Exploring Madison

After an early-morning presentation I left The Dells and headed down to explore Madison. I stopped at a fabulous knitting shop, Lakeside Fibers, which has a very tempting selection of yarns and an attached coffee shop where there was live music playing an a selection of local pastries and other goodies. Down the street was this view of downtown Madison:



Then I was off to Avol's Books near the University, which houses a great collection of used and antiquarian books. I restrained myself, due to over-full luggage, and only bought one small paperback. Drove through some detours to get around the protesters at the capital building:



Parked the car, and headed to a restaurant on the capitol square that specializes in local foods, Graze, where I had positively scrumptious buttermilk pancakes with spiced butter, Wisconsin maple syrup, and tart cherries:



then made my way to a positively brilliant cheese shop, Fromagination. The staff was friendly, knowledgeable, and most importantly gave me samples. I made it out the door with only four cheeses, Bandaged Cheddar by Bleu Mont Dairy, Dunbarton Blue by Roelli Cheese, Pleasant Ridge Reserve by Uplands Cheese, and Evalon Saxon Creamery from La Clare farm. For those of you who are wondering, yes, I am still lactose intolerant but some things are just worth the suffering.

Last stop was at my friend Erik's house for coffee and to meet the chickens, who have one of the most fabulous chicken "coops" I've ever seen, not to mention a killer view:



Then I headed home, to wind, rain, and hail in California after four sunny days in Wisconsin. To be fair there are parts of WI that are still a bit frozen:



but still, as I sit at my kitchen table listening to the rain, I do have to wonder if those Midwest winters are all they're cracked up to be...or if I'm just lucky. I think it's the later.