Travel with Rick Steves · Saturday, August 15, 2026
Dylan Thuras describes the House on the Rock in Spring Green, Wisconsin, as one of the most bizarre and amazing creations in the United States. He notes that the sprawling complex, which takes hours to explore, contains unique attractions like the world's largest carousel and a giant squid-whale sculpture.
“And I went there when I was 12 with my parents on a kind of classic American road trip.”
“And it is, to my mind, one of the most bizarre, amazing, wild creations in the entire United States.”
“Inside of this house, and house is really the wrong word because it takes about six hours to walk through the entire sprawling set of buildings, kind of hidden in the forest.”
“Inside is, as Ella mentioned, the world's largest carousel with the world's most diverse set of carousel animals.”
“There is a sculpture of a squid fighting a whale that is the size of the Statue of Liberty.”