An excellent showcase of Frank Lloyd Wright's talent and abilities. While the school is not…read moreparticularly large, it is consistently interesting in its vision and style and therefore can give you a great deal to think about. His use of broken symmetry, contrast in elements, infusion of Asian art, and references to his family abounds here. Archetypal organic architecture indeed. Remarkably the school still functions as a school for architecture students summering from Taliesen West. The gallery showcases many of his great designs, and the theater is a lovely place to visit. Sadly the main curtain from said theater is not on site at the moment. It is currently on loan to the Guggenheim. But if you are in Manhattan, right now, you can see that! Go check out his work -- he was quite the genius.

I had been here many, many years ago for a tour so when friends were in town and suggested touring…read moreTaliesin I was all for it. We took the 2.5 hour Highlight tour which included the interiors of the main house, the studio, and the theater. I addition we toured the grounds by the shuttle bus that took us between sites. Our guide, Andy, was exceptional. This was one of the best tours I have ever taken, and we travel a lot! He covered history, architecture and juicy FLW details. The pace was just right and I learned quite a bit even though I have toured close to 20 FLW buildings. Worth every penny (and the gift shop is quite good too).

I planned my Frank Lloyd Wright trip to Wisconsin around visiting Taliesin and it was well worth my…read moretime. Taliesin was Wrights home for much of his life, including when he designed many of his most prominent designs. Taliesin is located in Spring Green, Wisconsin which was home to many of Wrights relatives and was where Wright spent many summers as a child. You get to understand why this location held such a strong draw for Wright. Located just across the river from Spring Green Wisconsin you check in for the tour at the Wright designed building overlooking the river that contains the gift shop and cafe. Even before getting to Taliesin itself you get to experience a wonderful Wright building that provides great views of the river, has the trademark horizontal features and a wonderful geometric ceiling. The gift shop is very nice and has a wide selection. I took the 4 hour Estate Tour which includes all of the major buildings in Taliesin. Our guide started with about 10 minutes of introduction in the gift shop. We then took a shuttle bus to the actual estate we started the tour at the house Wright designed for his sister, which was undergoing renovation; this house is fairly conventional on the outside, yet it has that Wright feel on the inside. Outside we saw the Romeo and Juliet Windmill, which has the story attached that his relatives in the area predicted it would ball over in the 1st substantial wind, yet it is still standing over 100 years after it was originally built. Next up on the tour was the Hillside Home Tour which was originally built for his aunts, but was later converted for the Taliesin Fellowship. We started in the Auditorium, which is unique, especially the way half of the audience is looking at the other members of the audience. The auditorium is still in use, including movies, concerts and lectures. Next up was the drafting room that the Fellowship used. The room is electric with a grid of beams and skylights. You can understand how the apprentices would be inspired by working in this space. We were also lucky enough to be one of the first tours to get to see the hallway and the bedrooms next to the drafting room that were used by the apprentices. We then got a nice break in the Hillside Home dining room with some wonderful light snacks. All of the dining room furniture is Wright designed and the light fixtures were not just Wright designed but then fabricated by the apprentices. A very nice way to actually experiene some of how life at Taliesin was for the apprentices. Back on the bus to take us to the Midway Barn, which provides an idea of how Taliesin was an actual working farm. Eventually some of the barn was used for housing apprentices. Wright designed the barn to emerge out of the hillside, reflecting his idea for organic architecture. We then moved on to the main buildings at the top of the hillside which were the Frank Lloyd Wright house, office and drafting room. This area has significant history both good and bad. This is where the murders and fires took place. Wright managed to rebuild and to make these spaces an amazing place to visit. We got a full tour of the house, the garden and even the kitchen building. It is amazing to see what Wright built for himself and his family. The Taliesin Estate tour is excellent, comprehensive, educational and lots of fun. Our guide was also excellent, not afraid to deal with all side of Frank Lloyd Wright, both the good and bad. He was great about explaining everything, pointing out detail and also separating facts from speculation; he even told us about having conversations with a Taliesin fellow who still lives on the property and is over 100 years old. If you are a Frank Lloyd Wright fan Taliesin is a must visit; I would strongly recommend the Full Estate Tour. I also found it helpful to have read several of the books on Wright and the events that have occurred at Taliesin. Even if you are not a Wright fan, this is an amazing tour and well worth visiting.

We are in the Dells quite often and were looking for different things to do so we decided to check…read moreout Baraboo and came across the mansion and brewery. Walking into the brewery was awesome, such a cool place and quite large. The girl at the spot were I believe you can order food wasn't too friendly but the bartender was awesome! Bartender was super friendly, I wish I could remember his name. We told him how we were looking for things to do and he was more than happy to write down some recommendations for us. I thought that was super nice because I feel like sometimes, at least in the Dells area, it seems like they get tired of us tourists and aren't always as friendly as I feel they should be considering they know they're working in a tourist area. We happened to be sitting next to the lady that does the tours so we thought, awesome, we love seeing old buildings and hearing the history so we signed up! It's $20 per person and about 50-60 mins. It was super cool to see, informative, the lady was friendly, and answered any questions we had. It was pretty amazing to hear that people actually live on the 4th floor, I wasn't expecting that for some reason. After the tour was over she played the large organ for us which was great. We sat down for another beer, listened to the awesome music the bartender was playing and set up our next tour at the Driftless Glen distillery. This was on our list plus it was one of the recommendations from the bartender. If your in the area and looking for something different to do, I highly recommend checking this place out!

This was a beautiful history lesson. The tour guide, Kim was very knowledgeable. I appreciated that…read moreshe included my 3 children in the conversations by addressing them, talking with them, and answering their questions. The house is beautiful and has so many gorgeous rooms and architecture. The tour ends in the brewery where Kim plays the calliope. She also offered the adults a free sample of beer from the Ringling brewery. Tour took about an hour and was well worth the time and money. Highly recommend.

Nice cave tour. We had a tour guide named Pete who made the tour great! We got there right as a…read moretour started and they got us in the group instead of having to wait another hour, fantastic customer service. Your was little under an hour.

We went to visit with family and it was wonderful. This location was clean and kind staff…read more You will be going down about 70 feet. It is cold (50 degrees) on the cave tour so budle up. The tour guide was knowledgeable and answered many questions. Recommend renting the blacklight flashlights. Made the adventure for the little ones memorable. Lots of amazing treasures and vending machines. You can purchase rocks with dirt to mine in designated area. Things to know: Parking is free. No strollers allowed on cave tour. You will need to be able to climb some stairs. One part of the tour is called the Narrows so expect it be as it sounds. Restrooms are NOT located in gift shop where tour begins. So make sure you go before at the main gift shop and visitors center. They have maps for detailed information about grounds/trails, adorable barn, and cave adventures. They also offer adult parties with blacklight in the Caves.

I woke up this morning to find an alert in my email: "Daily Diversion: 10 Wisconsin towns you've…read morenever heard of before" from the Kenosha News. Joke's on them perhaps, but I have heard of three of them. But, being bored due to lots of retail shutdowns, I mapped out several of the towns that looked semi-interesting, and settled on one that was not too far away: Hyde. It's near Spring Green and Prairie du Sac, but the real draw for me was an 1800s wooden water wheel mill. Hyde's Mill was built in 1850 on Mill Creek. The mill burned in the 1870s but was rebuilt. We noticed we were coming up on a road named Mill Road, so we took the turn and lo and behold, there was the mill. There were just a few people at the site: four eating Bob's Bitchin' BBQ carryout from Dixie plates sitting on the ground and a couple standing on the bridge overlooking the mill. It was a picture perfect day with blue skies and fluffy white clouds floating by, and when I stepped out of the car I could hear the rush of water coming over the stone dam. I took a perch behind the bridge on the sloping support and sat in the sun looking at the dam and listening to the water. This visit was good for my soul, and I could have sat there for two to three times as long as I did. It ranks up there for me with lunch hour visits to the Joan of Arc chapel in Milwaukee to sit by the fountain in the sun. Not much going on in Hyde otherwise, but I would definitely go back for this.

It's not a business, just a photogenic nineteenth century mill. There's a small area to pull off…read morebut no real parking area. Can't find a place to park? Just wait, most people do not stay long.

My husband and I went on the lake to lake tour with guide Stanley. We we super excited to eat and…read moretour our way through Madison!! We've done 3 walking food tours prior to this one and were excited to add it to our list. There were many things we loved about this tour; Stanley's enthusiasm, the beautiful day and great walking weather, the folks we chatted with on the tour and *most* of the food. The tour was extremely slow to get going. We were all very hungry; eating small breakfasts and no morning snacks in anticipation of a heavy food afternoon. The tour began promptly at 12:30. We spent a very long time in the Convention Center talking about Frank Lloyd Wright. And then when we left the history part of the tour continued for an hour. The first tasting of any food did not happen until a little after 1:30. First stop was Merchant, a funky restaurant/bar, where we were served a Small quarter of a cuban sandwich and a tiny arugula salad dressed in vinaigrette. The Cubano was very good but the serving we seriously tiny. Then we lingered waaaay too long (in my opinion) at the Merchant sitting at the table even though everyone had been done for a while. After the merchant we made Lots of little stops to look at landmarks around the capital area. And we did a little walk through of the capital building, which was very beautiful, but my tummy was still rumbling!!!! 2:22 was our second stop at Fromagination Cheese Shop. This was an absolutely adorable shop with oodles of cheese as well as other gormete food stuffs like cookies, pastries, honey, balsamic vinegar, mustard, jams and jellies and other gift stuff . 3 small pieces of cheese and 2 crackers. There were also a few samples around the store for tasting but really it was a very small food sampling. Shortly after that around 2:44 we made it to Ian's Pizza for a half-slice of Mac and cheese pizza. Ehhh. Did not like it. They had some really cool other kinds and just an awesome menu in general. Just was not into the Mac and Cheese slice. Ick Next up was a little after 3:00 and we stopped at Himal Chuli which was a Nepalese eatery for a Mango Lassi. I was disappointed that we did not get to go inside the restaurant. We just grabbed-and-go our drinks and walked to our next stop. At around 3:17 we stopped into State Street Brats where we were served half to a third of a brat and A half pint of Spotted Cow beer from New Glarus Brewery. Good tasting. But again, a very small sample Lastly we walked to UW campus to the student union for a vanilla malt. It was good. Wish we had gotten to try the ice cream. I'm sure they have some great flavors there. The union was amazing however, right on the lake. Lucky students. The tour ran over, ending around 3:45. My husband and I left still feeling kind of hungry which has NEVER happened to us after a food tour. So, we had a fun time but left with mixed feelings about the tour. Not sure how much we will recommend this one to ours friends. Would rather send them down to the zerve.com food tours in Chicago.

Monroe street tour was wonderful!!, great food all in walking distance!…read moreguide was well educated in Madison history. The food was excellent choices. went to many places I did not know were there! pizza, salad, beligum beer, mussels, so fun! enoyed every moment, if you live in madison or visiting this tour is a must!!

Looking for a super cool spot to hangout for a bit and watch the spillway then you've found it!…read more So one early morning adventure we found ourselves here to watch and listen to the spillway as we waited for our friends to go start our breakfast adventures with. The spot we were at was across from the spillway it had a good amount of parking places and a few benches even though we were here early morning there was still a handful of people here some fishing and some launching their boat off for a day of fun! We pretty much just chilled here for a bit because it was peaceful with the sound of the water crashing and just the beautiful scenery it was definitely an awesome way to start the day! Overall this is a dam so you know what to expect it's just a chill spot to pass the time or fish either way it was definitely cool finding this and I hope to be back again sometime!

Inside, you feel the presence of something ancient and otherworldly. The interior design is…read morebeautiful, simple, yet functional and elegant. One of the most wonderful places I've ever set foot into.

This is a wonderfully preserved Temple. It's a treasure and a testament to the Jewish history of…read moreMadison.

Montondon Park is a three acre park on the east side of Waunakee. The park is mainly undeveloped…read moreland, but has some terrific short hiking trails. The park's signature landmark is a red covered bridge, which is a popular spot for photographers. There also is an observation platform off Lawton Road, that offers a stellar view of the park.