a few years back, on our epic last hurrah summer road trip, we camped so so close to madison, wisconsin. but, the timing of our travels and plans and reservations didn’t leave us any time to actually explore the city. this time, though, we made it happen.
but first. on our way into town. a cheese factory. obviously. it’s wisconsin, after all.
we were a little disappointed that fresh curds weren’t going to be ready in a timely enough fashion to allow for us to participate. but we bought a TON of cheese and filled up the cooler.
our first stop in madison was the capitol building. i think this brings our total state capitals count to thirty three. we even went inside this one.
then, one of the best parts of our trip. we were able to connect with some old long lost friends who now reside in madison. we met dave and brie almost 20 years ago when they moved to winston and he became the youth pastor at the church we were going to. we were all childless at the time. then all these kids got born. dave took a head pastor job at a church plant in madison. they moved. we did our thing. and, well, somehow it’s been close to 10 years since we’ve seen them. thankfully, they are some super sweet and genuine folks and it felt like we didn’t miss a beat. we reminisced. they showed us around downtown and the waterfront. the kids hit it off. it was a fantastic time.
after this lovely afternoon with old friends, we parted ways, and we had just enough time to squeeze in a mustard museum. (i think maybe i also visited a fabric shop at some point in this day, because that seems like something we would do, but i have no photographic evidence of this.)
after a very long day, we were happy to just chill in our hotel and order in pizza. we had a hot tip from dave, but we struggled to decide on toppings. so. we got them ALLLLLLL. the best was the ravioli. but also mac and cheese. and buffalo chicken. ok. so they were all great.
in the morning, we would begin the final push for home.