The Magic House (Yes, And..., Part II)

As it turns out, we were not at Richard Branson's house. Bummer. This Richard, however, was trying to give Mr. Branson a run for his money.

The Zappos team arrived in style—per usual—simultaneously easing my worries and knocking the night into a higher gear. After enthusiastically welcoming the group to his "Magic House," the video game mogul (rat tail and all) whisked us off to what can only be described as an alternate universe.

We started in the House of Automata, one of the largest collections of nonelectric machines that are made to move like animals or people. This may sound cool - and it was - but, I also have to say that with all of them in one place staring at you, it feels like you're in a horror movie just before the part where they wake up and have minds of their own.

Once that feeling was suppressed, it was pretty amazing...Wooden figurines, some from the 1800s that moved as if they were electronic—the precursors to robots...

A couple magic tricks, hidden doors and riveting stories later, we were in a dungeon–the Dungeon of Dead Things to be exact. With two coffins occupied by real human skeletons, pterodactyl replicas, real shrunken human heads, animal carcases galore, Falcons from Egyptian tombs, and other things I'd rather forget—the name isn't a misnomer.

Back up the secret passageway and thru a false wall, we landed in one of my favorite parts—the science room, which included one of Thomas Edison's original light bulbs, ozone generators, mechanical models of solar system, tesla coils that put off 100,000 volts of electricity, and the like.

The exploration and adventure room wasn't so bad either: housing Richard's space suit from his trip to the International Space Station, a navigation system used by the Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton, one of the original prototypes of Sputnik...

Turns out that in addition to space, Richard has visited all seven continents (something I definitely want to do), hunting for meteorites in Antarctica and checking out hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor (I'll chose a different activity). It left me wishing I had a little more of Richard's spunk, his moxie, his impetus to explore.  Maybe I'll never have the money or the time (or the money) to travel to the moon but there's plenty to explore every day. 

I left feeling rejuvenated, but this time...I made sure I got on the bus.