The Madison trip, part 3

The final day of our visit to Madison was the stormiest one. But more about that later.

Saturday was a busy one. We had the farmers market, state Capitol tour, lots of cows, a crazy deli for lunch and a baseball game capped with fireworks.



Makes for a busy, exhausting Saturday. On Sunday morning, we got up, had breakfast and then got in the car heading for the state Capitol again. Our goal: to find more picturesque cows. Plus, K was giving her dogs some good exercise--they came along for the trip, and one of them (the cocker) parked himself in the front seat, since we sat together in the back seat. I think he's laughing at me here.



There was no farmers market on Sunday, but there was a bicycle race going through the downtown area, with streets blocked off. One funny thing I noticed--well, I had never been to a bicycle race before--is that they had mattresses tied around the trees on the outsides of turns, in case a rider swings too far to the outside.



We found our way to the Capitol and then to Martin Luther King Jr. St., where a herd that we hadn't seen before was grazing. (On Saturday, we found a guide that showed where to find all the cows.)

Another sunny morning, with some cumulus clouds. We walked up and down the street, taking pictures, and spotted other cows near the Capitol building, so we crossed over there.



As we walked around, I saw some people near the Capitol building itself. Could it be open on Sunday, too?

Of course, I was still stewing about the Liberty Bell replica I had forgotten about during the tour 24 hours earlier. I thought I had blown that, but good! But we tried. We went to the revolving door, pushed it--and it moved. We were inside again.

I thought it was on the ground floor, but it wasn't. Up a double flight of steps to the main floor, and there it was.



This is a replica--an exact copy of the original except for the crack. It was cast in the early 1950s, one for each state, by a Paris company, and everything--the size, the weight, the metal--was the same. I rapped on it with my knuckles, and it made a soft "bong" sound. Of course I was thrilled, and the camera went to work. This plaque gives the bell's background.



It was getting close to noon. We headed back towards K's place, dropped off the dogs and went to a bagel place for lunch. Then back to the apartment, packed our gear in the car, had some good-bye hugs and hit the road.

The clouds had been building during the morning, and we saw some dark gray skies as we were leaving. The Weather Channel radar indicated that the storm wasn't moving our way--rather, we were moving its way.

Before long, there it was. Heavy rain, a flash or two of lightning and a little hail. For a minute or two I wondered whether to pull over--but since the storm wasn't moving, we might have had to stay for a while. We kept going and eventually drove out of it. For the rest of the trip home, it was cloudy with a little drizzle but no rain. Of course, no rain back home--there had been just a short shower all the time we were gone.

***

So that's the end of the Madison saga. It went by too quickly, and we're looking forward to the next time we can visit, to see more of the big city. We had a few places we wanted to see and couldn't, so they'll be added to the list for next time. Whenever "next time" is.

I haven't shown you many of the cows, have I? Well, I wanted to get the narrative written first--we saw a lot of other interesting stuff, too, you know. But now let's talk cows.

Chandramoon, in her comment about the first part of the story, was dead-on. It's called CowParade, an international public art exhibit that has been held in many cities around the world in recent years. This year, they are in Boston, Denver, Buenos Aires, Mexico City and Sao Paulo in the Americas; in Paris, Lisbon, Edinburgh, Athens and Moscow in Europe; it's been in Asia, too (though not in Bangkok, according to Wikipedia).

Imagination runs wild at CowParade. Like a stampede of imagination.



As part of CowParade, local artists get to put their take on local culture, and in Wisconsin it's the dairy industry; its local sponsor is the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. In November, about 50 of the cows will be auctioned off to help build the new American Family Children's Hospital in Madison.

Amazingly, I never found one wearing a Packers uniform and a cheesehead. But there were plenty from the University of Wisconsin (of course), and the Milwaukee Brewers had a cow in a Brewers uniform.



That ends the story of the Madison trip, but there is one final entry to come. An all-cows edition, coming soon.

(Moooooooo!)