An Unexpected Gated Community

Alternate Title - All roads Lead Where?

Today's Workout:
- 15 burpee's according to the 30 day challenge

First off, I know I had planned on roller skating today, but Stacy was worried about getting hurt before her big weekend plans that would be impeded by a twisted ankle. Instead of skating, Jake recommended a silly named statue that he has wanted to visit for a while. 

However, Jake only wanted to visit Dr. Evermor's Forevertron if we had a reason to drive north in the first place. We did not have a reason to make the hour long trek. Eventually though, it was decided that maybe we would grab dinner on the way home. Before you knew it we were piled in the car and en route to see some metal statue.

The unincorporated towns of
The Great State

Now when I say "some metal statue", I had no idea what we were walking into. First of all, we could not actually find an address for Professor Terrible's Futuretron. My phone was dying, so we eventually found something on the car's GPS with potential. It was in a different town that was maybe close to the unincorporated place we were looking for, but a start is a start.

40 mins later, my GPS directed me to a gas station near some bluffs. In a town that didn't match either of the names we were theoretically driving toward. When we put the address in my phone, it turns out we were pretty close. Just a short drive through a surplus lot named after a friend.

I have a friend
named Delaney

Except for you couldn't drive through the surplus lot. I tried driving around it, I tried driving to the park's true entrance, and all roads were blocked and gated. This left us with only one option, parking in the surplus lot to walk through it to the statute. 

We pulled up next to 7 pick ups and one Dodge charger hatchback, and cautiously walked through what seemed to be an open-aire, hillbilly Wal-Mart. Dodging the puddles, examining the crates of strangely organized belongings, and slinking past the bearded guy loudly sawing metal, we followed the path potentially leading to the Megatron. The surreal path only reminded me of picking up shirts from Scary Larry in Milwaukee. That's a story for a different time, but if you need cheap, good quality t-shirts in Brew City - I know a guy.

As the path opened, the junk "cleared" to reveal this magnificent heap of symmetrical art. Every piece pointing towards the point in the sky where, supposedly, Dr. Tomorrow rode on his Magnetic Lightening Force Field to explore the heavens and escape the evils of Earth. It really was an amazing sight, and the few pictures I have do not do justice what used to be the world's largest metal sculpture.

We meandered through the park, initially avoiding the Forevertron to examine the supporting pieces. It is surrounded by other sculptures of adorable bugs, something from a carousel center, a forest of shelves, and a band of instrumental birds. 76 trombones at least (some of which I'm certain I've seen as installations at Epic.) 

Finally, examining the central piece, we first noticed that it was guarded by multiple dragons. Tucked behind the dragons, rose a spiral staircase leading up to the observatory tower. It was not meant for people to climb, but more likely a push off structure / elevator like you would see NASA use. We then found these cross-section pieces of birdcages hanging under the Forever Bridge that reminded me and Jake of the Haunted Mansion part of a Disneyland video game we played on the original Nintendo.

Took me too long to find this screenshot

Sadly, it was time to leave the world's most amazing scrap heap. But I remembered seeing a sign for a nature bridge a mile and a half to the right. Since we were already this far out, it made sense to go find this new wonder. 

Eventually, the GPS lost the map, and I was certain the natural wonder was a mistake. However, we eventually found the state park and started hiking. With Stacy guiding us along the less than confidence inducing path, we actually found the rock formation.

Adorable, yeah?

Atop a hill, we discovered a rock eaten away by erosion to form a connection with the other side. Although we could not traverse the actual bridge, standing beneath it was cool enough. As expected multiple others had carved meaningful, heart-encased initials everywhere along the bridge. Today was not the day for that, but after a few adorable photos we decided to head back.

An hour in the car, gave us time to really drool over the pending food. Jake has never eaten at Noodles and Company before, so we had our sights set on those bowls or carbs. The restaurant was so cold, I could not eat fast enough. 

Finally leaving meant we got a early evening nap, and then sometime for me to finish my brief workout. I cooked a Hot Pocket, and let it cool while I slowly (but with decent form) performed my 15 burpees.

Crazy day, but a fitting way to spend Friday the 13th. Tomorrow I have a tutoring session and a 2 mile run to look forward to.

*This is really called Dr. Evermor's Forevertron.
We had fun all morning calling it by different titles, which is what I replicated above