Why Madison, WI - Part II

Well we made it back from our weekend in Madison late Sunday afternoon. We had a great time. This quick trip really helped scratch our travel itch. We now have our annual week at Lake Chelan coming up the last week of August and then football starts! I think we can make it!

Our trip actually started in Minneapolis - were we got better airfare there.

When we got to town we visited the university campus - went to dinner and then headed up to Madison the next day. Before going to Madison we took a detour to some of the surrounding communities as was suggested by an earlier blog comment. I'm glad we did.

We went to the town of New Glarus (which is where this cow picture was taken) and Monroe and had lunch and did some cheese tasting at some of the local cheese factories. The countryside is very pretty - a lot of farm land and more corn than you can ever imagine!

We both had training runs to do the next morning - Kent 7 miles and I had a 14 mile run to do. I really like running when we travel. When you have 14 miles to run you can cover a lot of ground that you may otherwise have missed! If you click on the attached map link it shows the route that I ran. There is an extensive trail system in the area. Very nice run!

From there we made our way to the local Farmers Market.

It was a great Market that sets up around the State Capitol Campus.

They only allow things to be sold that are produced or grown in Wisconsin. It was a hustling and bustling place abuzz with activity with plenty of people watching and good food. We pretty much ate our way through the market!

We ran across a local artist by the name of Marcia Sparks. Check out her web site for some fun, colorful art. We are planning on ordering several pieces! The dogs and crops were our favorites!

It was suggested by a blog post that we check out fromagination and are we ever glad we did! What a find! It's located right on the Market square. Definitely our kind of store

Fromagination is a specialty cheese market celebrating Wisconsin Artisanal Cheesemakers and highlighting artisan cheeses from around the United States and the world. In addition to their selection of cheeses they offer lunches, gift baskets, classes on cheeses. We bought all the necessary items for a picnic on the Capitol Camus across the street!

As an added bonus - the all the staff working there were helpful and the guys were really cute! Check it out when in Madison you will not be disappointed! Thanks fromagination for a great lunch!

We spent quite a bit of time on the Campus of the University. There was one location that we especially liked right along the shores of Lake Mendota at the Student Union Terrace with its colorful patio tables and chairs.

Very popular hang out for students and locals alike. We liked it too!

We visited the football stadium and dreamed of coming back and watching the Huskies play here! Hopefully in a few years!

We ended our final evening attending the local minor league baseball team the Madison Mallards game. Really nice evening for a game.

It was a great trip although it's always nice to get home and see our dog! I hope you all enjoy the pictures and that you visit some of the links in this blog. I think you will be glad that you did. I hope you also make it to Madison for a visit sometime - I think you'll enjoy it! Hope to hear your comments. Sorry too for any typos and the lack of creative comments - I really wanted to get something posted and I've got to ride to work tomorrow so I've got to get ready for work! Have a good one!

Later - Jim