Let's Go Places (And Meet People!): Madison, Wisconsin

 

Picking it up from last time...we're on MegaVacay 2024 and it is now Wednesday afternoon.  We're zeroing in on our final home base of the trip.  But it's only Wednesday and we're not going home until Monday, so we've got quite a bit of stuff left to see - and people to meet!

Wednesday - settling down

I picked Madison for my home base for the final leg of the trip because I had a few places to go there, it was a convenient location for the people that I was going to meet, and because I was ready to spend more than 1-2 nights in the same bed.

When I researched places to stay, it seemed like everyone else thinks that Madison is convenient as well, because the prices were steeper than I wanted to pay.  I zoomed out and found an Airbnb out in the country that caught my eye because of the price, and once it had my attention it kept selling itself.  The location was good, the unit looked very comfortable, the reviews were great, and oh yes, it was right next to the Glacial Drumlin Trail, which is a 52 mile long hiking/biking trail.  Sold!

 

 

For the 3rd time in as many Airbnbs, the unit was technically the basement of the house, but for the third time in as many Airbnbs it was also a very nice basement.

 

The welcome package included a bottle of wine and eggs from the owner's chickens.  I took the wine home with me and got two breakfasts and a dinner out of the eggs.

The only catch to the adjoining bike trail is that the trail is free to walk, but you have to buy a state pass to bike there - a one day pass is $5 and an annual pass is $25.  Now I didn't really think that the Trail Police were going to be stopping bikers to check for passes, but also I'm not looking for trouble, so I bought an annual pass to keep it legal.  I rode my bike every day except Thursday, so my cost per mile was very low.

 

The first night I had a long bike ride and had one of the frozen TJ's meals that I bought that morning for dinner.

Thursday - let's explore

Madison was just 20 minutes away from my home base, and I arrived there on Thursday morning for a meetup with Frank.

My first stop was the Unitarian Meeting House.  A church doesn't need a steeple when it is a steeple.

The backstory is that FLW's family founded the church back in the 1800s.  By the mid 40's the city of Madison had grown, and the original church building was in a prime real estate area.  It was getting hard for the congregation to park on Sundays, so when the city came along and offered them a check to build a new church somewhere else, it was an easy decision to relocate.  

If you're going to force me to pick a favorite FLW church, my vote has to go to Unity Temple in Chicago, but still, this was a special space.  It is very much still in business as a church, and the membership has far outgrown the 1940's projections.  A second building was built on the campus in the early 2000s to accommodate the expansion.  There are some very clever nods to the original building and a fun play on organic architecture - but you'll have to go there and see if for yourself to appreciate that.

My next move was to head downtown.  I walked around for a bit before my next tour, Monona Terrace.

Monona is a bit controversial in FLW circles because it was built long after his death, so there's an "is it or isn't it an FLW building" taint.  He designed the building in the late 30s and yes a few things had to be modified 60 years later when it was built, but hey if it's good enough to be on the public FLW sites page, it's good enough for me. 

There are a few design elements in the building that resemble rotundas, and there's a very good reason for that.

Because this is the scene about two blocks away - spoiler, this was my next destination after Monona. (PS the fountain is not perfectly aligned with the Capitol Building for some technical reason that I forget - I think it had to do with the placement of the railroad outside of Monona but I could be making that up - the difference is noticable unless you're standing at an angle with your camera like I was.  The only reason I'm mentioning it is to tell you that I could never bring my husband here.  The offset would drive him crazy).

At this point it had been more than 48 hours since my last State Capitol building tour, so I was due for a fix (and yes, if you're keeping score I've toured a total of four capitol buildings in my travels, so 50% of them were on this trip.  What can I say, it's my newest thing).

Madison delivered in Capitol Building Elegance.

 

And in roof views.

Here is what else the Madison Capitol building has to offer compared to other State Capitol buildings:

• The tour guide gave the tour almost entirely in Dad Jokes.
• There are a number of fossils embedded in the stonework.
  

 

• The state animal is the badger, and it is heavily represented (P.S I used to work for a CFO who thought that the honey badger video was the most hilarious thing ever, and the work experience left a mark on me.  I'm sure there is a huge difference between the Wisconsin state badger and the honey badger, but to my immature brain they are one and the same and I giggled a little every time that I saw one.
  

• Who wants to make a joke about Wisconsin and cheese?  Well, do it somewhere else besides the Capitol Building.  Dairy wasn't much of an industry when the building was built, so the artwork deals mainly with grain.

Anyways, the Capitol Building was a whale of a good time, so the odds are good that the new obsession of mine will continue in future travels.

But enough about buildings, it was time to meet people!  My next stop was the Hubbard Avenue Diner.  Once I saw the avocado benedict on the menu I didn't look any further.

It was delicious, but what I ate is beside the point.  It's about who I was eating with - Anne and Engie!  Predictably, it was a long conversation...and it was just part one since it was our first but not our last meeting of the trip.

Good food, good friends, good things to see...Madison delivered.  But that was just the beginning of my Wisconsin adventures.

Who's been to Madison?  Who's toured a State Capitol building?