Whirlwind Tour

Unlike my own experience, Debbi's flight into Madison was right on time, which was a good omen for her first visit to the city. We decided she'd join me for the final weekend because she wanted to see this part of my life that she'd never seen, and meet a few of my friends.

Charlie and Dan took us to Restaurant Muramoto, a pan-asian place with some yummy alcoholic drinks and a tapas-like approach to constructing one's meal. The food was tasty, although pricey. Not a bad first night in town. Debbi then settled into our room at their place, and met their cat, who regarded her only slightly more favorably than she does me (Amanda is one of the few cats I just can't charm, it seems).

Friday we got up fairly early and went out in the relative cool for an ambitious walk to Picnic Point, where my friend Karen and I went on many nice walks when we both lived in town. Unfortunately the walk was perhaps too ambitious, especially as the day warmed up, since it ended up being about 2 miles longer than I'd figured, and we didn't bring any water. So by the time we got back to town for lunch I was dehydrated and had a headache. We took in many of the sights of Lake Mendota, but it was a rough walk for me.

When we got back home I ended up crashing for a couple of hours, and we ate dinner with Charlie and Dan, who grilled brats and sausages for us. Mmmm. After a shower I felt human again.

Besides Charlie, Debbi had wanted to meet my friend Tracy, saying she's one of the people from Madison I mention most often. But Tracy had a very busy schedule following WisCon and it wasn't clear we'd be able to fit in a meeting. Friday morning I hit on the idea of just getting together with her and her husband Bill that night at Michael's Frozen Custard, a yummy Madison institution I haven't been to in years. I figured that way they could stay as long as they wanted or as short as they needed, not be constrained by dinner plans, and at least we'd get together. It worked out splendidly, as we spent about 90 minutes chatting. We even ran into my friend and former cow-orker Mike, his family, and another former Epic employee I hadn't seen since I left. Tracy and Debbi seemed to practically hit it off, which I'd kind of guessed that they might. So I was very happy I'd managed to figure out how to make it work out.

Saturday I planned a more leisurely time for us. We went to the Madison farmer's market, and learned that this was the day for Cows on the Concourse and the start of the Cow Parade display (check out the map and its related pictures). Debbi was intrigued by these big, artistically-decorated fiberglass cows, and we ended up walking all around downtown with her taking photos of many of them. (We later learned that there were several more elsewhere in town, but we didn't head out to see them.)

We walked over Monona Terrace, along Lake Monona, and past my old apartment. Then we walked through he Wisconsin State Capitol building, including a trip up to the observation deck, which I'd never been to before. For anyone visiting Madison, this is a must-see.

We rested for a bit before borrowing the car to go to the UW Arboretum, another favorite walking spot in high school. And we walked through the Henry Vilas Zoo, which is a free-admission zoo on Madison's west side. Sadly few of the animals were out that late in the day. So we wrapped up with another visit to Michael's Frozen Custard, and later dinner at Tutto Pasta, which is a pretty good value on State Street if you're looking for Italian.

This was truly a whirlwind tour, since Sunday morning we left to catch our flight home. The flight went without a hitch, but I was sad to head home, as I had a great vacation, and Debbi enjoyed her brief stay. We'll have to do it again sometime. Maybe I'll even be able to drag her to WisCon...