On summer Saturdays in Madison, they have a farmers market on the sidewalks around the Capitol, and it's a big event. Lots of people, lots of booths, selling veggie items, kettle corn, flowers, ethnic foods. It's mostly veggie time. K said we would want to go counter-clockwise around the sidewalk, and once I got there, I could see why. For some reason, most of the traffic goes counter-clockwise. I only got one picture of the farmers market, so this will have to do.
I was distracted by the cows (scattered here and there). Here's one taken across the street. Seems like this one brought some of his buddies along.
The Capitol itself was a bigger distraction. There were people, grown-ups and kids, lounging on the lawn, watching the farmers market spectacle and generally enjoying a beautiful morning. At the corner of the block, I turned around and saw this statue. This is "Forward," and the plaque reads "Forward: Wisconsin's Women's Memorial of the Columbian Exposition, 1898."
We climbed the steps (saw more cows up there, after all), and I took a picture of the statue atop the Capitol's dome. It's called "Wisconsin," and she has a badger on the top of her head. See for yourself.
Then, near the building, we saw people going in and out. Can we get inside on a Saturday? The revolving door worked, and we were walking down a corridor of Wisconsin's state Capitol. Then we were at the center and looked up inside the dome.
Here's what the telephoto lens showed of that picture in the middle.
Our arrival coincided with the start of a guided tour of the building. "Are you interested?" I asked. They were. So was I. She pointed out a replica of the Liberty Bell, and I made a mental note to take a longer look later.
We saw many things. The state supreme court. The state senate. The assembly. A bust of Fighting Bob LaFollette, the Progressive leader from the 1920s. And badgers here and there all over--looking down from the top of the arch over each wing of the building.
Once the tour ended, they showed us how to climb up to the observation deck, at the base of the dome. We got close up looks of some impressive statues and a great view of Madison.
After the tour, we walked up and down some of the streets, looking at the shops and street vendors, taking pictures of more cows. Lots of quirky little shops in Madison. Oh, if we didn't have a parking meter ticking away five blocks away! One shop had this statue in the front window. "Girls Gone Wild--Wisconsin Edition."
Whew! We were tired. And it was only 1:30 p.m. But the sensory overload wasn't stopping. K took us to Ella's Deli, a place with mechanical contraptions all over the place, often passing back and forth on wires above us. They had Batman, Harry Potter, Superman, Bart Simpson on his skateboard, Noah's ark and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, among others.
And each of the tables were different. Ours had an ants-and-grasshopper theme.
Plus the food was great.
We went back home and relaxed a bit. Then, off to see the Madison Mallards play. The Mallards play in the North Woods League, which is a summer league for college-eligible players. They don't get paid, but they get to play with wooden bats (like in the major and minor leagues) and travel in buses to games out of town. In short, an introductory course to what life is like in the minors, which is what all of them hope to do after college.
But I was a little tired, and their PA announcer was too much of a showboat. In the end, the Mallards defeated the Alexandria (Minn.) Beetles 3-2. Yes, it was "Beetles" night--they had a karaoke band doing Beatles songs, and they were absolutely abysmal. You really had to know the Beatles' music to figure out what they were singing. Or trying to.
They had fireworks after the game, but they weren't any great shakes. Saw a much better show at the minor league game in Beloit a few years ago. (Still haven't written that part of my 2004 baseball trip yet. I will.)
So passed Day 2 of the Madison trip. We were all pretty tired by the time we got home, and bed felt so good. And as I was drifting off to sleep, it came to me ...
Damn! I forgot all about seeing the Liberty Bell! Damn! Damn! Damn!
(To be continued)
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