Apocalyptic Ostriches (Saturday's Adventure, 5)

This Saturday's Adventure: A Hastily-Planned Visit To A Scary Art Park.

Last week's adventure was to visit the art park run by "Dr. Evermore," an artist who lives and works just outside of Sauk City in Sauk County, Wisconsin -- the artist's claim to fame being "The Forevertron," a giant metal sculpture that he built out of scraps and spare parts.

I decided on the adventure about 9 a.m., and called the number ahead of time to make sure it was still open. "Sure," said the lady who answered the phone. "What time will you be arriving?" I said we'd get there between 11 and 12, and she said "Well, I have to go pick up the artist at 11:30, so if you're there and it's locked, just park by the surplus store and enter it that way."

I didn't know what that meant, so I filed it away as unimportant. The Babies! and I then spent the morning playing at McDonald's and eating breakfast while Sweetie went to her spa and got... a massage? A haircut? I'm not entirely sure, but she went there while we went and had hash browns and McGriddles, because she wanted to come with us.

Then, when she was done with that, we packed up some snacks and headed off on a road trip to The Forevertron. Which is this:

When we got there, the gate was, as mentioned, locked. So we drove up the street to the surplus place, but didn't see anyplace that looked like we should park there, so we drove back to the gate and parked, where Sweetie waited while reading and I got out and looked at the greeting-sculptures on the side of the road.

Mr Bunches liked the spring on this one, and seemed oblivious to the fact that it was a giant metal insect looming over him:


The lady and the artist finally arrived at 12:15, which was when we got let inside -- by then, there were two other cars waiting to get in, too. We drove in and parked off to the right and began to look at sculptures like this:


That was right outside our car. The whole place is loaded down with weird giant metal things that all make me think of the Skeeziks from my old Uncle Wiggly game, if the Skeeziks was steampunk. Mr Bunches started out strong:


But it didn't last, as the further we went around the circular park, the more skittish he got. I tried to get him to stand with us to take a picture under a giant metal beetle -- kind of like a traditional family photo if your traditional family lived in the matrix:


But he wouldn't come back by me and Mr F, and then, right after that picture was taken, he began walking more quickly towards where we'd begun. When I tried to get him to come over by a flying saucer and a group of birds:


he began yelling at me as I got close to the birds, and didn't stop until we got back.

"I think he's scared," Sweetie said, and I had to agree: Mr Bunches wouldn't go near any of the sculptures and when he saw our car, he ran to it and said "Come on," while trying to open the door. It seems the wonders of a 30-foot-tall bird with the body of a metal cello:


Are not Mr Bunches' cup of tea. But you can see why:




Mr F did better, but he also didn't pay much attention to the art, either -- he was more interested in throwing rocks into the puddles that lined the paths here and there, and less interested in skeletal metal ostriches from an apocalyptic future:


And robotic bands:


Before we left, the lady who'd had to pick up the artist tried to cheer up Mr Bunches by making him a neat little tinfoil hat - -but he'd had enough. We headed back home, where Mr Bunches celebrated his freedom from scary sculptures by not taking a nap.