Madison

Wow, had so much fun in Madison the last couple days! My sister Diane watched the shop, it was great to get away. While Jeff was in seminars, it was time for me to explore! I didn't feel comfortable driving downtown, traffic, parking, other cars, people, losing the car....several times every week I lose my car here in Appleton. Usually just in the ramp, having to check 2 or 3 floors because I can never remember where I left it. Once I left it in the parking lot at the library. Couldn't find it on any of the 7 floors of the ramp, till I remembered I went to the library first. 9 hours earlier. Can you imagine me losing it in Madison? Soooooo.....since we were staying in Middleton, I thought I would try out the Metro. I loved it! For two bucks I was able to transfer over and get to the capitol! It was so easy, plus I got to see areas I wouldn't have, watching the scenery not the road. In fact, I got so bold as to get off the bus early several times when I saw interesting shops along the way. I bussed to Ohlbrich Gardens to see the butterfly exhibit (awesome) jonesed for thrifting so stopped at a St. Vinnies and got some groovy vintage hankies, found a cool cafe named Lazy Janes, saw Grandpas Gun shop (did not go in, Grandpa looked surly) and thats all in the first morning! The cafe was pretty cool, had a great chicken salad. When your order was up, the cook literally screamed your name to come fetch it from the window. Had to use the ladies room, when I went in there was a shutter on the wall with the words peek inside in scrabble tiles. So I did! There was a drawing of a nude man! Cool surprise! Got back to the hotel at 3 and met up with Jeff. I told him how easy the Metro is to use, so he decided to try it for us to head back downtown to hit State St. While we were riding there he told me about the seminars he went to and a bus trip they took to see mixed affordable housing. The coference was for housing for everyone, and had to do with housing issues and challenges. One planned community he saw and toured sounded fabulous. Theres 31 acres, with 6 acres built with affordable and market value homes. Each home had a garden plot in the community garden, there was a CSA and mixed use areas. Jeff said it was gorgeous! The wildlife habitat, the shared common space, the mix made this a community in the truest sense of the word! While we wer eon the bus two ladies had chairs along, which I thought was a little odd, but oh well. They asked if we were going to the concert that night. Concert? They explained there was a concert at the square, Chamber Orchestra. We said ok! Well, there were literally thousands of people there, with blankets, chairs, tables, drinking fine wine, picnicing with delicious food, even had bouquets of flowers set up for ambiance! There were lots of food vendors and options galore if you did not bring goodies. It was so respectful, no rowdiness when the orchestra was playing, no cell phones, it was truly lovely. Everyone looked like they were having a great time, as were we. At intermission we went into the Capitol and walked around. My first time, and it was amazing! We ended up coming back the next day for the tour, I highly recommend it. Afterwards we walked State Street, how fun. I saw a shop that I needed to come back to, Anthology. Heaven! We got back to the hotel about 11:30, it was such a blast and no problem parking, since we were on the bus! The next day, I hopped the bus again to go to State Street and to tour the History Museum. We met up by the Capitol around 3, toured and walked to Willy Street to the co op and red sage herbs. We also went into an alternative clothing store, that was interesting. Came back home at about 8:30. what a blast!

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I have written another article for examiner.com, under Milwaukee wedding examiner. Its about vintage chic weddings - be sure to check it out!