An Epic Day

This post is kind of a picture overload, but Alan's work place is fantastic. It is pretty much a big kid playground. We went on a self guided walking tour for over an hour and barely scratched the surface of all the neat things these buildings hold. And we barely saw half of the buildings. I forgot to bring my real camera, so these are all taken from my cell phone...

We started off the day by packing the kids into the bike trailer. Alan got to tow the kids the 3.5 miles to his work, which was a nice break for me. I just told him that it would make the next time he rode his bike to work seem so much easier.
We made a quick stop at his office to cool down (did I mention it was almost 90 degrees plus humidity?), get a drink, and let Elsie write Alan love notes on his white board.
All of the buildings have astronomical names. The whole campus is called "Epic's Intergalactic Headquarters". Alan works in "Heaven" in the second campus of (soon to be) three circular structures. We only explored the first campus. This is the tunnel leading from Heaven to Andromeda.

This is the Tree Staircase. Inside the tree is a little room with children books and carved rocking horses and such.
Alice liked the troll guarding the staircase.

Elsie preferred a wiser being to make friends with.


Each of the conference rooms are themed. Each of the themes are inspired by Wisconsin and things to do with the area. This room is called The Ice Palace.

Walking across one of the sky bridges; Elsie stopped to admire the view.

Excerpt from the tour guide: "During the design of the campus we worked with two architecture firms. One worked with Microsoft and said 'Methodology before creativity' and the other worked with Disney World and said 'Creativity before methodology.' As a result, our campus looks to some extent like a cross between an office building and a theme park."

The Waterfall conference room. Kids are allowed to go swimming in the summer months...

...we just have to watch out for sharks.



This is the Indiana Jones Tunnel.

Outside the tunnel we walked across the lawn to visit the tree house conference room. Because of the winters, this building (fort?) is only open during the warm months. Outside there are also fire pits and logs where people may hold their meetings. Once reserved, they are provided with wood and fire starting kits.The Treehouse is pattered after "the Little Rascals".




Alan left his mark on the treehouse walls...

We continued on through the subway station.

It was all too much for Alice to take in.

This is the Hanger Conference Room.

Walking outside back towards Alan's office.

This is one of Alan's favorite rooms. It wasn't on the self guided tour we went on (there are multiple tours) but we went out of the way to see it. It is a conference room by his office called The Warp Zone.



That concluded our tour. Kids were tired and ready for naps and we still had to ride our bikes home. I wish we could have explored more, but there will be plenty of other days we can do that. This place is designed down to the last soap dispenser, so we even had to stop and look in all the bathrooms to make sure we weren't missing anything. I am slightly jealous that Alan gets to work here everyday. I might just have to pack up the girls and head to Epic for them to play during the long winter months...