minutes from Baraboo is Wisconsin Dells, which bills itself as the “water park capital of the world.”

However, Wisconsin Dells was a major tourist destination before the advent of the water parks, with boat tours on the Wisconsin River through unusual glacier-carved limestone formations. Tours of the Upper and Lower Dells are still popular, with a variety of options, from tour boats to jet boats to amphibious World War II vehicles known as ducks.

We had lunch at the popular motorcoach stop Paul Bunyan’s Cook Shanty, complete with large statues of Bunyan and his blue ox, Babe. The Shanty serves food family style amid North Woods lumberjack decor.

Next door we experienced the real thing at the seasonal Paul Bunyan Lumberjack Show, where talented young men take part in competitions of lumberjack skills such as logrolling, speed climbing, ax throwing and chopping, and log sawing with axes, hand saws and powerful chain saws.