Wisconsin visit

Friday 21 October – Albany to Whitewater

After an awful night waking many times for no reason other than my brain, I went to breakfast at the hotel at 5:30 am. I was at the airport before 7 am and my big bag only weighed 49.5 lbs (allowance is 50 lbs or 23 kg). Hooray! I logged on to the airport wifi and updated my blog and email as I had difficulties with the hotel wifi last night.

The flight was uneventful with cloud cover most of the way. One fascinating thing I watched was a small double completely circular rainbow that stayed on the northern side of the plane for almost the whole trip. We were travelling through misty fog above the thicker cloud layer.

Nic and Megan met me at the luggage carousel as arranged soon after I had collected my bags. Our first stop was the Chicago Botanic Gardens where we spent 4 hours or so.

It is a beautiful garden and the large lake in which it is set gave it a wonderful feeling of spaciousness. Nic knew one of the botanists there so he (Norm) gave us a guided tour of the science building including the green roof garden where they test all sorts of plants for green roof suitability.

  

There were some magnificent displays of bonsais and insectivorous plants.

 

After we had walked enough we drove north towards home. We had a stop at the Mars Cheese Castle (cheese and other dairy is big in Wisconsin) where we were amazed by the variety of cheeses and of course tasted and bought a selection. On then to Elkhorn where Nic needed to buy an ingredient for his home brewing. We walked to the shop passing a quilting shop so I decided to browse in there instead.

Home then to Whitewater where we started the evening with cheese, crackers and apple and of course a glass of wine. This was later followed by steak, salad and Boston beans (Nic remembered that they were a favourite of ours). Nic had also been praising our rice pudding which he remembered fondly so we were able to make a 3-2-1 rice pudding for dessert and it was delicious. Amazing how some tiny things make such an impact.

By bed time I was quite exhausted having had little sleep the night before and an extra hour in the day with time zone change.

Saturday 22 October

Today started slowly with coffee and home made pumpkin muffins for breakfast. Then it was time to head out for a day of Wisconsin adventure. First stop was the Whitewater farmers market then a tour of Nic's building, lab and greenhouses at the University of Wisconsin Whitewater campus. We then drove to Cambridge to have another look for Megan and Nic at a house that is for sale. We then headed on into Madison to the farmers market there. This one was impressively huge and went right around the capitol building block with thousands of people moving in one direction around the stalls. There were lots of things to taste – cheeses and dips, turnips, breads and all sorts of vegetables and fruits. Nic bought some huckleberries to experiment with at home.

We walked two blocks of the market then headed down State St which is full of eating places and costume shops. We had lunch at the Kabul restaurant which served Afghan food. We had an absolutely delicious meal. We walked slowly back to the car passing a printing exhibition where Megan saw someone she knew. There we found out about a local book sale. So our next stop was the Fitchburg Public Library where Nic and Megan filled a large bag with books and paid just $3 for the lot.

By then we all wanted afternoon tea so Megan found Charming B's cafe, one of a few shops built into an old church at Milton. It certainly was charming and served excellent coffee. 

 

Another shop in the complex was a plant shop where Nic bought a Rubber Tree and got some information on worm farming.

Nic had questioned why some barns had quilt blocks painted on them then in one of the tourist booklets we found a whole list of Barn Quilts in the area (and more sites). I will have to investigate this.

As a result of our afternoon tea stop Megan found reference to Goodrich Hall antique shop nearby in one of the old buildings of Milton College. We spent some time browsing but I can't fit much more into my luggage, especially not one of their lovely assortment of footstools or old quilts. However, Megan did buy a lovely yellow bowl.

Time then to return home. The weather has been perfect with the temperature in the mid 20s at least, clear and sunny.

Sunday 23 October – Wisconsin to Utah

Breakfast today was huckleberry crepes cooked by Nic. The huckleberries worked out quite well. It is amazing how much one can fit into a day. It seems an age ago that I left Nic and Megan at Chicago airport after our 2 hour drive from Whitewater.

I was picked on by security at the airport. The cheese I bought Mary was swabbed 4 times for drugs or explosives as were my hands and my checked-in bag was opened by security after it left me. However, all was well and the flight across was very smooth. Saw a huge windfarm in Wyoming. The mountains on the Wyoming-Utah border had a little snow on them but when I landed in Salt Lake City the temperature was still in the mid 20s. C.

I met Mary easily the airport. Unfortunately she has a cold so I hope she gets over it quickly and I don't catch it from her.

We drove straight to Logan, dumped my bags, then drove up Green Canyon for a quick walk while the weather is so good. Home again to sample the cheese with some wine and olives before cooking our dinner. A few skypes and a bit of sorting ended a very long day. Another hour of time zone change to cope with.