Wadsworth, Illinois: Gold Pyramid House

The Golden Pyramid House is open again for tours of the bottom two floors of the 55-ft. tall house, and the King Tut tomb replica. There is also a presentation about the Golden Pyramid House's history.

We accidentally found this house -- we were driving to Gurnee and passed it. I mean, how can't you notice it? The gate was open and we saw a sign which said Gift Shop on a building ... so we drove on in. We drove up to the pyramid (across a small sphinx-lined bridge) and it seemed like no one was there.

As we were driving out, a car came in. It made a beeline to us and the driver had his window rolled down (note this was January, so he obviously wanted to talk to us). He asked what we were doing there. We said, hey, the gate was open (there was no "no trespassing sign), we saw a gift shop sign (and lots of tire tracks), so we came in to see what it was about. He just shook his head and drove forward. I yelled to him, "Nice to meet you!" ... after all, you reap what you sow. If you build such a structure (with an absolutely HUGE Egyptian statue), leave the gate open, and have no "No Trespassing" sign -- and still have a sign for a gift shop - what the heck does he expect?

Anyway, my wife did get a couple of nice pictures and we had a good laugh in the end.

The Gold Pyramid house from the outside looks pretty cool. It is a wonder that they put so much effort into it. I visited the house interior a few years ago and it looked nothing like what I expected. It had modern colonial/country decor and just a few Egyptian statues in the sitting area. We sat down and were given a brief history by the owners son -- and not allowed on the upstairs because it was against fire safety. I say go take the outside picture and keep imagining!