madison
for a break from the city, the hubby and i went to madison for the weekend. that's in wisconsin, for you midwest-challenged people. i had been there before, but scott had not and he found a nice bed and breakfast for us to stay in. we made reservations on thursday and left saturday morning.
on the way up, we stopped at the Belvidere High School, where they have a memorial for the April 21, 1967 tornado that ripped through there right as the kids were getting out of school. It tore a 10-mile swath of destruction through Belvidere and caused $25 million in damage. More than 500 were injured and 25 were dead. here's a picture of the monument:
then we made our way up to Madison. we checked in to the hotel and prayed that it wouldn't suck because their website was down when we made the reservations. remember in the old days when you had to stay at a place sight unseen? yeah, it was like that. but we checked in and it was really nice. here are some pictures:
we dropped our stuff off then we decided to head out to some used cd and bookstores that we had heard about. we trudged up the hill to the capitol (literally about 3 blocks away) and found that there was a street festival/sidewalk sale going on for the whole length of state street. woo-hoo! it was hot and crowded, but we managed to go the whole way and back again without dying. we languished in avol's bookstore for a while, then carried on. scott got some cds and i got nothing. we shared a root beer float. then we went back to the room, cooled off, and then went out to eat at old fashioned, which was really good. the waitstaff was nice. we ate at the bar, which i hardly ever do, but with two people it's easier than with a group. we ate, drank (they have an amazing house beer that even i liked), then drove around a bit to see what the town beyond the capitol had to offer. we found this used cd/record shop that seemed pretty cool. it had this sign:
but what i really liked about the place was that he had law and order on the tv. :D it was on mute because, as the owner explained, he had already seen this episode and turned up the music instead. heh. but i noticed that in the corner of the screen, there was a little tornado watch icon. we were never in it in the county we were in (dane), but we did get some rain that night.
on sunday, we were going to go to house on the rock, but it was $27 to get in (thank god we called), so we didn't go. so we had the whole day ahead of us. we checked out some game stores in the area, went to some antique malls, one which had this cute little guy:
his name is Bob. he was very friendly. i bought some of those read/record things... "when you hear the chime, turn the page." those things. i really wanted this book from the 1930s on city living and country living. it was like a school book, but there wasn't a price on it, so i couldn't buy it. boo.
then we went to lunch at ella's animatronic deli. it was the weirdest thing in the world. a totally kosher deli (no ham, no bacon) with all this movable stuff making tons of noise. some pics:
the first picture is of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. and the second pic is of a leap-frogging tooth and toothbrush and ketchup and hot dog. there were hundreds of these things all over this restaurant. and they had peanut butter cookie dough ice cream, which we didn't get. i had a grilled cheese, scott had a sloppy joe and vanilla milk shake. yum.
we were going to go out to dinner at the essen haus for dinner, but we really weren't in the mood for weiner schnitzel. so we trudged up the hill towards the capitol and ate at the great dane brewery and pub. i got the blackened catfish sandwich and scott got the prime rib sandwich. both were really good. their beer was ok, even if they did have a good selection. and with a brew pub, you get that hoppy odor lingering in the eating area, which isn't really appetizing.
after that, we walked around a little. on our way back to the hotel, we noticed a train coming down the tracks that were labeled "exempt." strange. but i got a picture to prove it:
we then headed back to our room to watch law and order. :D
we also took a drive around lake monona. we tried to drive right next to the lake, but with the private drives and houses right on the lake, it was impossible. so we ended up having to bail and take major roads back to the hotel. it was still really pretty, and cool to see your hotel and the capitol from the other side of the lake. here are some pictures from the OTHER lake, lake mendota on saturday:
we watched a never-before-seen episode of law and order after dinner on sunday, then headed to the essen haus for dessert (at 10pm). we got a piece of chocolate mousse torte. holy crap, was it good. and the bar was deserted except a drunken soon-departing party and two bar flies. the guy who served us was in lederhosen. ha! this is the sign that greets you as you pull into the parking lot:
this morning, we hit one more game store (yeah, the place is ugly with game stores) and then we hit the road. we stopped by a few places on the way back home, like some antique stores and a grocery store, in an attempt to find Bell's beer (which is distributed in WI but not in IL), but no dice. then we braved the traffic (it wasn't bad at all) and here we are, back home. home, crap home.
on the way up, we stopped at the Belvidere High School, where they have a memorial for the April 21, 1967 tornado that ripped through there right as the kids were getting out of school. It tore a 10-mile swath of destruction through Belvidere and caused $25 million in damage. More than 500 were injured and 25 were dead. here's a picture of the monument:
then we made our way up to Madison. we checked in to the hotel and prayed that it wouldn't suck because their website was down when we made the reservations. remember in the old days when you had to stay at a place sight unseen? yeah, it was like that. but we checked in and it was really nice. here are some pictures:
we dropped our stuff off then we decided to head out to some used cd and bookstores that we had heard about. we trudged up the hill to the capitol (literally about 3 blocks away) and found that there was a street festival/sidewalk sale going on for the whole length of state street. woo-hoo! it was hot and crowded, but we managed to go the whole way and back again without dying. we languished in avol's bookstore for a while, then carried on. scott got some cds and i got nothing. we shared a root beer float. then we went back to the room, cooled off, and then went out to eat at old fashioned, which was really good. the waitstaff was nice. we ate at the bar, which i hardly ever do, but with two people it's easier than with a group. we ate, drank (they have an amazing house beer that even i liked), then drove around a bit to see what the town beyond the capitol had to offer. we found this used cd/record shop that seemed pretty cool. it had this sign:
but what i really liked about the place was that he had law and order on the tv. :D it was on mute because, as the owner explained, he had already seen this episode and turned up the music instead. heh. but i noticed that in the corner of the screen, there was a little tornado watch icon. we were never in it in the county we were in (dane), but we did get some rain that night.
on sunday, we were going to go to house on the rock, but it was $27 to get in (thank god we called), so we didn't go. so we had the whole day ahead of us. we checked out some game stores in the area, went to some antique malls, one which had this cute little guy:
his name is Bob. he was very friendly. i bought some of those read/record things... "when you hear the chime, turn the page." those things. i really wanted this book from the 1930s on city living and country living. it was like a school book, but there wasn't a price on it, so i couldn't buy it. boo.
then we went to lunch at ella's animatronic deli. it was the weirdest thing in the world. a totally kosher deli (no ham, no bacon) with all this movable stuff making tons of noise. some pics:
the first picture is of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. and the second pic is of a leap-frogging tooth and toothbrush and ketchup and hot dog. there were hundreds of these things all over this restaurant. and they had peanut butter cookie dough ice cream, which we didn't get. i had a grilled cheese, scott had a sloppy joe and vanilla milk shake. yum.
we were going to go out to dinner at the essen haus for dinner, but we really weren't in the mood for weiner schnitzel. so we trudged up the hill towards the capitol and ate at the great dane brewery and pub. i got the blackened catfish sandwich and scott got the prime rib sandwich. both were really good. their beer was ok, even if they did have a good selection. and with a brew pub, you get that hoppy odor lingering in the eating area, which isn't really appetizing.
after that, we walked around a little. on our way back to the hotel, we noticed a train coming down the tracks that were labeled "exempt." strange. but i got a picture to prove it:
we then headed back to our room to watch law and order. :D
we also took a drive around lake monona. we tried to drive right next to the lake, but with the private drives and houses right on the lake, it was impossible. so we ended up having to bail and take major roads back to the hotel. it was still really pretty, and cool to see your hotel and the capitol from the other side of the lake. here are some pictures from the OTHER lake, lake mendota on saturday:
we watched a never-before-seen episode of law and order after dinner on sunday, then headed to the essen haus for dessert (at 10pm). we got a piece of chocolate mousse torte. holy crap, was it good. and the bar was deserted except a drunken soon-departing party and two bar flies. the guy who served us was in lederhosen. ha! this is the sign that greets you as you pull into the parking lot:
this morning, we hit one more game store (yeah, the place is ugly with game stores) and then we hit the road. we stopped by a few places on the way back home, like some antique stores and a grocery store, in an attempt to find Bell's beer (which is distributed in WI but not in IL), but no dice. then we braved the traffic (it wasn't bad at all) and here we are, back home. home, crap home.
posted by mikraas at 4:28 PM
2 Comments:
sounds like a nice trip out of the city. i'm going to CA this weekend with my friend T. One of our stops is the Garlic Festival. garlic will be coming out of my pores... do you have my new blog address? e-mail me if you don't. talk to you later. -Erin
now i wanna go. :( i think the only acquaintance with madison i have is when dad drove us through there when you were looking at colleges. it was a brief run, but it looked very nice. amazing that you caught that cat licking his nose!
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