Jun24

Rey Road Trip, Part 1

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Rey Road Trip, Part 1

We hit six states in 12 days.

First, we flew to Minnesota and stayed with my sister-in-law. We saw most of Hubby’s extended family. Some drove four hours, one way, in the same day. Ooof.

We had dinner with Hubby’s college friends, another meal with his high school friends, stuck our feet in one of the state’s 10,000+ lakes, visited the famous Mall of America (especially the Lego store), and, most importantly for blog purposes, had breakfast with a blog buddy. 🙂

The Travel Architect!

Meeting TTA was loads of fun. She and Hubby are both teachers, so I enjoyed my eggs Benedict while they talked shop. Learning how she and her husband met was most entertaining. (Sadly, he was in England at the time.) And I discovered that rabbits have personalities like humans do. Now I kind of want a bunny. She wrote about the visit on her blog.

The next day, we drove to Wisconsin. We’d been warned by my sister-in-law and Mark, the next blog buddy to meet, that a storm was a-comin’. “It’s supposed to get pretty gnarly,” Mark said. “I wouldn’t be shocked if tornado sirens go off.”

We raced to Verona, WI, and a place called Epic, only getting splattered with rain along the way, until the sky changed from gray to black in a second. The saturated clouds were squeezed like sponges that never emptied.

Then the siren started blaring, loudly. This wasn’t something the kids or I had experienced before. And we couldn’t figure out where to park at this giant complex. And my sister-in-law had shared stories that morning of giant hail balls smashing the tops of vehicles. And I was inwardly freaking out.

Our contact at Epic was another of Hubby’s friends. He had texted a map to follow the blue line to parking, but we didn’t know where we were to begin with or where the blue line was. We tried calling him but the storm was making the call cut out repeatedly. In my best calm-for-the-kids voice, I shrieked at Hubby to drive to a covered garage area where a guy was standing for a smoke break(!) He didn’t know where we were being directed to park either, so I asked kindly if we could just park there.

“Well, I can let you in,” he said, with a smidge of reluctance, as he swiped his employee card and the garage gates opened. It took forever to find a parking spot and Hubby’s friend, but we did, and made it safely indoors. The woman at the reception desk gave us visitor badges, let us know the outside doors were now locked, “So if you step outside, you won’t be able to get back in,” and, “If you see employees heading to the basement, follow them.”

Gulp.

But we were safe indoors and soon immersed in this wild, wonderful world of Epic. It’s a computer software place for interfacing doctors with patients. “We want it to be fun for people who work here,” Hubby’s friend told us, so every building in the complex has a theme.

Like the Dungeons and Dragons theme.
Throne room
Who is this peasant who dares approach the queen?
Dragon
Next we hit the Western theme.
Complete with tumbleweeds in the hallway and carpet that looked like dirt.
The name tags on office doors were shaped like sheriff badges.
Oh, yeah, and there were slides. We came across two. Why use the elevator or stairs when you can take a slide to the next floor?
Big slide.
One building was called Storybook. This conference room was based off, can you guess? Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

This area was super trippy. Stuff was upside down.

Which way is up, and which way is down? The floor was painted like ceiling and vice versa.
That must have required a lot of superglue. Spot the cat?
Another slide…
to a literal rabbit hole.
There he goes.
We followed a yellow brick road…
and eventually wound up in Stargate. There was a rocket here somewhere, which my son sat in.
Stargate conference room
Restaurant 42 was based on Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Step out of an elevator and find a dragon flying overhead.
And that thing outside a window. The sky had lightened by now.

Elsewhere, two podracers from the Star Wars movie where Anakin is a kid are attached to the inside of a canyon.

Another view out the window of different buildings.

One building looked like Hansel and Gretel’s house of candy.

The mystery-themed building. There were details on every surface of this whole complex.
Keeping with the vibe.
Alfred Hitchcock’s birds on an elevator. Everywhere, you almost missed the elevators because they were painted to the theme, as well.
See the woman in the chair?
Keep walking and she vanishes.
Get a clue. Notice the “revolver.”
One archway was covered in the various Clue boxes and boards from over the years.
Then we went Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.
Why stick a tentacle to the wood when you can have it crashing through instead? No detail was spared in this place.
Oompa, doompa, doopity, doo…
Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory
Anybody want to lick the wallpaper?
Found the golden ticket!
Inside an elevator.

After two hours, our guide told us we had only seen 1/5 of the place, which is about how many pictures I shared with you. We missed the treehouse, barn, wizarding world, and others. But if you’re ever near Madison, WI, Verona’s not far, and the tours are free. Bring good walking shoes. Tornado sirens and storms are optional.

Next stop: Fort Atkinson and the genesis of this entire road trip idea.

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42 responses »

  6. Um, meeting up with other bloggers, eh? Okay, where was my invite? Now my feelings are hurt! Ha ha, I’m kidding but it’s so cool to see you connecting with Mark and TTA. What a cool trip. And a neat side trip too. I had to Google Epic — it sounds absolutely amazing. I’m fascinated by corporate culture things like that. My office buildings have been fine over the years but I would kill for a slide like that. “Um Brian why are you sweating. You weren’t running to use the slide again were you?” Safe and happy travels!!!!

    Liked by 1 person

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  9. How big was that place? I was getting sensory overload from just what you posted and if that was only 20%, well, Call Me FlabberIshmaelgasted!

    How comfortable were the thrones?

    Finally, I “did” notice that revolver and since I’ve written 3 different paragraphs and deleted them all, I’ll leave it at that 😀

    Looking forward to future posts!

    Liked by 1 person

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    • It’s 1,670 acres, FlabberIshmaelgasted. The buildings were huge and all cool looking even from the outside.

      The throne was decently comfortable.

      I can only imagine what those three paragraphs were about… 😛

      Liked by 1 person

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    • I thought of you, Beth! Are you far into Michigan? We only popped across the border and back again (next post). But I was definitely thinking of you and wondering about that. I could’ve gone four for four if I had met you too! I’m going to kick myself now if it turns out seeing you was possible.

      Liked by 1 person

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      • i’m in ann arbor, the southeast part of michigan, so i’m thinking you were probably way north of me? but that would have been fun!

        Like

      • We only popped across the border to MI from South Bend. That was the extent of our sojourn into MI. :/ I have visiting the UP on my bucket list, however. Maybe someday.

        Like

  12. If I didn’t work at CheeseGov, I’d totally look for a job at Epic. The buildings totally live up to the name! We’ve only ever driven by, so thanks for giving us an inside tour and a million pics. Can’t wait to check it out in person someday!

    I swear I didn’t manifest those tornado sirens btw…

    Liked by 1 person

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