Bicycling in Madison

We decided to head over to Madison for the long weekend to do a little house hunting along with catching up with Jo's sister.  But before that we enjoyed dinner and a show on Friday with our friends, Tim and Rosalie.  Dinner was at Tulip in the "Historic Third Ward" which featured a Mediterranean menu.  I had lamb with rice while Jo got a nicely flavored salmon.  Then we went to the Next Act theater to see the Mystery of Irma Vep.  An interesting show that seemed to wander a bit in the middle, but the end pulled all the threads together nicely.  The entire show is performed by two actors both playing multiple parts which involved many costume changes and voices.  Amazing how they kept it all straight.

Saturday morning after our run we hopped in the car for the drive over to Madison.  Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate so we had to put up with cool temperatures, overcast skies, and the occasional rain drop for the entire weekend.  We spent a good part of Saturday afternoon wandering through the Vilas and West Lawn districts scoping out places we might want to live - assuming we ever can make our dream of a Madison retirement house come true.  Then it was over to a barbecue at one of Kathy's neighbors where we enjoyed brats and a game of bocce.  We finished the day watching the Zero Dark Thirty movie - very interesting but kind of sad that we need to have these type of activities going on. 

Sunday we went for a bike ride on one of the many bike trails surrounding Madison with the highlight being seeing several indigo buntings (at least that was what we called them) along with a cool railroad tunnel that is pitch black in the middle (thank goodness for the light on cellphones today).  We finished just in time as it starting pouring 20 minutes after we got back in the car.  We enjoyed a great meal at a diner in Monticello on the way back to Madison (which didn't have M&M's on the menu although I really thought they should).  Then it was back to Madison to pack up to head home.  Monday was another grey weather day so after working out we decided to take in the new Star Trek movie since if we couldn't be outside playing we should do it inside instead.

Then all too soon it was time to get ready for another week of work for Jo and another week of house chores for me.