[I visited in 2014 and these pictures are from that time.]
Dr. Evermor’s Forevertron is a sculpture park between Sauk City and Baraboo. It is very cool and completely unexpected. They have a website here. The pictures do not do the place justice and there is so much to see. When I went there was even an active geocache which gave our exploring a focus.
We are three weeks into the month and I have been keeping pretty busy.
On October 2nd I paid off my student loans. I am coining it Indebrendence Day. I even wrote a haiku for the occasion:
My student loans are
paid; Today shall be known as
Indebrendence day
That night I met my dad, his cousins and some of their friends downtown Madison because they were in town for a football game. I made it to a few new (to me) bars (Genna’s, HopCat) and a few old ones (Brocach, Paul’s Club, Irish Pub). It was a great evening out. A little side story – I went downtown unprepared for the cold. I was shivering as I was walking up State Street to the square. It was almost 9 at night but Ragstock was open so I ducked in and bought a baja (aka drug rug). I have always wanted one, I am not sure why, and this was the perfect reason.
The first Saturday of the month saw me visiting my Aunt & Grandma and going to ScanFest which included good food and an Abba tribute band! In the row in front of us was a kid that was really into the music and it was fun to see someone connecting with something so much. (I also have been there several times before – see this post)
This month I also gave blood at the Red Cross. While I was there I saw public radio personality Norman Gilliland also donating. It was a neat brush with a local celebrity. After that I met my brother for lunch at the always delicious Oakcrest Tavern and then we went to the Mustard Museum in Middleton.
One weekend my girlfriend visited and we had a night out. We ate dinner at Qdoba on the way downtown. The traffic was terrible and I am not a traffic person at all. But the prize was the Madison Symphony Orchestra. I have never been there and it was pretty neat. There were three pieces played. I liked the last one the best because of the percussion. The second piece featured a soloist on violin. The instrument was Stradivarius and it was older than the piece he was playing. Apparently they name these and his was the Marsick Stradivarius.
We finished the night with poutine from Mad City Frites. I had heard of the place several times in the media and I wanted to try it and I finally did. The poutine was pretty good although I don’t think I have ever had poutine before so I have nothing to compare it too. It hit the spot on a cold, windy October evening. I will have to get back there as a lot of the other options on the menu looked pretty good.
Now I am enjoying the unseasonably warm weather. I am still wearing shorts on my bike ride into work. And the Packers are undefeated. Life is good right now. I hope your October is going well.
About a week before Easter I was in Stevens Point. I saw an ad for the Stevens Point Riverfront Arts Center. They had a Peeps art exhibition in celebration of Easter. I thought it would be fun to see what there all was. Below is a small sampling.
The Last Supper made with Peeps
I thought it was all very creative. I only captured a few on camera but there was many more pieces. The bright colors are fun to look at.
Have you ever made Peeps art or other art from food?
Last weekend I tagged along with my Mom, Aunt and Grandma to visit Scandinavian fest in New Berlin, WI. It is hosted by the Nordic Council of Wisconsin. It was a good time with delicious food. I had Swedish pancakes and meatballs, Danish gris on a stick, Danish Æbleskiver and some desserts. I also bought some milk chocolate from Norway. It tasted much better than a Hershey bar. When I was studying abroad I often purchased Milka bars and this was very similar.
I got the chance to watch some folk dancing. The troupe consisted of 5 couples and they performed dances from across Scandinavia. The man introducing the songs did a good job of it. He explained that many of the dances are for 8 couples so they had to be modified for only 5. Four of the couples were older and one was younger. The man telling us about the dances made sure to give them a shout out and said they wouldn’t be able to do many of there dances if they became any smaller as modifying to 4 was just too hard. If they had 8 couples they probably would have ran out of room on the stage.
When I was in Delafield I saw this house and I had to take a picture.
The decoration above the doorway looks like a sun to me. It probably didn’t cost a ton of money to put it on there but it stands out and is memorable. It also sets the tone when you are walking up to the house.
The sun thing also reminded me of Szeged, Hungary aka the City of Sunshine. I visited Szeged on my semester abroad in 2011. A random connection but sometimes it is the little things that trigger memories.