We have arrived at our destination...

As you can see from the photos, we’ve arrived in Wisconsin!

It has been a soggy, humid trip north but apparently nothing like what has been happening back home in Texas; or even in the areas around us as we’ve traveled along.  

The first two days out were mostly spent driving to Missouri where we took a break to meet up with Dave’s cousins at the cemetery where their respective parents and one set of collective grandparents are buried. Afterward, in the time-honored tradition of the Pasley clan, we went to lunch.

Then it was on to the Iowa City area where we had a relaxing evening at the home of a seldom-seen cousin and got to know a bit more about her and her lovely family. We also stopped by the nearby Herbert Hoover National Historic Site before moving on to northern Illinois where we had a great visit to the incredibly well-preserved town of Galena.

The daughters of my 1st cousin's daughter - 3rd cousins? Whatever Lexi and Caia are cutie pies and (naurally given their family heritage) extremely bight kids!

On our stop in North Liberty, Iowa one thing was made absolutely clear; Lexi's favorite animal is the unicorn.

The purpose for going to Galena was to visit the place that Ulysses Grant called home. Unbeknownst to us it turns out there is a lot more to Galena than the Grant house and we spent a wonderful, sunny day walking the streets of this well-preserved 19^th century time capsule.

The mighty Mississippi as seen from Mississippi Palisades State Park south of Galena.

After the war Grant's adopted hometown presented him with this house, fully furnished, as a gift for his service.

It also turned out to be a great segue to Wisconsin because Galena’s heyday in the mid-1800s was fueled by the shipment of lead (via steamboat down the Galena River to the Mississippi) from surrounding mines, and some of the earliest European settlers in southern Wisconsin were lead miners. Those miners were said to be so hardy that, for shelter, they would simply burrow a hole in the ground with their hands – much like a badger. And now you know how Wisconsin came to be known as the Badger State.

One of the many badgers that lurk in the shadows of the Wisconsin Capitol.

The schedule called for us to spend five days in the state capital of Madison but the coincidental attraction of our alma mater Trinity University playing in the finals of the NCAA Division III baseball championship 100 miles away in Appleton was too much to resist. So we broke with the schedule and took a 24-hour detour to Appleton and then caught a Brewers home game on the way back to Madison. Trinity won the national championship and the Brewers won a game, both major accomplishments.

Don't be fooled by this sunny photo, it rained too.

We were a little surprised to run into Jim Potter, the intramural sports director when we were students at Trinity. But we were really surprised to find out his son-in-law is the Tigers baseball coach!

Finally, celebration late on a rainy night.

Great seats in a great ball park, Miller Field in Milwaukee.

We got back to Madison in time for a lovely evening with Tex’s best-man-to-be John Vining (St. John’s College Class of 2011), his wife Claire and their new puppy “jumpin” June at their new home here. Unfortunately, we failed to take a photo of the event.

We are staying here in Madison at a great RV campground in a county park about five miles south of downtown where we have been able to ride our bikes downtown on the city’s extensive trail system; to the UW campus, to tour the fabulous state capital and, of course, to make not one but two stops at the world’s largest Brat Fest!

We’ve both remarked that Madison has the look and feel and size that Austin used to have way, way back in the day; before Dell, SxSW, the line at Franklin’s and North Korea selecting it as one of three U.S. cities to target with nuclear missiles.

Like Austin Madison is home to a great university and a beautiful capitol building. Unlike Austin you can still see the Wisconsin capitol from a distance because the city prohibits construction of buildings that are taller.

En route to downtown Madison.

Our final day in town was probably the best, in part because it was sunny, dry, cool, chamber-of-commerce weather and we more or less knew our way around the bike trails and streets of the downtown and university areas that we revisited; stopping to check out the state history museum downtown, Muir Woods on campus (John Muir is a former student but did not graduate, a distinction also held by Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, who was this year’s commencement speaker), for ice cream in the UW dairy sciences building, to take in the fabulous, Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Unitarian Meeting House on the edge of the campus, and (whew, finally, this is a really long sentence) for beers on The Terrace at Memorial Union, a fabulous indoor/outdoor venue on the shore of Lake Mendota in the heart of the campus.

We thought that was going to be the fitting end to a great visit in Madison but as we were biking and burping our way home we noticed several other cyclists pedaling along with various forms of lawn chairs creatively strapped to their bikes and backs. Where were they coming from, we wondered? But the question should have been, where were they going? We soon found out when everyone peeled off the path into a large open field where an event celebrating Wisconsin Bike Week was just getting started.

So we valet parked our bikes (seriously), grabbed some (more) beers and bought two orders of fabulous, fresh cheese curds from a food truck called “Curd Girl”.

Is this a great city in a great state or what? Madison was suddenly rocketing up our list of favorite places.

Finally, in fading light we wobbled back to the trailer sated by three of the essential food groups (ice cream, beer, cheese curds) and contented that we had done our best to suck the marrow from our final day in Madison.

 

A photo of the capitol dome...

...from the capitol dome...

...in the capitol dome.

 The world's largest (only) Brat Fest? Brats and beer conveniently located...so we went twice, of course.

A view from the UW campus.

Wisconsin is, by far, the number one cheese producing state in the U.S. and is second to California in milk production. However, interestingly, when the state capitol was constructed in the early 20th century the murals made no mention of the dairy industry because it had not really started in earnest. Wheat and timber were the big agricultural products then. This guy, Stephen Babcock, had a lot to do with changing that, in part by inventing a device that can relatively easily test the fat content in milk (important in the production of cheese and butter). Today there is a full-blown milk, cheese, ice cream and butter production facility on campus and were pleased to be able to sample some of the product.

The moment you see the Unitarian Meeting House on the edge of the UW campus you know it was designed by FLW.

The Terrace, perhaps Madison's favorite place.

We've seriously considered actually purchasing a Cheese Head rather than simply putting them on in the store and posing for photos. This seemed like a good middle ground.

Madison-style valet parking.

Well, what do you think?