Life in a Small Town...: June 2009

CIRCUS WORLD!!

Wow, be prepared to spend a little time at Circus World! I just spent a really long time downloading pictures because it was so hard to choose! If any of you come to visit, Circus World is on our list of places to go.

Now a little history before we start! Circus World is a museum on the grounds of what used to be Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey circus's winter quarters. It is located in beautiful Baraboo Wisconsin. Seriously, I would live in Baraboo...it is just fun to say it! Try it, "Baraboo". Any way, I digress. There is a real circus at Circus World, but also much more as you will see by the pictures. So sit back and relax and Let the Show Begin!

Andrew picked Circus World as his graduation present. So we all packed up and went along for the fun!

Apparently, they don't shoot people out of this cannon any more. Sam was disappointed.

That is one way to get taller!

I know I have short legs...but I don't think I am that wide!

Thomas has found his calling!

Andrew too.

Kristine??

Sam, the Snake Charmer!

Take a look at the following posts. They will walk you through the wonderful experience of Circus World. I couldn't post all the pictures, it would have taken too long, but I think I got the best parts of it!

Circus world minatures

When you first go into the museum, there is a huge glass case that has a minature model of the circus. It is so cool. At one time it would move around, but now it is just a model. Here are some pictures of my favorite part of the museum.

These are mini replicas of the sideshow banners. They have the lifesize ones on the grounds of Circus World.

The animal tent.

Notice the high wire acts.

The faces in the crowd are soooo cool!

The Circus Parade are models of the real Circus Wagons in the museum.

The Clown tent.

The cook tent.

The wagon in the center is in the museum.

This just makes me want to run away to the circus!

Tonya the Tiger

This Circus World has a tiger. Her name is Tonya. She is just 7 months old and according to the tiger guy, pretty stupid. She has a very short attention span. He is in the middle of training her. So we got to see her run around and eat off of a stick. Not too exciting, but oh, well. She was fun to watch.

According to the tiger guy, tigers aren't very smart. They are pretty lazy and use their size and weight to catch their prey. Leopards are apparently the smart ones in the Big Cat kingdom. Tigers like routine and if something changes they can't handle it. Leopard can break out of cages and can walk around the top wires when they are just babies. Now no one take this the wrong way, but Kris and I decided that Tigers have autism and Leopards have ADHD. (I have earned the right to be irreverent about autism...)

Tonya is looking for her treat.

Batting at the stick

She took a big bite of sawdust. It was pretty funny to see her try to get it off of her tongue.

Then, Tonya spotted a small child outside the cage. She wanted to eat him.

She raced across the cage, but couldn't get close enough.

So she waited to pounce.

Once the parents got him back close to them, she lost interest. But when he was off by himself, she couldn't take her eyes off of her "meal". It was funny, but kind of scary too. Makes you think about the Jungle Book in a whole new light....

Tumblers and Balance acts

These guys were something else. First of all, they are about 15 or 16 years old. Secondly, they throw and catch each other in places that most people wouldn't want to have thrown or caught. The men in our group were wincing.

Yep, thats the one.

This balancing act wasn't my favorite, but the muscles on the girl were scary. She held the guy up too. It was one of those things you just can't look away from....

The man on the ground is swinging the girl in the air by her hair. Yep.

The performers all seemed to be from the same family. The woman and the man on the ground are the mom and dad of the group, I think. They were probably from South America. It was kind of neat to see the whole family performing together.

Elephants on Parade!

My favorite part of the circus is the elephants. I just think they are the most fun! This circus had a pretty good elephant show. It is so cute the way they hold onto each others tails.

Down like dominoes!!

Apparently, this elephant is the only one in the world who can balance all 4 feet on a ball at the same time. She did a wonderful job and I have it on videotape too!

I would have liked to see the elephants in tutu's . I think that would have made my day!

Roger the Clown

Every Circus must have a clown. And so did the Circus World.

I have known some great clowns. Roger wasn't in the great catagory, but Andrew really liked him, so he is okay in my book!

Gorilla loved Roger

Every clown must drop his pants at least once.

Well, for a clown, he was amusing.

Elephant ride...

After the elephants performed in the circus, they were giving elephant rides in the back yard. The kids all wanted to go, so they hopped up. I didn't think that Andrew would want to ride the elephant, but he really wanted to go. Even Kris and the little baby belly went for a ride too!

All Aboard!!

They just walked up and back down a sort of alley way. The elephant was very patient!

They were having fun, although Sam looks like he was sliding off!

The rear view. That just looks painful!

And back again!

I guess that they all had fun!

Circus World Museum

One thing I really loved about Circus World was the wonderful circus posters. They had them from way back when the circus first started. They had the huge posters that were hung up in the towns to preview the show and the billboard size posters too. The colors and artwork are so vivid and beautiful!

Elephants in tutus