our trip to America's Dairyland

So, now that we've been back for just under 1 MONTH, I'm making this post happen...

in mid-August, Andy and I headed out to Wisconsin. Why Wisconsin? you might ask. Well, way back in 2006, when I was studying abroad in Ecuador, two of my fellow classmates met on the trip and started dating. Since our whole group was there when they got together, we were all invited to their wedding in Wisconsin. Although it would have been wonderful to have the whole group together again, only myself and one other from the group of 14 were able to make it.

We left the house very early on Thursday morning, got to the airport, boarded our plane from the tarmac, and then it started POURING. and we were delayed. and we missed our connection in Cleveland. So we were re-booked from Cleveland to Milwaukee to Madison instead of just Cleveland to Madison. We hung around the Cleveland airport for a while, lugging our bags around, eventually made it to Milwaukee, and only about 4 hours behind schedule we made it to Madison. (In my personal opinion, Milwaukee was a crappy airport--we had to leave the 'secured' area to get our tickets for the third flight, which was from a different airline, and then had to go through security again. And dump out the water bottle I had purchased at the Philly airport--UGH).

Anyway, we arrived, exhausted and cranky--and eventually went to find some food. Now, I really wanted to explore and visit the quintessential local fare. So we went to The Old Fashioned, and I had one of the most ridiculously delicious sandwiches ever. Grilled Wisconsin Cheddar Cheese with bacon and roasted red pepper, with a huge pile of onion strings (I read they were the best in Madison!), complemented by a local hard cider. YUM.

After consuming half of it (and saving the rest for later), we went for a walk to get a feel for Mad-Town. We walked over to Monona Terrace (this is our 2nd Frank Lloyd Wright building we've visited--the first was Fallingwater out in southwestern PA way back in 2008). The sun was setting, and they had just lit up the capitol building, and it was beautiful! We sat on the Terrace just looking out over Lake Monona, watching the boats drive around.

The next day, we ate breakfast at the Marigold Kitchen (delicious) and I had planned for us to walk out to Picnic Point, through the UW-Madison campus. It was probably about a 6-7 mile round trip walk. It was a beautiful preserve along Lake Mendota that then went past some beautiful campus buildings, and eventually back into preserve again on this very thin peninusla that provided wonderful views of Madison. On our walk back, we stopped and had lunch at the famous Memorial Union (which came highly recommended from a wonderful friend, Dr. Mookie).

We met up with the bride and groom to be on the eve of their wedding at the Great Dane Pub, and we consumed a couple beers and the cheese and artichoke dip (another recommendation from the fabulous Dr. Mookie). More yum. (I was eyeing up the cheddar mac that some other people got, though!)

The following day, we had breakfast at the Sunprint Cafe (mmm bacon egg and cheese sandwich), we met up with Noah and Rachael (Noah was from the Ecuador group), and Rachael is his wife. They were on the last leg of their 5 week long honeymoon, and heading back to their new home in Boulder. ADORABLE couple. I bought some cheese to take home at Fromagination on the Square, and we enjoyed the Dane County Farmer's Market (which was HUGE, and kept people shuffling along in a counterclockwise fashion around the capitol square). I tried some cheese curds, DELICIOUS cheesecake, fresh sliced tomatoes, and so much more. 

We had some leftovers at the hotel for lunch, had some ice cream at the Chocolate Shoppe on State Street. (It's America's Dairyland--now that I've had lots of cheese, I had to have ice cream). I got their signature Zanzibar Chocolate with peanut butter topping, peanut butter cups, etc.Andy got something green (maybe pistachio?) I don't know. I was too engrossed in my sundae.

We took a nap after all that and then it was time for the wedding. Held at the lovely Orpheum Theater on State Street, it was a beautiful ceremony. Something I really liked that they did was they passed around the rings for the entire group to touch and send their blessing, as everyone had touched their lives in some way.

 

Nicole & Alex (her dress was handmade by her aunt!)

the adorable Rachael and Noah (quite the dancers!)

we partied and danced until I was about to pass out (around 11:30, I think), went back to our hotel room and slept until it was time to go to brunch in the AM. After saying goodbye to Noah/Rachael, and Alex/Nicole, we headed off on our next adventure. We walked through the other side of the UW-Madison campus towards the Henry Vilas Zoo. We passed the Orpheum, which still had the message for Alex & Nicole (So far so good)--since they were officially married last year, and then wanted to have the wedding ceremony/party for friends and family.

The zoo was pretty awesome for being a free zoo! It was about a 3 mile walk to get there, but I need to work off all of the cheese that I had consumed so far. We saw some really cool animals like a badger (of course, the UW mascot), capybaras, an alligator snapping turtle, etc.

We decided to call a cab to get ourselves some food, since we were hungry, and I really wanted that cheddar mac at the Great Dane, so that's where we went. It was DELICIOUS.


It was our last night, and I had also been keeping an eye on the grasshopper ice cream at The Old Fashioned, so we got some of that for dessert (it's got creme de menthe in it, so I got carded to get ice cream), over a brownie, to go, and took it to Monona Terrace. It was a great last night in Madison, a city I really enjoyed. 

(The trip home went off without a hitch--we did have to take a propeller plane from Madison to Cleveland! It was pretty crazy!)


Hopefully I'll be better about posting for my next vacation!! :)