Friday, October 7, 2016

Day 6 - Minneapolis to Madison

October 2016 - Madison WI

We are making our way home today. We both have commitments this week.

We tried to be on the road by 9AM latest to get us to Madison for around 1PM. But we didn't leave until we had breakfast and decided to make a couple of impulse stops. So it was gone 11AM before we actually got on the road.

We thought of going to a couple of Prince's sites but The Paisley Park Museum was only scheduled to open Oct 6 and I have now read that there will be some delays.

This seems to be the same trend as when we left Milwaukee, murals and churches.

We opted for a mural of Prince, I'll show it in more detail.


Mass was taking place at St. Mary's Basilica.

The Basilica of Saint Mary is a Roman Catholic minor basilica located on its own city block along Hennepin Avenue between 16th and 17th Streets. It was the first basilica established in the United States.

I can always count on John to cross the street to get a shot. I'll show more of this church in a few Sundays.



 


It's a gorgeous fall day.



Just outside St. Paul's you reach the Wisconsin state line.



Saw a few of these signs.



This town had a sign saying "visit historic downtown Menomonie" we drove down the main st and back. We never got out.





There is no shortage of cheese curds in this area. I even bought a mug with Wisconsin Cheese heads on it.


One of the many resorts in the area, most have indoor water parks.


Very odd to me coming from where handheld devices are absolutely illegal when driving. This law just came into effect on October 11 this year.


We're in Madison, Wisconsin's state capital. This deli is legendary.





Madison's origins begin in 1829, when former federal judge James Duane Doty purchased over a thousand acres (4 km²) of swamp and forest land on the isthmus between Lakes Mendota and Monona, with the intention of building a city in the Four Lakes region. When the Wisconsin Territory was created in 1836 the territorial legislature convened in Belmont, Wisconsin. One of the legislature's tasks was to select a permanent location for the territory's capital. Doty lobbied aggressively for Madison as the new capital, offering buffalo robes to the freezing legislators and promising choice Madison lots at discount prices to undecided voters.

Doty named the city Madison for James Madison, the fourth President of the U.S. who had died on June 28, 1836 and he named the streets for the other 39 signers of the U.S. Constitution Although the city existed only on paper, the territorial legislature voted on November 28 in favor of Madison as its capital, largely because of its location halfway between the new and growing cities around Milwaukee in the east and the long established strategic post of Prairie du Chien in the west, and between the highly populated lead mining regions in the southwest and Wisconsin's oldest city, Green Bay in the northeast.


 You can't miss the State Capitol.


We stayed at the Edgewater. Photo from their site.



According to their website:
The Edgewater first opened its doors in 1948 and quickly became recognized as a prominent part of the Madison community and culture.

Sitting in the heart of the city, next door to the University of Wisconsin-Madison and steps from the State Capitol, The Edgewater served as the place to stay for Madison visitors and the city’s favorite place for waterfront relaxation, fine dining, dancing, and important meetings for more than 65 years.

Throughout the decades, The Edgewater has hosted an array of celebrities, including Elvis Presley, Elton John, Bob Hope, Bob Marley, and the Dalai Lama, to name a few.


The hotel is lovely.











We head out to explore.






The Capitol is very photogenic.




These two dancers looked like they were going to do a photo shoot.






We I had the bright idea to walk towards the water back to our hotel. Makes sense???

Came across this radio station building.



University of Wisconsin - Madison has a large vibrant campus.



A mixture of new and old.



This building was spewing out steam and them let a blast out like a steamship! I couldn't find out the name or purpose of the building.


The campus has lovely lakefront property with cafes and bars.


Every sorority and fraternity was represented, all lodged in turn of the century homes.



Buckingham U. "Bucky" Badger is the official mascot of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He attends all major sporting events for the Wisconsin Badgers as well as hundreds of other events around Wisconsin every year.








Back at the hotel, the sunset.


We have dinner in the hotel at Augie's Tavern. Augie Faulkner, the first general manager and an owner of The Edgewater Hotel for nearly 50 years, had a flair for entertaining everyone from Elvis Presley to the Dalai Lama.



There is a wall of famous photographs of former guests.

Frank Lloyd Wright (born Frank Lincoln Wright, June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, interior designer, writer, and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures, 532 of which were completed. Wright believed in designing structures that were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture.


The food was good but service was abysmal. To begin with the server brought one menu, then had to be asked for salt and pepper. Never came to ask how our meals were. When she presented the bill there was nowhere to charge it to the room, when asked, she said oh, I'll make up another one. Then she had to be asked for a pen.
Not up to the standard of a 4 diamond hotel rating.

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