Yep, we are traveling around the land of cows, corn (fields in every state and stretching for miles) and cheese. Wisconsin is lovely and not far from expectations. Those expectations include many Oddasee sites. From outsider art sights to museums and roadside attractions, we hope to see much on our meandering path.
We begin our day in Appleton with two museums on the docket. This is a really appealing small town. It is vibrant and friendly. There's a college, an art center/museum and seems to be an active arts community. The small businesses are abundant and most are consolidated on your classic Main St. (aka - College Dr). Aside from the likely winter Hell that must be the norm, this looks like it a great place to live.
Here we go......
"The History Museum at the Castle" -- Housed within a former Masonic lodge build in 1924, there is a local museum, The Wisconsin Sports Museum and our main target, The Houdini Museum.
1. The sports area was amusing and informative with exhibits devoted to local football star Rocky Bleier (Pittsburgh Steelers) and Curling. The town of Appleton has a long history for being kind of sports and recreation crazy.
2. In the basement is the local history section. The area is noted for many things but the main areas of commerce were paper manufacturing and wire production. These displays were well done and extensive.
3. The Houdini Museum was very interactive. We tried on handcuffs, got in magic boxes and Susan put on a straight jacket with instructions on how to escape (see funny photos below) and also was the Ice Queen -- She held onto the icy cold metal bar that simulated conditions Mr. H had to endure during a river escape routine. The goal was 120 seconds but she destroyed that goal with an impressive 3:50; what a tough chick. Note: R. wimped out in under a minute with a "I want my Mommy" whine. The displays were mostly reproductions and dominated by information versus authenticity. It was disappointing in that it had very few actual items from Houdini himself; which is sad considering that Appleton is his birthplace (some believe he was actually born in Budapest). However, we were quite entertained.
Note: That one photo is not of Sir Anthony Hopkins in a cage suit; it's R. after a long week in the truck.
Next we headed to the Bergstrom-Mahler Museum in nearby Neenah (neenah neenah..... we were there and you weren't). The quirky enticement that drew us there is that it holds the world's largest paperweight collection. In yet another hard to fathom that "it used to be a private home" structure was an absolutely gorgeous art space.
By now some of you must be growing tired of our visits to medical museums, asylums, prisons and other "dark" venues. Well here you go..... lots of pretty objects d'art. The collection is a bit overwhelming and thankfully there was a lot of explanation as to how these glass marvels are created. It is still impossible to fully grasp how these orbs come into existence. We know more but still shake our heads when looking at the incredible detail. Some of the floral ones are especially amazing.
Then an unexpected surprise (yep, it happened again) we found an art exhibit in another section. We believed the museum was devoted solely to glass paperweights; wrong. In two large galleries was a themed show all about "Tools". The tools were cool! So, how many of you Thunderstruck reminiscers remember the "Tools as Art" show? It was a fun flashback for R. Below you will see a few pics from a very impressive exhibit that was curated to include new and older works by various artists.
Well, that covers the first 75% of our day. It was nice and mellow which was good considering the wacky world we found later -- to be continued.
With Millefiori and Vice-grips we send our love,
Hannibal Rodney and Straight-jacket Susan
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