Today, the car pool process started up first thing on a beautiful, sunny morning. Our destination: Baraboo, Wisconsin, home to the Ringling family. Our first stop was at the Al. Ringling Theater, right in downtown Baraboo. Built in 1915, it was the first "theater palace" built, at the whopping cost of $100,000. We had a guided tour of the theater (including several songs from one of the organists), backstage, the dressing rooms (pretty lavish for the day) and the balconies. The theater is well-preserved and restoration activities are under way to make it even better.
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| The ladies are much more organized... |
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| There were five Ringling Brothers. |
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| We had an excellent tour guide... |
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| ...of a very ornate theater. |
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| Restoration is ongoing, as you can see in this "after" - "before" section. |
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| We were even treated to several songs from one of the volunteer organists. |
After the tour, we "retired around the corner to the Garden Party Cafe for lunch. No, Ricky Nelson wasn't there, but we had a great buffet nonetheless!
We then hopped back in the cars for the quick trip to the Circus World Museum, several blocks away. Calling this a "museum" conjures up images of a nice brick building with lots of historical exhibits. Yes, there's that but so much more! Across the bridge on the other side of the Baraboo River lies the original winter grounds of the Ringling Bros. Circus. as they say, there's fun for kids of all ages. In addition to more exhibits containing lots of restored circus wagons and memorabilia, there's a complete mini-circus under the big top. Everyone enjoyed the clowns, trapeze artist, trained horses, comedy show with a family of Pekinese, and of course the elephant, "Tiny".
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| Everyone loves a carousel! |
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| "Lucky Star", the miniature horse was quite a hit with the kids. |
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| "Tiny" the elephant was great; the trainers are all in the same family. |
After the show, we watched an aerialist perform a "death defying" zip-line crossing of the "raging river".
We then adjourned to the Fox Hill Campground for "happy hour" and a nice dinner of pizza. Everyone was pretty full when we headed back to our coaches, well after dark.
More information is available via these links:
http://www.alringling.com/about-us.html
http://www.alringling.com/about-us.html
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